I walked over towards him, looking at him straight in the eyes as if I was going to berate him.
Instead, I rested my hand on his head, ruffling his hair. I bent down a little so our eyes were directly in line before I spoke up again.
“You’re not,” I finally spoke up. “You’re not a spineless idiot. Liking a feminine art is not being plagued by homosexuality. Having similar tastes as a woman does not make you a coward or weak. Do what you enjoy unless it causes others misery. Turn a blind eye towards those who judge you. Be yourself. What the world thinks does not matter.”
A hopelessly confusing rush of confusion and gratitude distorted my straightforward train of thought.
He….. was giving me a pep talk? A comforting speech? I had slight whiplash from the speedy change in attitude. What had happened?
“Thank you,” I told him hesitantly after a long stretch of silence.
I patted his head for good measure before standing up straight, stuffing my hands in my pockets. Elliot’s face resembled that of a confused rabbit and it was too amusing to look away from.
“You haven’t eaten, I suppose,” I didn’t mean it as a question. “God, I feel like I’m dealing with a little child, and we’re the same age. Come, I’ll get you something from the kitchen.”
His comment brought my self-esteem crashing back down again. Forcing my expression to go blank for the second time, I gave a slight shrug. “Is that an insult?”
I raised my eyebrow again.
“It’s however you want to take it as,” I turned my back towards him, walking towards the door before I paused. “Wear your shin guards and follow me to the kitchen.”
I sighed deeply through my nose and returned to the sofa, working quickly with the clunky, cumbersome shin guards. And once again, I was chained down to the Earth. Unable to escape, metaphorically.
Lucky me.
I made my way into the kitchen, hands slipping back into my pockets.
I won’t lie. I barely ate anything before I went to find Elliot, so we were both sitting in the kitchen, eating our food slowly.
Once we were done, I had us both run five laps around the field before I let him go, instead practicing magic with Key.
The Oath was in about three days from now, and I could recognize this feeling anywhere. I didn’t want his life to end, nor did I want him gone from the Academy.
He had to pass. He just had to.
Third Person’s POV:
The empty room lit with fire, the darkness licking at anything it could touch.
On the floor was a large symbol, drawn into the hard surface, and splattered with old blood. The room was where the Oath took place, the symbol being the summoning circle.
The door finally opened and a student stepped inside, taking a deep, shaking breath. He recited some words, cut into his finger and let the blood drop on the circle.
It flashed blue before immediately turning crimson, and was over before anyone could blink. The boy was all alone.
He had failed.
After him came another. He left with a level 2.
Another entered. All that remained of him was splatters of blood and the red dying into small sparks and finally, resting into blue.
And then Elliot entered the room.
The morning took an eternity to be over, full of anxious glances at the clock and failed attempts to emotionally prepare myself. But finally, it was time. Time for the Oath, the thing I had been praying for since before I could read. The ritual that I’d been preparing for, day after day, for the past day and a half.
I didn’t know whether to be terrified or excited beyond words.
As I was waiting for my turn, going over my notes for the millionth time while unbearable nausea twisted my gut, a heart-wrenching scream shattered the air. Dread flooded me from head to toe. Yet another young boy… dead. Eliminated. Gone. Was that to be my fate?
And suddenly, it was my turn. My feet were propelling me into the sacred chamber of their own accord. I stopped in the centre of the glowing blue circle, swallowing thickly at the sight of the blood beneath my feet, and reached for the handle of the ornate knife that hovered in the air ahead of me.
Most people sliced open the tip of their finger. I slashed a deep gouge through my whole palm, biting back a grimace of oain as my blood spilled down onto the circle below.
Third Person’s POV:
The second Elle’s blood hit the floor, the symbol flashed black. Darkness nipped at her skin, flames flickering, some growing out.
The darkness emitted from the symbol began to dance around Elle, wrapping around her frame as Elle’s eyes turned completely blank. She entered the Oath. Finally, it was time to form a bond.
Fear. That was the first thing I felt when the darkness engulfed me. But, unlike most, I didn’t hide it, didn’t try to cover it up. For once, I shed my act like a wool cloak in the summer, exposing myself completely. How on earth could I expect to form a Bond if my potential mate couldn’t see my entirety?
I was a woman. I was afraid, confused, lost. I had been dreaming about this moment for as long as I could remember. Surrounded by nothing but pitch black, I spilled all my secrets into the ground.
That’s when I heard the voice.
”Elle…”
Third Person’s POV:
The black light surrounding Elle immediately dissolved, flashing white, then blue, then white and finally red. Elle’s eyes turned white, her mind lost to the connection that was slowly beginning to form, her aura steady.
It didn’t fluctuate. It didn’t slip out of control. It leaked pleasantly, fearlessly, confidently.
And when it was over, the light died out. She wasn’t alone. A small, white and molten red creature was lying on the floor next to her feet.
Fireworks exploded through my mind, crackling with intense, burning energy. My potential bondmate—they were speaking to me. I was alive. I had a chance. Tears sprung to my eyes.
The creature was female. I couldn’t see her or what she looked like, but I could do much, much more. Her soul was an open book, her thoughts and emotions there for me to read. And I knew that I was the exact same for her.
