Page 16 of Tino

“I hadn’t even thought about training,” Xari agreed. “Maybe we should ask where we can train privately without fear of damaging cabins.”

Three quick knocks on the door followed by a, “meeting time!” had us all groaning. It seemed like none of us liked what was coming. What perfect future leaders we were.

Chapter 12

Tino

We followed Tane back to where we’d arrived yesterday. It was a huge opening, almost like a performance circle, with seats around the circle for over one hundred people. With the fifty mages here, it was around half-filled as more and more mages joined us and sat.

They’d made us some thrones out of wood, and Tane gestured for us to sit down. It was fucking awkward. Julie could barely walk so Xari held on to her side as he guided her into her own chair next to ours.

Grethe came running looking alarmed and ready for action. “What happened?” she demanded as she took in Julie’s appearance.

“We don’t know,” Xari admitted. “She woke up looking drained and well, awful. We fear it’s her being a non-magical anchor that’s hurting her.”

Grethe nodded, clearly taking in everything Xari had said, then she looked around at the gathered mages. “Timothy!” A red headed man came running and soon joined us. “Their anchor is human and they fear it’s draining her.”

He grimaced while taking a closer look at Julie who could barely keep her eyes open. “I think she needs refueling,” he said, like that made perfect sense.

“Oh, of course!” Grethe exclaimed, then grabbed Xari and Niam and placed their hands on Julie’s left shoulder. Once she was satisfied with the placement of their hands, she grabbed Silver and Wilston, who came willingly. As soon as they all touched her, light flowed from their hands and lit Julie up from within. Her eyes fluttered, a sign something was definitely happening.

I tugged Altair further into my side, my hand resting protectively around his waist. The whole area was silent as the others helped Juliegain back her energy. It took maybe ten minutes before the light faded away, and once it was fully gone, we could finally see the effect it had on her.

“Thank fuck!” Silver exclaimed, hugging Julie to his side. “You look like your usual gorgeous self now.”

“I feel better too,” she sighed and returned his hug.

“All anchors need recharging from their bonded. Remember to touch her all at once at least once a week, but more often than that if she needs it,” Timothy explained and once he was happy with our agreeing nods, he left and returned to his seat amongst the other mages.

Grethe then took in Tair’s ankle and did one last feel with her magic before declaring it fully healed. He thanked her and she left to find herself a seat.

Two mages we hadn’t been introduced to yesterday came over to where we now sat on our thrones. One was male and the other female. The man had the same silver hair as Silver and it seemed I wasn’t the only one who looked between the two men to compare the shade.

The man stopped in front of us and bowed. “Rightful leaders, my name is Nujik, and this is Willow. We’re the leaders of the rebellion against the false leaders.” They kneeled with their heads downcast, truly showing us their respect and loyalty. It was still too surreal. Luckily, for me, the others seemed to think so too and none of them knew where to look.

Silver was the first to speak. “You said your name is Nujik?”

They rose and he nodded.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a brother named Guriz, do you?” It seemed Silver himself was thinking they might be related, if this Guriz was a family member.

“I do,” he confirmed. “I am your uncle, Silver. And so pleased to finally meet you.”

I dared a quick look at Xarius who seemed unbothered by it and from how Silver reacted, Xari had likely shown him the emotions by letting him feel his uncle could be trusted. It was something Xarius had told us he would start doing, giving us an uneasy feeling if someone was lying and could not be trusted and then happy calm feelings when they spoke the truth.

“Then why haven’t we met before today? Even before my parents left me?” Damn, Silver had been abandoned by his own parents?

“Your grandmother,” he answered with a sad smile. “I wanted to take you away and protect you, train you. She believed you were strong enough to fight your way back on your own. In her words, you needed to fight for yourself to prove you truly were one of the true leaders.”

“The wards,” Silver whispered to himself. “She had so many wards. You’re the person she tried to keep out.” It wasn’t a question, and from his agreeing nods he knew it himself.

“She feared I would take you against her will, and I have to be honest and admit that I would’ve. I hated knowing you had to grow up being seen as an outcast, bullied for who you were born to be. But now I must admit that your grandmother was right. Had I kept you here, you wouldn’t have found true friendship with the others, and having been pampered and loved your whole childhood without any real battles wouldn’t have brought you all as close as you are.”

Willow grabbed Nujik’s hand and smiled lovingly at him. “I rarely hear him admit fault,” she teased. “I’m your aunt, and I’ve been eager to meet you myself. When we spoke to your parents andgrandmother about your future they left, stating they weren’t ready to stand up against the leaders and would prefer to live their life in peace without any drama. We were given custody over you. That was, until your grandmother put her foot down and took you. She didn’t want you to know about your destiny, she wanted you to be a normal child. We spent many years searching in vain, almost desperate at one point to find our missing son, a son we wanted to love and protect.”

“But,” Nujik interjected. “We’re both glad things happened the way that they did.” He grabbed something from his back pocket and offered it to Silver. It was a letter, but I couldn’t read what was written on the front.

“I finally found your grandmother,” he said and swallowed audibly. “She gave me this and said you need to read it once you’re alone.”