Raelia (The Medoran Chronicles Book 2) (42 page)

“You will,” he agreed. “It’s best if you act like you don’t know me, at least not around your classmates. You should also warn your friends to do the same.”

“Is that for your anonymity?”

He sent her another crooked smile. “No, Alex. It’s so the other humans don’t wonder why you’re associated with a Meyarin. But I doubt they’ll figure out my ancestry considering how much time has passed since one of my kind has been recognised by your race. It’s far more likely they’ll merely consider me to be intimidatingly large… and attractive, as you’ve already pointed out.”

“I did
not
call you attractive,” Alex argued hotly. “I said you’re distracting. That could’ve meant anything.”

“Goodnight, little human,” Zain said with a laugh, ignoring her words. “Get some sleep.”

The
Valispath
took off again, taking the Meyarin guard along with it.

Alex shook her head at the spot where Zain had been standing, then stumbled tiredly over to her bed.

As she was drifting off to sleep—again—she realised that not only Karter, but now Zain as well, would be teaching her Combat class the next day. She firmly pushed the thought from her mind, determined to enjoy her last remaining hours of sleep without worrying about what the class might bring.

Twenty-One

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Alex groaned at the sound of the way too chirpy voice next to her ear.

“Go ’way,” she mumbled, burrowing deeper into her blankets.

“Come on, Alex,” the voice said. “You’ll be late for PE if you don’t get up.”

“Don’t care,” she mumbled again.

Her blankets were yanked away and a rush of cool morning air hit her. She sat up with a yelp, reaching blindly for her lost source of warmth.

A quiet snort turned Alex’s attention to her roommate who began heartlessly laughing at her predicament.

“Not. Nice. Dix,” Alex grumbled, running her fingers through her dishevelled hair.

“But it worked, didn’t it?”

Alex didn’t waste energy glaring at her friend. Instead, she stood up and grabbed some clean clothes from her wardrobe and headed into the bathroom.

Hot running water was a luxury after two days in the wilderness and Alex used the time in the shower to ease her strained muscles and enjoy a few moments of peace before her day began. When she was dressed, she left the bathroom to find D.C. waiting for her.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “Sorry for being such a grump. I didn’t get much sleep.”

“Are you kidding me?” D.C. said with another laugh. “You slept for almost ten hours straight! You should feel on top of the world right now.”

“Actually,” Alex said, thinking quickly about what she was and wasn’t allowed to share, “my sleep was interrupted in the middle of the night because Roka wanted to speak with me.”

D.C. gaped at her. “The Meyarin prince was here?”

“No, Zain was,” Alex said. “He came to escort me to Meya. It was so cool, Dix. The
Valispath
took us the entire way. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

D.C. was staring at Alex in shock, but then her expression shuttered and she turned her hurt-filled eyes away. “Why didn’t you wake me? I would’ve come with you.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex said, putting every ounce of sincerity into her apology. “You were dead-asleep and when I went to wake you, Zain told me not to disturb you. I didn’t like it, but I also didn’t want to argue with him.”

D.C. tilted her head thoughtfully, her unhappy expression dissolving into a calculating one. “Prince Roka wanted to speak with you privately, didn’t he?”

Alex wasn’t sure how to answer, so she nodded, almost shamefully.

“I saw how he looked at the rest of us the other day,” D.C. explained. “He doesn’t trust us.”

“No, Dix, that’s not—”

“It’s okay, Alex,” D.C. interrupted her. “It’s not like I don’t understand. While he doesn’t trust us, it’s clear he
does
trust you. I’m not going to ask what he wanted you for, because you’re my best friend and I don’t want to put you in that position. Keep his secrets, but just know that I’m here if you want to talk, okay?”

Alex threw herself across the room to embrace her friend.

“Thanks, Dix,” she said, hugging her tightly. “You’re the best.”

“It’s not like I haven’t asked you to keep my share of secrets.” D.C. smiled as she pulled away. “It looks as though you’re the go-to girl for royal confidences.”

“Woohoo,” Alex said dryly.

D.C. shook her head in amusement before saying they had less than half an hour left for breakfast.

