Kammon couldn’t believe his rooms were still untouched after all these years. It had to be more than the locking spell he’d put on the door that kept the others out. There were enough masters at the University to counter anything he put in place. Even if it would have taken four of them to do it.
Maybe that was it. Maybe none of them had been willing to admit they needed the help.
He ran his fingers over old books and the left-behind treasures of his youth. As a child, having his own quarters had seemed luxurious - and wasteful. He didn’t remember anything before the streets, no mother, or father to care for him before that. He’d often found himself shoved into a small shelter with a dozen other street rats during the Distria winters to survive.
Kammon had been grateful for the warm room, the clothes, and the ever-available food, but he’d never got over his wariness of the people who had taken him in. He was mistrustful - whether by nature or environment, he would never know - but all his time within these walls hadn’t made a difference. Not here, and not in Malla City’s University, either.
A knock at the door pulled him away from his thoughts, and he looked back to see if the noise had disturbed his lover. Ezo was, predictably, still asleep. He spared a moment to wish he could rejoin Ezo in bed, but he knew better.
Imperator Zera had been one of his most patient teachers, but even she would knock down his door if she thought he was being impudent or rude.
He stepped out quickly and Zera was waiting for him. As fast as he pulled the door closed, he watched her eyes widen as she saw Ezo in the bed behind him. He ignored her but locked the entrance again like he had many years ago. If nothing else, he could keep anyone from trying to sneak into the room to surprise his lover.
“Good morning, Zera,” he said as he turned to walk down the hall.
“Kammon.”
“I assume you have something of importance to discuss this morning?”
“Do we need to worry about the young man you left behind?” she asked.
“Why would you?”
She stopped walking and stared at him as he looked at her. “I don’t know what’s different about him, Kammon, but I felt it when I saw him. What did you bring into our halls?”
“You demanded we both come. Trust me, I wouldn’t have brought Ezo within ten miles of the University if I could avoid it.”
“Do you think he means us harm?” she asked.
He scoffed. “I’m not worried about you.”
“Kammon, we are here to educate. We don’t harm anyone.”
“No, you just taught us to kill. You fed us lies about the greater good, and threw us at the world with the Vow fresh on our lips and power surging in our veins.”
“I am not to blame for who you became, Kammon.”
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He let out a deep breath. “What do you want from me, Zera? I told Ezo it was to give me a fair hearing about Lestan, but you aren’t fool enough to believe Lestan’s report. It’s probably more lie than truth. There was no reason to bring me here for that.”
The Imperator looked around the halls and raised a hand, motioning him on. “Let’s talk elsewhere, Kammon. Above anyone else, you should know that these walls have ears.”
He didn’t like it. That Zera wanted their conversation to be private said more about her needs than all the rest. She had never been an alarmist.
He followed her down familiar hallways until they reached her office doors. While she swept into the room, he looked around, noting the same trappings that had been there while he was still a student.
Zera settled behind her desk, and when Kammon took a seat on the other side, she leaned forward and set her hands on the desktop, fiddling nervously with the hem of her jacket sleeve.
“Jacob kept all knowledge of his nephew from us. That’s made some people nervous.”
“Jacob had no reason to send him to the University,” Kammon said.
“He’s an elementalist, or claiming the title at least. Some would say his lack of formal education is a problem.”
“Ezo has a stronger sense of his powers than most elementalists I’ve known. He isn’t a worry.”
“Then why did Jacob keep him from us?”
There was no way Kammon would talk about Ezo and the real reason his uncle had kept him secret. If Ezo didn’t give it away just by being himself, Kammon wouldn’t help the Imperium by spying on him.
“You know how Jacob felt about the War-Sworn. And unless the University has suddenly had a change of heart and isn’t actively pressing its students into joining their ranks, he would have never brought him here.”
“And yet, now his nephew is traveling with the most well-known War-Sworn of our time.”
“I don’t have time for this,” Kammon said, standing up. Yes, he was famous for his service on the front lines, but he was more of a horror story than a hero. “I’m Disavowed, not War-Sworn.”
“Do you ever miss the camaraderie, Kammon?” Zera asked. “There’s still a place for you here.”
The only thing he missed about being in service to the Imperium were the soldiers he’d known. While he would never say he had friends among their ranks, Kammon had people he trusted back then.
Before he walked away from it all. Before his hands were bloodied, and his soul had turned black from the smoke and ash of Distria’s enemies.
“What are you offering me?”
Zera smiled as she tucked her hands into her lap. “You’re the most powerful elementalist alive. The only one who can master all four elements and who has an effigy. You could teach so much to the next generation of elementalists.”
“Me? Teaching? Do you remember how I used to terrorize the younger students?”
She didn’t say anything, and he realized then that she knew he wouldn’t accept. Her words were an opening gambit, and he still had no idea what she wanted.
“What do you really want, Zera? Or, more importantly, what does the Imperium want from me?”
“Kammon, they want you to re-take the Vow and take your rightful place at the front lines.”
“We aren’t at war, Imperator,” he reminded her, but dread settled against his skin like fresh ash.
“Kammon, you know better than most. We’re always a breath away from war with someone. All it takes is for the right voice to be raised too loud. We need to be ready.”
“I’m not your weapon.”
“There are some who think that is all you are. They think if we can’t point you in the direction we want and aim you at our enemies, that you are far too dangerous to be left alone.”
“Is that a threat?” he demanded.
“A warning, Kammon. If you don’t see reason, the Imperium may find it in their best interest to keep you somewhere safe.”
He leaned over her desk and felt her pull at the air around her as if she might suddenly need protection from him. “If I wanted to hurt you, Zera, nothing you can do would stop me,” he reminded her. Her eyes seemed to harden at his words, but he refused to back down. He’d never been good at that. Not as a child on the streets. Not as a student in these halls. Not as a soldier on the battlefield in foreign lands.
“Perhaps you had better remind them, Imperator, that I have always been the greatest threat to Distria’s enemies. The Imperium doesn’t want to know what would happen if they became my enemy.”
“Is that a threat?”
She echoed his earlier question, and he smiled as he returned her answer back to her.
“A warning. One I hope I don’t need to give twice.”