Page 15 of Tino

“While he was dead on his feet after being kidnapped and starved?” Tino challenged.

“Eh, fair enough,” Silver grimaced. “Are you feeling better?” This time the question was aimed at me and I nodded with a grateful smile. I didn’t mind that they hadn’t asked initially, knowing more important things were at play.

“When do you plan on doing it then?” Xari asked, looking way too interested in Tino and I having sex.

“Today,” we replied in unison. We looked at each other and grinned, both of us taken back to our childhood where we would speak simultaneously. It drove our parents mad, making us do it more often.

“Ergh, you’re already too fucking sweet to stand,” Silver shuddered. “I can only imagine how you’ll be after you’ve bonded.”

We snickered, neither of us feeling the least bit sorry for being tooth achingly cute together.

“Okay, so.” It was Xari’s turn to stand up and clap his hands. “You two do the bonding today no matter what, and we’ll give you privacy to do it. Maybe we should plan it so it’ll happen after lunch? Less chance of mages interrupting your moment.”

I nodded in agreement and so did Tino, neither of us wanting to be disturbed when finally bonding.

“I doubt they’ll disturb them,” Niam said. “They want them to get their powers just as much as we do. Hell, they’ll likely lock you inside until you’ve bonded.” We all grinned at that.

“Bonding is planned then,” Silver said aloud, almost as if he was checking off a mental list for the meeting. “Next up is the whole anchor thing.” We all looked at Julie.

“What about it?” she asked warily.

“How do I say it in the politest way possible,” Silver mused aloud. “Hun, you look absolutelywrecked.”

Julie threw a half-eaten piece of bread at Silver, not even mustering the energy to look too offended by his comment.

“See!” Silver exclaimed, gesturing to the fallen piece of bread that was now lying by his feet. “You wouldn’t have missed that shot had you been feeling well rested and fucking alive! Have you even seen yourself today?”

She shook her head. “Is it really that bad?” She looked at Xari who grimaced and nodded.

“You look like the time where you had mono and I had to take care of you. Only without the sweat.”

She glared at Xari. “So, what I’m hearing is that I’m a zombie and you’re worried in your own rude kinda way.”

“Basically, yes,” Silver agreed. “I doubt being an anchor is good for you, even if we all only wantyoufor the job. If it’s killing you, we need to fix it before it’s too late.”

I nodded my agreement. Julie looked way too sick for it to be healthy for her.

“But Grethe didn’t mention I wouldn’t be able to continue?” Julie said with a sad tone to her voice.

Wilston shrugged. “You might be the first non-magical anchor.”

I doubted he was trying to worry her further, but seeing the white in her eyes grow bigger, told me she wasn’t feeling assured anymore. She was likely afraid now.

Her eyes seemed to glaze over and then she smiled at Xari. “Thank you,” she breathed, then closed her eyes and rested.

“What did you do?” Tino asked with a low voice.

“I took her fear away and filled her with contentment and happiness instead,” Xari explained. He looked worriedly at Julie’s sleeping form. She hadn’t been that bad yesterday and seeing as we all got food delivered and a long night’s rest in a real bed, she shouldn’t be looking worse.

Silver began pacing the floors. “Bonding and Julie done. What else?” I could tell he felt just as unnerved as me about Julie, they all did. But he was right, the mages could be here any moment to collect us for the meeting, and we needed to be in agreement before they did.

“How long are we staying here? That could be a good question for them to answer. Is there someone who could train us? Maybe something like that?” Niam said.

“Anything we don’t want them to know?” Wilston asked after Silver had mentally added Niam’s questions to his list.

“Our familiars? We could keep them invisible and hide them?” Xari suggested.

“I don’t think we can do that. We need to train with them too, and without seeing them, we risk hurting them or others while we train,” Silver countered.