“Do you mind if we swing by the Med Ward on our way?” asked Alex as she picked up Fletcher’s lab coat. “I need to return this to Fletcher.”

When they were outside and heading towards the Gen-Sec building, D.C. said, “Jordan told us about your weekend trip. I can’t believe Hunter made you do all that!”

“It was pretty intense,” Alex said.

Total understatement.

A few steps later D.C. spoke again, quieter this time. “Did you really fight Aven?”

Alex shuddered as the memory washed over her. “Yeah. Or, I tried to, at least. He’s… really good.”

“He
is
Meyarin,” D.C. reasoned. “Still, I heard you held your own long enough to buy some time and get everyone out of there. I was amazed when Jordan said so. Especially with all the other gifted people on Aven’s side.”

“We were very lucky,” Alex said, honouring her promise to Roka and keeping her new Meyarin abilities secret. “Nothing more.”

D.C. appeared doubtful. “If you say so.”

They dropped off Fletcher’s coat and hurried to the food court to eat a quick breakfast. Jordan and Bear were already waiting for them, finishing the last of their meals.

After Alex had scoffed down her scrambled eggs on toast she turned to Jordan and Bear. “I have some news.” They looked at
her curiously and she drained her juice before speaking again in a whisper, “Do you guys remember Zain? The massive guard from Meya?”

“He’s hard to forget,” Bear said, and D.C. and Jordan nodded in agreement.

“Well, he visited me last night and told me he’s going to be Karter’s teaching assistant for a while,” Alex said, deliberately leaving out her trip to Meya.

D.C. eyed her shrewdly, but since Alex’s words weren’t actually false, she didn’t think her roommate would call her on them.

Jordan and Bear were clearly surprised and she quickly finished her explanation.

“He wants us to act like we’ve never seen him before. It’s for our sakes, mostly, since it wouldn’t be good for anyone to think we’ve been in contact with a Meyarin. That said, Zain doesn’t actually believe anyone will figure out that he’s not human. They’ll think he’s intimidating—and attractive. His words, not mine.”

She scowled a little when she thought about the guard’s teasing.
Stupid Mey

“Why’s he coming here?” Jordan asked.

Alex thought about her answer carefully before she responded. “He’s going to be keeping an eye on everything, I guess. They heard about what happened with Aven yesterday and they seem to think it’s a good idea for me to have a babysitter. Or something like that.”

Okay, so she hadn’t told the complete truth. But she knew Roka wouldn’t be pleased if she gave away Zain’s real mission. So she told them what she’d first thought the guard was coming for, and her explanation was believable enough that her friends nodded their acceptance.

“Your very own personal bodyguard,” Bear said with a smirk. “You’re moving up in the world, Alex.”

“I think this is a good thing,” Jordan said seriously. “I’ll sleep better at night knowing Zain is here to keep an eye on you, just in case Aven turns up again. Meyarin against Meyarin is way better than human against Meyarin, that’s for sure.”

“I agree,” Alex said. “Although it is a little annoying.”

“Annoying might just save your life,” Bear pointed out.

The gong rang then, telling them to head off to class.

“Remember, you don’t know who he is,” Alex said to D.C., who had Combat first up.

“Amnesia, got it,” the red-head replied before taking off for the Arena, while the rest of them headed to the lake to test their water survival skills in PE.

After narrowly avoiding death-by-drowning, the rest of Alex’s day passed from Archery—where she had to shoot at moving targets over a hundred feet away—to lunch, and finally to Equestrian Skills where Tayla made them all participate in a game similar to polo, except they had to ride bareback while sitting
backwards
. It was remarkably unsafe, in Alex’s opinion, but Tayla was adamant that it taught them how to feel the horse’s movement underneath them. That, and apparently it was a great exercise to help increase their balance and coordination skills.

Alex fell off three times. But that was less than most of her classmates. D.C. landed on her royal behind a total of seven times, and the others hit the ground even more. Needless to say, everyone was relieved when the class ended.

As Alex hobbled from the Stable Complex to the Arena, she wondered how she might get away with skipping her last class. Nothing came to mind, so she stood up a little taller, winced when her backside and shoulder protested from the movement, and entered the colossal structure.

