Page 42 of Eternal Light (Fated in the Stars #5)
Triumph Over Hardship (Nix)
“It’s down here.” Grayson pats Nix’s hand where it’s currently looped through his arm. His palm is hot, almost as if he’s already letting his fire Affinity slip free. Pulling them to a sudden stop for the second time in the middle of the long hallway, he murmurs, “I’m nervous as fuck right now.”
Ah. Grayson is rarely nervous about anything—whether that’s from a well-earned confidence in his ability to conquer whatever life throws at him in his career, his relationships, or learning to work that stripper pole.
Gideon had told him last fall that enigmas were inordinately gifted.
Nix hadn’t disagreed, because he couldn’t have three in his heart and his bed without knowing that, but he had thought it was something more than innate talent.
The enigmas in Nix’s life also work hard.
They strive to overcome their challenges and never look past an opportunity to be—do—better at whatever life throws at them. Even Rowan, who still has emotional and physical growing pains, gives life everything he has—more than sometimes.
Rowan, being Rowan-wolf, is a case in point.
So it is rare to see Grayson hesitate—especially for the second time since they arrived for their scheduled appointment with his magic instructors.
They’d meandered through The Guild’s gardens on their way; it was quiet without all the students, who were still home for their winter break. Though there had been teachers flitting in and out of doors and across the great expanses of lawn.
Most teachers used their winter break hours for research, to hone their skills, and develop their Talents.
Magic meant a life of learning, Grayson had said when Nix had wondered why they weren’t using their time off from students to relax on well-earned vacations.
After watching a small woman in yellow rubber boots lead a tiny flock of ducklings down to a small pond while speaking with the ferret wrapped around her neck, Grayson had led them to the grand front doors, where Nix had the pleasure of meeting the mysterious Elysia Noctis, guardian of the foyer and seer of souls.
(That’s what Nix called her in his mind, and no, he hadn’t said so out loud.)
She’d welcomed them like old friends, staring for a long time at both Rowan-wolf and then at Nix.
He had felt her kind eyes on them long after they’d ascended the magnificent staircase, where, once they were out of sight, Grayson stopped so he could pull Nix to him and press his nose into his hair, snorting great lungfuls of Nix’s vanilla-baby-bread scent.
After a few long moments, he’d crouched to rub Rowan’s fur with both hands while staring, unspeaking into Rowan’s eyes. It had only been the sloppy lick to Grayson’s face that had the anxious enigma on his feet, looping his arm through Nix’s with a huff and no further explanation.
They’d made the trek down the hall, past closed doors—some with plaques that read teachers’ names like Kamala Leone, Transformation and Transfiguration , and Avril Seumuldul, Earth Affinity Associate .
At the far end, there were double doors partially open, where Nix could hear laughter and the indistinct sound of voices.
It’s how they had ended up here, stopped for the second time, Grayson’s hand hot on top of his.
“I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“It’ll be good, Gray. They’re here to help you, and you don’t need to put any extra pressure on yourself.”
“Yeah, but there is pressure, isn’t there? This whole Withers thing means I have to bring my A-game or it’ll go for shit.”
Shit, meaning someone could die for real.
Rowan-wolf growls, baring his super-long, extra-scary Were fangs, as if to say you aren’t fighting this guy alone.
“Ro is right. You aren’t going in alone.”
Jamie, Rowan, and Finn are going to be there.
Wherever there is.
Hopefully, Withers will be taken by surprise enough that they can contain him and turn him over to the Wardens.
The only reason they weren’t calling them in immediately had everything to do with their plans for Carnell.
There will be no authorities for him. No prison where he can rally his denizens to build an even bigger empire under the noses of the prison system.
No, Carnell will meet the end of his existence in a way that is satisfying to Gideon.
Nix, for one, will have no regrets.
Best to keep any kind of official agency off-premises until they’d done what they’d come to do all those weeks ago.
“One step at a time? We can just meet them. Let’s start there,” Nix says finally, before he cups Grayson’s cheek, giving him his best encouraging smile.
Kissing Nix’s palm, Grayson squeezes it before returning it to the crook of his arm.
“Yeah, okay. I can do that. You ready?”
Rowan huffs, just nosing the door all the way open.
Nix whispers under his breath, “I don’t think this wolf thing has done good things for his manners.”
Grayson laughs and follows their mate into the office with a short knock on the open door.
“Hello?”
There are three people in the room with the Master of Novices. They had been enjoying each other’s company, their ease with one another clear in how they sat close together and how easily they smiled and laughed.
