Chapter Seventeen

The only difference between my Bonding and any Candidate today is…

I knew my Bondmate well before we sealed our Bond.

From the personal journal of Ozora

Dean of Magics

The Bestiary

****

Taenya and I were sitting together under the tent, sharing a bottle of wine and a bit of blissflower. It was late, but neither of us cared. We’d finished that fucking map and that deserved some celebration. Magelights in their crystal containers danced, giving the tent and stone walls life and movement. Or was that just my head making them seem to swim?

“I thought I was dead a few times. No saddle, no lashings to hold me on. Just my strength.” I told Taenya. “I’ve flown on eagles, flown on your dragon, but this was the scariest flight of my life. Had to hold on for real and I am not used to that.”

It was true. Flying on Cleobah was a whole different level of terrifying exhilaration. Her frame was altogether different from a horse or an eagle. I’d had to grip tight with my legs and clench my fists in the ruff of longer fur and feathers around her shoulders with nothing but my own strength holding me on as we soared over Hastrior. What had seemed like a good idea from the ground was more unnerving than I’d expected, but I’d gritted my teeth and held on. I’d regret it tomorrow, though. Already the stiffness in my legs reminded me I’d used them more than usual. “Do I seem the muscle-y type to you?” I flexed one arm.

Hey, I’m a mage, not a fighter. I don’t need muscles to be in shape.

“I wouldn’t have dropped you,” Cleobah murmured from her spot nearby. She’d piled a bunch of cushions together, making a big fluffy bed that she was curled up on. “That was the most gentle flight ever.”

Fraser walked out of the keep, heading toward the cliff.

It was abruptly ten times hotter in here.

Black leather breeches clung to his muscled thighs and round ass, and a tight black leather vest seemed molded to his pecs and abs. He’d pulled his long mop back into a tight braid.

“Why all the leather?” I did not tell him he looked hot enough to scorch. First, he already knew. Second, his ego didn’t need any more stroking.

His arms were bare, and the magelights glowed on his coppery skin, casting bright highlights and deep shadows on his muscled biceps and forearms. My fingers and palms itched to caress those curves and dips.

He whipped his head around. “Why are you still awake?” That was definitely a demand, not a question.

“Guess you didn’t see us.” I pointed to myself, then Taenya. She lay draped across one couch and I sprawled on the one opposite the glowing brazier. Typically, I welcomed its warmth in the late-night coolness, but since spotting Fraser I now felt overheated.

I wouldn’t have seen him if I hadn’t been facing the gate of the keep. I caught the look of surprise that he promptly smothered, turning it into a glare.

“You’re looking very dangerous tonight, Fraser.” I pointed out. They were nigh invisible, but he had to have at least a dozen daggers hidden in those tight leathers. I’d seen him train with them, slipping the thin blades out and whipping them at his targets faster than the eye could follow. His only visible weapon was the longsword at his side. “Expecting trouble?”

No, he was the weapon. A bold warning. An unmistakable threat.

Especially in those black leathers.

My mouth went dry, and I grabbed for my wineglass when my mind pictured peeling that vest off him.

“Who’s waiting on the beach?” Taenya asked, voicing my next thought.

“Oh come on! What the fuck?” He went straight to angry and yelling. “Are you my mommies to interrogate me?” Which could only mean.

“Nailed it.” I said to Taenya, holding up one hand in acknowledgement.

“No!” Fraser spluttered. “Well, yes, but … it’s …” He clamped his lips and stalked into the tent, eyes grim. He leaned over, bracing his palms against the back of the sturdy couch, giving me an up-close view as he bent over. “Look, it’s nothing to do with either one of you. This is my personal business. So you can both fuck right off.” He straightened and waved one pointed finger at both of us.

“So sensitive. Why would that be?” Cleobah purred, lifting her head from her paws. “Seeking long lost treasure, Fraser?”

“You can fuck right off too, kitty-cat.” He snapped before spinning on his boot heel and disappearing into the dark beyond the tent.

“I think he really likes me.” I looked over my shoulder at the sphinx. Cleobah slow-blinked at Fraser’s retreating back, her expression pure mischief. Narrowed cat-like eyes on an all too human face, plus the tiniest lift of her lips gave her an uncanny, predatory expression. I’d seen the cats of the keep wear a similar expression when hunting, just before they caught their prey.

“You know where he’s going?” I asked her.