The fabled ‘conversation’ between potential bondmates featured few words. Instead, we explored the depths of each other’s minds and spirits. I could feel the creature’s energy, felt like I knew her inside out. Most of all, we felt alive.
Eventually, the lights around me began to dim, the real world fading slowly back into view. The last thing I heard before my bondmate came into view and blood began to gush from my nose was a single word. No, something far more important. A name.
Scylla.
I growled, running a finger through my hair. I couldn’t be there for the Oath, and it was killing me. Metaphorically.
So far, I know five out of the twenty students had been sent home. Two of fifteen were dead. What about Elliot? Did he pass? Was it his turn already? If he failed, I would have known.
”You worry too much, dad,” Key rolled his eyes, popping an orange in his mouth. I shot him a look, silencing him and telling him to behave. We were in the presence of my father and his men.
Then a messenger threw open the door, gasping for breath, face pale.
“Another one!” He exclaimed, voice shaking. “It’s another A!”
I bolted out before I even knew what I was doing.
I collapsed onto my knees, scooping up the tiny creature and cradling it to my breast before I had time to think about it process anything that just happened.
Joy. That was all I could feel. Filling me from head to toe, lodging in my heart, which soared higher than ever before. The creature—Scylla—mewled against my chest, and I broke down completely, tears streaking down my cheeks at the same time that an exhilarated laugh escaped my lips.
I clutched her tighter, ignoring the sharp pain from the deep wound in my hand as I got my first good look at my bondmate. She seemed to be some sort of cross between a bird and a sea turtle, covered in downy, unbelievably soft features. Her wings, patterned like a turtle shell, swept over an actual one. And her eyes, huge and pure gold, were beautiful.
“Scylla,” I cried, lifting her and pressing a wet kiss to the top of her head.
It was only after I had stumbled from the room, choked with emotion, that the realization struck me. She was a baby. No, more than that. She was a Type A.
When I finally reached the room, I saw Elliot with his bondmate in his blood-stained arms. A baby creature. Type A. Like Key.
It wasn’t impossible to have more than one after all.
I was proud. I was bursting with immense approval for my junior. He managed to achieve something only I could. Something that was unheard of since the day this Academy was first created. He didn’t let me down. He didn’t just make me proud. He did more than that.
Taking slow steps towards him, I rested my hand on his head, knowing how much he liked it when I did that. And then I pushed him so his forehead was pressed against my chest. A small hug.
“Good job,” I said to him quietly. “You did well. I was right in thinking you had potential.”
Drained of all energy, I sank into the light embrace, pressing Scylla protectively against my chest.
“Is it bad that I’m crying?” I asked Colton weakly, continuing to press messy kisses to the top of my bondmate’s head.
I was overflowing with so much emotion that there was barely space for me to breathe. I was alive. I was the first woman in centuries to pass the Oath. But, infinitely more important: I had a bondmate.
“No,” I answered softly, a light smile on my features. I was glad he couldn’t see it. “It’s not. Those with a heart are bound to cry. Do you understand what I meant now on the first day of your lessons?”
He kept on pressing kisses in his bondmate’s head, and his behavior reminded of the time Key and I met for the first time.
The pitch of my voice had gone back up a note, but at that moment, I couldn’t have cared less. I hadn’t even registered the fact that Colton was hugging me, that he was being gentle, that he seemed to care. I just kept on crying and kissing Scylla, before holding her out to get a better look and breaking down again.
“She—She’s so beautiful—“
”Elle?”
He seemed to have frozen, and I knew why. I was familiar with it. Elliot’s bondmate was communicating.
Key snuck out of my hair, looking out to observe the new bondmates, wonder in his eyes. For so long, he had been alone. Just him as Type A. Now he had another partner.
”I’m not alone,” his soft voice whispered in my mind. ”There’s another one like me.”
”Yes, Key,” I replied back, reaching up to gently pat his head. ”You’re not alone anymore.”
“That’s me,” I said aloud, voice wobbling dangerously. “I’m—I’m El—Elliot—“ Barely catching my fatal mistake in time, I clutched her tighter, a gasp of pain parting my lips a second time as the edge of Scylla’s shell dug into my wound.
”Don’t cry.” Her voice was sweet, childish. ”I don’t want to make you sad..”
I frowned.
“Talk to her in your head,” I instructed gently, reaching out towards the wound on his arm. “You’ll feel a small barrier at first, but it’ll be easier to prob. Think about your connection with your bondmate. Then think what you want to say.”
My eyebrows furrowed when I noticed his arm caked with blood. Without waiting for a response, I began to drag him over to the healer.
I stumbled as Cole pulled me away from the room, away from the onlookers, but my eyes never left Scylla, beautiful, amazing Scylla.
Can you hear me? I tried, but I physically felt my words bounce against a barrier. I tried again, this time envisioning that the barrier was made out of water, and my words easily slipped through.
”I can hear you—Why are you crying?”
Elliot was still lost when the healer healed his arm. He didn’t even know we were back in the dorm, that I’d pushed him on the couch so he was sitting. His eyes never left his bondmate.
I felt pleased. This is how these creatures should be treated. With love, care and awe. They are not tools. They are not things. They are living beings and they deserve love and respect from their partner.
“Oh my god….” My wide, watery eyes found Colton’s, overflowing with more emotion than I’d ever shown to him before. “Colton, I have a bondmate. I bonded.”