Nix recognizes Luminary Selinde Varna from the cottage. She’s sharing the couch with a tall, bald man with glasses. The two chairs on either side are occupied by Ignatius and a friendly-looking person dressed in a muumuu of rainbow-tied silk, who has light pink hair and a dark goatee.
“Hello, Novice Grayson! Nix, and of course, Rowan. Welcome, welcome.” Ignatius jumps to his feet to offer the other, longer couch. “Please, sit before we get started, and then I’ll make our introductions.”
Nix sits closest to Ignatius, with Grayson closest to the stranger in the chair.
Rowan ignores the offer to sit, instead making his rounds around the room, sniffing and poking into places he’s not been invited.
Yup, manners are at an all-time low.
Magnanimously, Ignatius lets it go, settling himself once again in his chair.
This afternoon, he’s wearing a bright lime green hand-knit sweater with Calcifer on it from Howl’s Moving Castle, paired with pink-and-green plaid pants, yellow socks, and purple Birkenstocks.
“You met Luminary Selinde earlier this morning. I’ve also asked The Guild’s instructors, Emre Kaya and Vaayu Suraksha, to join us as well. Emre is our authority on The Plain and shields, while Vaayu is our Air Affinity instructor.”
The taller man with the beautiful, shiny head stands to offer his hand to Nix, and then to Grayson. It’s met with a small growl from behind a thick purple line on the floor, where Rowan had been smelling two chairs.
To Emre’s credit, he only flinches slightly.
“Please, call me Emre. We don’t stand on formalities here. Manners are neither here…nor there.”
It’s aimed at his traveling colleague, and he grins slyly at his inside traveling-related joke.
“Cut it out,” Selinde sighs. “Nice to see you all again.”
Vaayu smiles as they offer their hand. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Nice to meet you, too. These are my mates, Nix and Rowan,” Grayson says.
The newcomers look from Nix to Rowan, who is sitting under the phoenix Aldis’s perch, a look of suspicion on his wolfy face, nose in the air.
Or at least, Nix hopes it’s just suspicion, and not a plan about how he’s going to get up there and eat the beautiful creature.
It could go either way, honestly.
For once, Nix—a pregnant omega—isn’t the most curious thing in the room.
They look a bit dumbfounded, except Selinde and Ignatius, who look fond.
“Rowan is The Wolf,” he clarifies for his colleagues.
Nix barks out a peal of laughter—the magic users were no doubt wondering how Grayson could be mated to an actual canine. Yikes.
It’s Vaayu who breaks the tension and joins Nix. “The Wolf? How thrilling.”
On hearing that, Rowan gives Aldis another look of warning before crossing to sit on Grayson’s other side on the couch, nearest the Air Affinity.
“Nice to meet you, Rowan.”
Rowan nods his head, laying his head on Grayson’s thigh.
“Well, time is ticking,” Emre says, his voice flavored with a lyrical rise and fall. “Ignatius says you are new to your powers, Grayson? Perhaps you could bring us up to speed, and then we could talk about how we can help you today.”
Grayson tells them about their soul bond and how he discovered Traveling through his dreams. How he had been having them since last fall, and how his link to The Plain had only gotten stronger and stronger.
He ends his tale with how he blew up the MRI, trying to take Nimue on in the library, Traveling to see Carnell, and being able to heal Jamie.
Hearing the whole thing in one fell swoop like that gives Nix a jolt. He’d known Grayson had been going through a lot—add in their babies, trying to counter Carnell and now Withers, and Nix is reminded that his soulmate is carrying a significant mental and physical load.
Sliding his hand along the couch seat, Nix slips his fingertips under the back of Grayson’s borrowed T-shirt. Skin hot to the touch, he tucks his fingers into the back of Grayson’s waistband.
Nix loves the heat because he runs hot as well, and the zing of pleasure he feels from the smooth skin goes from the tips of those fingers to his toes.
Grayson must feel it too, because his back is suddenly covered with goosebumps, although he doesn’t reveal it to their audience, only continuing his story to the end.
“That’s all of it. The hardest part of the whole thing is that it surges sometimes and is hard to control. I’ve got it clamped down most of the time, but when I sleep or when I’m near other magic or when I’m…uh…emotional, it’s almost impossible.”
So, Grayson is struggling all the time.
“Nimue says I need to clamp the flow between me and Nix, but I can’t. We’re soulmates, and I can’t—well, it sounds dramatic to say, but I can’t live with me and The Plain on one side and him on the other.”