“Of course I do.” She still stared off into the dark, but Fraser was long since gone. We all heard his boots ring, then fade as he descended the stone steps to the beach. Cleobah’s expression shifted to something like concern, but the normally talkative sphinx said nothing more.

“That’s not suspicious, is it?” Taenya asked. “Stalking out of here looking like a murder about to happen.”

Cassyrra was invisible in the field beyond until she hummed, igniting the gorgeous lines and swirls along her wings and flank with faint lavender and sapphire.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Should we go after him?” I asked. “Do we care if he’s going to kill someone?”

Taenya sat up. “Cassyrra isn’t worried about him. Says he can handle himself.” She stood and stretched. “I’m for bed. If he’s not back in the morning, then I’ll worry.”

She strolled off into the dark, heading for her dragon.

“Good advice.” I stood too, bidding Cleobah a pleasant night and heading for my tent.

Sleep didn’t come. I couldn’t stop thinking about Fraser. He’d become distant after we started mapping the sigils.

Okay, after we kissed.

It was awkward for both of us to be together, which was very little since we found the sigils. Training was on hold right now. The high elf sigils became a priority and a welcome distraction, with the bonus of keeping us far apart for most of the day. Lately, I only saw him when he emerged from his tent for breakfast. The last few days, he’d returned late, after I was asleep.

I did not know how I felt about us. That kiss. It burned, the memory keeping me awake now as well as the shame. I had to be the worst sort of hypocrite. I hated him for five years. Only a month ago, I’d have turned him into a starling for sure if he crossed my path.

Why the hell did I kiss him? I tossed and flopped. My discomfort had nothing to do with my bed or position, an ache I tried hopelessly to deny.

Whatever. It’s his life. We aren’t a thing. I rolled over on my bed, trying to find a more comfortable position.

“I know you’re awake. Can I come in?” Cleobah’s voice came from beyond the thick canvas wall. Both moons were out, making it bright enough to cast her leonine shadow on the wall.

Magelights ignited in their crystals when I stood. Shuffling across the rugs, I untied the lacings holding the tent door closed.

“You might want to put on different clothes for this excursion.” Cleobah walked in, crossed over to where I had a small cabinet and a dressing table, looking over my things.

“Am I dressing for a fancy party?” I asked when she pulled a couple of necklace talismans from my collection, dragging them across the wood of the dressing table with one claw tip. She didn’t scratch the surface, despite the size of her paw and claw.

“It’s a party.” She said. “I don’t know about fancy, but we’re going to crash it. Wear those.” She thumped the dressing table holding the talismans she selected with her paw, making them rattle. “Then pick something you can be … flexible in.”

“Where are we going?” I asked, scooping up the two necklaces made of silver and gemstones. I didn’t look, just obediently draped them around my neck and followed the sphinx to where she sat looking over my wardrobe.

“Bring daggers. And that.” Cleobah gestured to my belt pouch, the one stuffed with pre-loaded cantrips and potions, and ignored my question. She was being curiously quiet and her face was taut with something that looked like pain.

Soon, I’d rigged out in all-black, tight-fitting leggings, a clingy high-necked, long-sleeve top, and a vest solely for my throwing daggers.

“This doesn’t seem much like a party.” I said, wrapping the belt around my waist. “More like burglary or robbery.”

“Close enough.” Cleobah pressed her lips together and muttered. “Let’s go.”

She wouldn’t answer any questions, just led us out across the field under the stars, up to a large boulder and stopped.

“Get on.” She jerked her chin at the boulder, her jaw clenched.

“Wait. What’s going on?” This was all too weird. She’d taken us wide of Taenya’s tent and Cassyrra, whose snores buzzed in the distance.

Several old tales of sphinx leading people to their death flashed through my memory. Cliniys in his Bestiary, Complete wrote several times of their dangerously capricious nature, using those tales as proof. They liked to play with their prey and often designed intricate traps.

I did not want to end up as one of those stories.

“You know I can’t tell you outright. This is still in the future. Well, your future.” She winced.

I crossed my arms, shook my head. “Maybe we should talk with Taenya.”

Cleobah scowled, anger erasing the pain in her face. “Don’t be like that. This has nothing to do with her, and he’s running out of time. Dammit.” She grimaced, lips twisting and compressed. Her front legs buckling as her eyes tightened. She was definitely in pain. “Knew that one would get me. Listen, I can’t tell, but I can show you. Get. On.”

