Page 46 of Angel Lost (Fates Academy #3)

Chapter Forty-six: Lorelei

I sit up, coughing, and brush gritty sand out my face. At my back, Farrell’s giant dragon roars. His tail lashes, kicking up waves at the edge of the lake. Zephyr crouches, his hands skimming over me, anxiety written in his pinched expression. I push his hands away, directing them toward Kai.

“I’m fine.” Kinda. My wing…“Check Kai, please.”

I stand shakily, resting my hand on Farrell’s giant scales. The smoothness under my palm is oddly calming. The rebel soldier steps to my side, Nyx still balanced on his shoulder. He jerks his chin at the students huddled only a hundred yards away on the beach. “They’re all that’s left. The angels are dead.”

I blink. All of them? I lick my lips, the enormity of the situation sinking in. The students know we have a dragon shifter. They know we killed the angels. Davina. All of these students know.

“Do not under any circumstances change back now,” I hiss, hand forming a fist, thumping Farrell’s side for emphasis.

Zephyr pushes to his feet and walks slowly toward the dragon’s face. “You’d reveal yourself here. Now. But not for me?” His voice is shaking.

“Drop it, Zephyr,” Farrell says in the gravelly voice of his dragon. “You survived the rip.”

Zephyr flinches like he’s been slapped. “You didn’t know I would.”

The dragon stills. His tail stops lashing, his wings tuck, and the only movement is the blinking of his slitted eyes. “I command you to drop this, Zephyr Engill.” Even I feel the ripple in the air, the compulsion .

I chew my lip, staring from Zephyr to Farrell and back. He can’t just—

The dragon turns its giant head to me. “Do we kill them, Lorelei? The students?”

My eyes fly to the students. Kids I worked alongside. My eyes are blurry, slightly unfocused and so, I see it…the lack of it. The lack of red lines. The tangle of the slave bond is gone.

“They were forced, Farrell, compelled.”

Zephyr shoots me a grateful look.

I squeeze his arm, trying to convey what I really think about Farrell and his compulsions. This is not the time, Zephyr, but soon. I promise.

I run my hand over the hilt of my dagger, and it comes away sticky with Davina’s blood. “Farrell, you need to get out of here. Find Reye and get out of here before someone works out who you are. I’ll deal with the students. Do not harm Kai’s sister.”

Farrell huffs out a ring of smoke before lifting himself into the air. He circles once before scooping Reye up from the huddle of students. She screams as he powers through the air, dangling her from one foot, toward the portal.

“Asshole,” snarls Zephyr.

Beside me, the rebel soldier clears his throat. What now? The students are hustling across the sand, heading straight for us. I plant my feet on either side of Kai and pass my knife from hand to hand. The students gather in a half-moon. They don’t attack, but that’s about the only comfort I can take from their expressions. Thorne squares his shoulders and steps forward. Of course wolf-boy would try to take charge.

“Let her go,” he says, eyes fixed on Nyx. “And Kai.”

I scrub a tired hand across my face. I’d forgotten about Nyx. About how it must look to have her tied up, to have Kai inert at my feet.

Kai groans and rolls over in the sand. On hands and knees, he barfs up lake water, mucus streaming from his nose, eyes watering. Without thinking I drop to the sand beside him, an arm across his shoulders. After a few moments, he sits back, leaning against me.

Thorne’s expression softens. I jerk my head at the soldier, and he rips the tape from Nyx’s mouth.

“Motherfucking toad lover,” she screeches, and we all flinch.

Thorne snarls, his muscles bunching again.

Nyx clicks her tongue, eyeing the students. Finally, she speaks. “They’re not the enemy. We…we’re free.” Her voice breaks.

Beside me, Kai moves his hand hesitantly to his hairline With one finger he traces the nape of his neck, his jaw slack.

As one, the students copy his gesture, slow smiles breaking out. They are free; their slave bonds dissolved with Davina’s death.

But anger radiates from Zephyr in waves. His aura glows brilliant, brittle. I pat his trouser leg, then pull myself up, slipping an arm around his waist. Soon, Zephyr. We’ll get the Virrey soon.

My phone buzzes.

Raff. “We’ve wiped the system, but the security firm has been tipped off. Get to the portal, avoid any remaining cameras.”

Shit. My gaze travels around the motley group. Farrell wanted the students dead. I can’t…

“We have to go. Nyx knows too much. She stays with us, for now.” The solider heaves her back over his shoulder, ignoring the stream of abuse he gets. I turn to Zephyr. “You’ll need to carry Kai. I don’t have the strength.”

Zephyr’s face sets in a stony mask, his movements jerky as he hauls Kai to his feet. Hecate, I don’t have time for tantrums right now. I turn back to Thorne.

“To protect our identity, I’m going to ask you all to come with us.”

Some of the students protest, but he holds up a hand.

I shuffle awkwardly. “Davina bound you all to her. Now she’s gone, you have free will. I’m asking you to do this. Not telling you. No one can make you do anything, not anymore. But…even without meaning to…any one of you could put me and my allegiance at risk. You could let something slip. Or be tortured into giving up information. So—” My voice cracks and I pause. “So please, come with me. Just give me a few days.”

Thorne glances around the students before nodding. I squeeze my eyes shut against the tears of relief threatening. If they’d refused, would I have done as Farrell wanted? Maybe. I can’t dwell on it. I have to get them safely to Farrell’s now. Get them hidden away on the estate. The rebels will look out for them. I’ll make sure of it.

