Page 52 of Tender Thorns
I look over at Kage, who has remained near my side the entire time. He looks dark, as if even the color of his skin has shifted to a midnight hue, but his eyes glow a bright, ethereal violet.
“If I disappear, I’ll be back,” I warn him, but I’m not sure he hears me over the growing buzz. Even knowing the many legged creatures aren’t going to touch me, I still have to fight off my revulsion. The sound of their legs, pincers, and wings is enough to make me want to cover my ears, but I won’t let them see me sweat. Bugs pour from the floors and walls, and I have no idea if they are real or conjured from the boy’s imagination, but nearly everyone else seems to have the same intense reaction as I do—horror.
Several people skitter away, taking refuge as far away from me as possible. I don’t blame them. The flies reach me first, loud and thick like a wall of moving blackness, followed by beetles that roll over each other like a tide coming into shore.
I hold my breath as they begin to part around me, but it doesn’t stop me from seeing the things up close and personal. I screamed the first time this happened, but not this time. This time, I think about what Ziv said, that I could turn their powers back on them, and I imagine doing just that. I imagine the hard-bodied centipedes crawling into the boy’s mouth and out his nose, down into his ears, and eating whatever brain matter he may have in his head.
It takes me a minute to realize the sound I’m hearing are screams, and another to know they aren’t coming from me. As the chittering and buzzing fades, along with the disappearing horde of bugs, I’m able to see bug boy writhing on the ground.
No one else speaks as the boy continues to wail with pain, not even the instructor, who is now at the back of the room, far from the fleeing insects and dying novice.
“Kage!” Syrinx booms as bug boy’s final shriek dies.
Kage’s head snaps up, making me wonder if he might not have noticed her standing there the entire time. The realization of what he did sinks in, but I have no idea what the consequences will be.
“This was an exercise for Briar.” Something about her voice seems off, as if she’s fighting to keep herself calm.
“Then Eli should have been more careful.” Kage looks down, and my eyes follow his gaze. There are several dead bugs littered around his feet. Syrinx’s lips tighten into a hard line.
The small number of insects wouldn’t have posed a deadly threat to Kage, but he didn’t cast the first stone. I’m hoping that means he had every right to defend himself, even if what he did in retaliation was probably overkill, literally.
“Arnold warned you to give them room,” she argues, but the strangeness in her voice is gone, and now she only sounds perturbed.
“I haven’t moved since this bullshit started. He knew exactly where I was and should have been able to control his ability better.” Kage doesn’t back down.
“Is that so?” Her question is soft, leading. “I suppose that holds true for your own ability then. You should be able to control it when you touch our new novice.”
“I’d rather test my aptitude on Instructor Arnold.”
“I’m sure you would, but I make the rules at Ivy, and you’re here to do what I tell you.”
Kage balls his hands into fists. “No.”
“Touch her,”Syrinx whispers, and Kage stiffens, but Arnold’s reaction is much more telling. He snaps his head around to stare at the headmistress as if he’s shocked by the instruction.
“No,” Kage grits out through his teeth.
“Well, well, Briar. It seems you have even more in common with Elora than I first thought.”
“Who is Elora, and what does that mean?” I question, even though I’m reasonably sure she’s making a reference to the other void.
“It seems you’re collecting my acquisitions.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m sure you don’t. Let’s both hope no one else dies for you, Briar. Their death might outweigh your usefulness.” Syrinx leaves the room with her threat hanging heavily in the air.
I exhale with the knowledge she wants me dead.
KAGE
I’m still shaking as Arnold dismisses us. The urge to get away from Briar and keep her safe from me is so strong, I nearly give in to it and leave her alone with the vultures who already proved they were willing to hurt her.
If Briar wasn’t my mate and my need to protect her wasn’t paramount, Syrinx’s command to touch her would have amplified my desire to do so, making the directive impossible to ignore. What if next time, when she tries to use her powers of persuasion on me, I’m not strong enough to resist? Briar isn’t safe with me. I need to tell Ziv.
“So that was a fun first day,” my creature jokes.
I stop dead in my tracks, because I have no idea how she could make light of what she just went through, all because Arnold and Syrinx were on some fucked-up power trip.