“You’re late, Jennings,” Karter grunted.

“Sorry, sir,” she said, knowing he wouldn’t care to hear about how painful the simple act of walking was.

“As I was saying,” Karter said, shooting her an irritated look, “my new assistant has more experience than most of you will ever have in your lifetime—
combined
. When he speaks, you listen. Understood?”

Alex and her classmates nodded their agreement and when Karter was satisfied, he called out, “Zain? Anything to add?”

The Meyarin warrior stepped out from an alcove in the Arena’s wall and Alex had to hold back a grin when she heard the indrawn breaths of those around her.

“I think they get the point,” Zain said to Karter. “And if they don’t, they will.”

Alex wasn’t the only one who trembled at the look he levelled at them, but she also knew that Zain was really a teddy bear— albeit one who could land her on her back with a sword at her throat without any effort at all.

But still, a teddy bear.

Karter smirked at their reactions and ordered, “Run two laps around the Arena for a warm-up, then grab a wooden staff and find a partner.”

They sprinted off as ordered, and when Alex was halfway through her first lap, Kaiden matched her pace and moved closer.

“Do you want to tell me why there’s a Meyarin helping to teach our Combat class?” he whispered, after making sure the others were a safe distance away.

Alex schooled her expression into disbelief. “A Meyarin? Really?”

He snorted. “Please, Alex. You can drop the act.”

“What are you trying to say, Kaiden?” she asked defensively.

“These days most people don’t remember what Meyarins look like, let alone get the chance to see one in real life,” Kaiden said, echoing Zain’s words from the previous night. “Two in the space of as many days is unheard of. But for some reason, I’m not surprised. And you don’t look surprised, either.”

Alex didn’t say anything, but simply continued to run while stealing glances at him. She wondered how he seemed to know so much, but there was no way she could ask if she wasn’t willing to answer in return.

“Just tell me this, is he on Aven’s side of whatever’s going on?” Kaiden asked, seeing that she was maintaining her stubborn silence.

Alex wasn’t going to answer. Really, she wasn’t. But after everything he’d been through with her and the secrets he was already keeping, she couldn’t
not
reassure him.

“No,” she whispered. “Zain’s one of the good guys.”

He sighed loudly—how he did that while running, Alex had no idea—and turned to look at her again. “I take it I’m not supposed to know he’s not human?”

“That would be preferable,” Alex said. “He’s aiming for anonymity.”

Kaiden laughed at the ludicrous idea, and Alex found herself smiling with him.

“Well, he’s
trying
for anonymity,” she amended.

“He’ll probably succeed,” Kaiden admitted. “Very few people would believe that we have a Meyarin on the teaching staff.”

His eyes danced with humour as if his words had an added meaning, but they were coming to the end of their second lap and Alex didn’t get the chance to ask if there was more to his comment than she understood.

“Hey, Queenie!” Sebastian called over to her, ending their conversation. “Be my partner today?”

“Sure,” she agreed, grabbing a staff and following her classmate to a clear space.

The warm-up run had loosened her muscles somewhat, but two hours later Alex was feeling every one of her aches again. Zain had done little more than observe the class and offer advice when needed, but she’d noticed him staring at her on more than one occasion.

Talk about unnerving.

Alex was tempted to skip dinner in favour of another hot shower and an early bedtime, but her stomach complained so she gave in and headed towards the food court to meet her friends. She figured that afterwards she should also pay a visit to Darrius to fill him in on her horror-filled weekend. Unless…

“Hey, Jordan, is there any chance someone’s already spoken with Dar—um, Headmaster Marselle about our SAS trip?” Alex asked as they ate. They were sitting at a table with Mel and Connor along with a few other fourth year classmates, so she had to be careful with her words.

Fortunately, Jordan knew exactly what she was asking.

“Hunter made sure the headmaster was informed of… everything,” he told her, the tone of his voice revealing more than his actual answer. “I spoke with him as well, just in case anything was, uh, left out.”

Alex smiled at him gratefully. That was one less thing she would have to do, at least. Now, if she could find a way out of her Medical Science assignment that was due the next day…