“He?” There could only be one “he,” right? The rest of my question stayed unspoken, and Cleobah didn’t say, didn’t even nod. Her lips remained sealed.

Once more, I was astride the sphinx.

She broke into a lope, heading straight for the cliffs, then stretched into a run and launched by leaping from the edge. I clamped my lips on a yell of surprise and bent low over her shoulders, holding on tight as she plunged toward the rocks below. Her wings pressed deep into my legs, quivering as she folded them tight to her flanks like a falcon in a stoop.

This is it. I refused to die screaming. The wind tore at my eyes and shrieked in my ears. My muscles spasmed to hold me on when Cleobah snapped her wings out, swooping into level flight.

“You’re pulling my feathers out and making it hard to breathe! Relax!” She shouted over her shoulder. “I told you, I won’t let you fall.”

I relaxed my grip on her shoulders. “Sorry!” I yelled back, not sorry. “If we’re going to make this a habit, let’s come up with some straps, so I don’t have to clutch at you when you fall into a dive like that.”

Her muttering vibrated through my legs, clamped around her ribs, but whatever she said got lost to the wind of her flight.

From the air, Hastrior’s lights twinkled, reflected in the bay's water, but we left them behind as we soared inland. Cleobah landed us in a small field beyond the city’s perimeter walls. Houses, some occupied, some not, judging by the lights glowing in windows, lay scattered along a dirt road. It tracked from the hills behind us toward the main road that lead to the Solar Gate.

“Your answers are in there.” Cleobah sat and nodded at one house in particular after I slid to the ground.

No lights shone from darkened windows. Peeling paint, a yard overgrown with weeds, but with glass in all the frames and the door looked sturdy. The other dark buildings on this road had doors busted open like their windows.

I guess that meant it was still occupied, and its residents were asleep.

I looked from the sphinx to the house and back to Cleobah. “Am … am I supposed to go in there?” I pointed at the dilapidated building and raised my brows. Was she serious?

“Only if you want to know.”

“Know what?” I was confused. Why had she flown us out here in the middle of the night? “I wasn’t serious about the burglary part.” Irritated, I asked. “Weren’t we were talking about Fraser back at the keep? He’d never come here. Why bring me to some run-down house in Hastrior’s outlying burbs?”

“I’ve told you as much as I can.” Her tail lashed the long dry grasses, and her lips clamped tight, scarcely letting her words out. “Go in, don’t go in. Is it dangerous? Could you die?” She muttered to herself, rising to her feet and pacing, plate-sized paws swishing through the brittle stems. Her expression transformed, becoming more ancient and implacable. Her gaze lost focus. I wasn’t sure she saw me anymore and wondered if I should be worried. “These are things people always ask. The answer is the same.” She halted herself abruptly. Awareness snapped back into her golden eyes, filling with sad concern. “Yes.”

This was a different side of Cleobah.

“I didn’t ask … you came to me.” I protested, not sure where she was going with her brief speech. “You’re the one dragged us out here.”

“I really have to spell this out for you?” Exasperated, she rolled her eyes, but it was a relief because she was back to her normal, youthful self. Crazy-talking, ancient Cleobah was a scary creature. “Okay, not making it easy for me.”

On impulse, I wanted to bark back at her, but something stopped me. I took a breath. Heard the quiet pleading behind her tight, sarcastic tones.

After spending so much time with Cleobah this last week, I’d learned a few things. Despite being born just a couple hundred years after Cassyrra, she was very much the youngster she seemed. Sphinxes, being immortal, take a very long time to mature.

Despite all her power and ability, I saw the struggling young girl who honestly was trying to help. Unsure how, she’d cover her fear and uncertainty with sarcasm and snark.

I thought over what she’d told me this evening and came up with a disturbing conclusion.

She wasn’t being a snotty teen; she was terrified and unable to warn me outright. Only able to drop vague hints and hope I’d put them together because of the constraints on her about revealing the future. Worse, it seemed to hurt her when she came too close to exposing too much about upcoming events.

“Are you telling me Fraser is in there?” I asked, horrified. This was a place no nereid would come to willingly. Which meant something bad had happened.

Her expression and wings sagged with relief. She could speak now with ease once I recognized what she’d been hinting around. She blew out her breath like she’d been holding it. “Be sneaky.” She whispered.