My bones ache, my brain is foggy, and if I don’t get a snack soon, someone is going to die. Someone else. I cringe. At my back, Chano grumbles in his sleep and I wriggle closer, enjoying the heat radiating from him. My bladder pulses, again, and I finally give in. I’m awake. No more dozing for me. I check the clock. Holy hell, I manage a grand total of two hours sleep after I healed Kai. Semi-healed Kai. I’m still not as good at healing as I should be. I crawl across Farrell’s comatose frame and poke a toe out of bed. The center of my back throbs with a kidney-punch kind of pain, and bile rushes into my mouth. I pause, taking a few deep breaths until it eases.

My wing. I need a healer.

Later. After I pee. I step around Kai’s prone body, sprawled on a mattress on the floor, and pad to their bathroom. Zephyr still hasn’t joined us. I chew the inside of my cheek.

Everything will be better with the bathroom and a shower. And a snack. I flick through my phone. Still nothing on the news. There’s no way he doesn’t know by now; it’s been almost ten hours since we escaped. Ten hours since I killed his sister. The longer there’s no breaking news, the more worry consumes me.

Chano better be right. Behaving normally after that shitshow feels alien. But he’s sure we have to keep up the pretense. Alairik and Raff are good with tech. But are they that good? I can’t shake the feeling that we should be running, not stopped here at the academy, where we’re supposed to be. A sitting target for anyone who knows what we did.

I slip out into the dawn. Biting into one of Mrs. Cocci’s cookies, my feet curled under me, a mug of steaming coffee clutched in my hand, I finally let my shoulders relax. Bliss. A few moments alone in the early morning is just what I need. My body clock is used to the Gifted Academy timetable. I’d already have had a swim by now. Except, no. It’s Friday. I should be here. Which means…I lean my head on my mug. It means I have class in under two hours.

Except I don’t even make it to class before I get summoned to the dean’s office. I’m half in, half out of my blazer when a knock sounds on the door. Kai gropes his way to it, bleary-eyed, tripping over one of Farrell’s stupid dragon statues. Swearing, he opens the door.

Val stands in the doorway, a crease from sleeping on her face, and her hair on end.

“Here you are,” she says, glaring over Kai’s shoulder. “Now I don’t even have time to go back to sleep before class.”

She steps past Kai and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “The dean sent a hada to our room. He wants to see you. In his office, yesterday from the sound of it. But are you okay? Didn’t the plan work? You look like shit.”

Harsh. And I thought I looked better after a shower and cake. I ruffle her hair. “Doing better than you. Think you still got some drool on your face.”

She swipes at me, narrowing her eyes.

“I’ll tell you later.” If there is a later. What if this is it? What if someone found out? What if the king is in the dean’s office? Kai’s hand lands on the small of my back.

“I’ll come. Leave the others. ”

Quickly, I grab my bag, sheathe my still-bloody dagger, tucking it out of sight, and follow him out of the dorms. Val, playing with a guitar pick, watches me go.

“Enter,” the dean booms, and we sidle into his posh office. I only relax when I realize there really isn’t anyone else here.

“Miss Bal.” He steeples his fingers, leaning back so far in his chair I’m surprised it doesn’t topple. “Miss Bal, I am very disappointed in your behavior.”

I straighten.

“I need an explanation.”

Kai digs his nails into my hand, and I manage to keep quiet.

“An explanation for yesterday.” He lets it hang in the air. “Why exactly did I call Dean Davina here for nothing?”

The ley line tangle. It seems like a lifetime ago. Of course the dean would be embarrassed, furious even. He glares over the top of his glasses.

“I didn’t think anyone would get you involved, Dean. I just needed some space from Hewie.” I swallow. Hewie, forgive me. “I didn’t mean for him to get all ‘screamer’ on me. I figured he’d look for me and then just give up.”

The dean rocks forward on his chair.

“Space, Miss Bal?”

I nod, frantically searching my brain. “Hewie is a bit of a fanboy since he learned about my aether. I needed space to work something out. I made a tangle in the ley lines, made Hewie think I got lost.”

The dean pulls his glasses off and rubs the bridge of his nose. “I was made to look like a fool. Magic is not a toy, Miss Bal. What exactly did you need to work out?”

I turn wide-eyed to Kai. What the fuck now?

He offers a slow wink and pulls our interlaced fingers into view. “We wanted some privacy, Dean,” he says, then he grips the back of my head with his other hand and plants a kiss on my lips. My breath catches, my lips part. His tongue traces my top lip .

The dean coughs and I pull away, startled. My lips tingle. My whole body tingles.

“You do understand you don’t have to have ‘relations’ with all your allegiance?”

I follow his gaze to my wrist, dropping Kai’s hand like it’s on fire.

A mark for Kai. An allegiance mark. Bold as day, there’s a mark for Kai on my arm.

Kai breaks the silence. “Uh, we realize, sir. We were working through it. Hewie was in the way.” He stares at the floor. “It was my idea, Dean Emrick.” He offers the dean a sly smirk. “It added a bit of spice to things. Didn’t expect anyone would get Mom involved.”

How much did it cost him to call her that? I slip my hand back into his.

The dean shoves his glasses up his nose and stands, exasperated. “What exactly am I meant to tell your mother?”

Kai pulls his best contrite expression. “I’m sorry. Look, I’ll tell Mom.”

The dean puffs his skinny chest out, hands braced on his lapels. “You better. That is not a conversation I want to have with Davina. ‘I called you in because your son was having sex with our star pupil. In public.’ No, no, no. I’m not telling her that.” He walks to the door, gesturing for us to leave. “Make sure you deal with it, Kai. Soon.”