Total pages in book: 214
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
He studies me for a moment, head tilted. "Your channeling has a unique signature. Almost as if..." He trails off, then straightens. "The Rector mentioned… well, never mind. Just report to his office tomorrow at sunset. And don't be late for once."
Report to the fucking Rector’s office? Holy shit… Ryke gives the order almost casually, but there’s nothing casual about the command.
The Rector doesn’t interact with students or our daily life here. So what the hells did I just do to get put on his notice? I can already feel my palms sweating and my breath coming quick at the idea, but I try to pretend I’m calm as I nod to Ryke.
"I do not like this," Typhon notes.
"Agreed."
I catch Beck and Ambrose exchanging a look as Primal Ryke walks away.
"Private meeting with Rector Voss," Beck whispers, wiggling his eyebrows. "Sounds... intense."
"Stop it," Mireen says, shoving him. "It's probably nothing. And Nessa is getting really good. Better than most of us. They're probably just wanting to help along a student with so much potential. Maybe he wants to talk about putting her in a more advanced class, or something."
I smile, but there's a tight ball of worry in my chest.
Attention. This is exactly what I've been trying to avoid for so long. A one on one with the Rector himself is… concerning to say the least. I think about slipping out of class to tell Raith and ask his opinion, but when I look toward the doorway where he stood, I see he's gone.
All that's left is the lingering heat of where I felt his gaze on my skin and the tendrils of fear spreading through my insides.
Tomorrow, I'll meet with Rector Voss, and I'll hope like hells he's not about to interrogate me about Typhon or my affinity. If he so much as suspects what I am, the “meeting” could be more like an execution.
16
The western wing library has become my sanctuary. Unlike the main library where many still study for more generic topics, this one is reserved for aspirants and above. It's older, with towering shelves that reach to vaulted ceilings and narrow windows that let in shafts of colored light. Ancient tomes are chained to the shelves, their spines cracked with age and use. The air smells of dust, parchment, and aged leather.
The only sounds are the occasional rustle of a page being turned or the scratch of a quill.
I've claimed a table in the furthest corner, hidden behind a shelf of texts on elemental taxonomy. It's late evening, and most students have already left for dinner. Perfect for reading more of my unbound book away from prying eyes. I’ve long since memorized and destroyed the key Bastian made for me, meaning it’s safe to read the book in slightly more public places.
Typhon lounges beside me in his dragon form, tail curled around the table's legs, wings tucked tight against his serpentine body. He lifts his head occasionally to scan for threats before returning to what I can only describe as a draconic nap.
"You should eat," he grumbles as my stomach makes an embarrassingly loud noise. "Human bodies are inconveniently fragile. Without food, you grow weak quickly."
"I will. After this section."
I'm close to a breakthrough with the book. The text is often impossibly dense, and I'm catching things on my second and third readthrough that I didn't on the first. Mostly, though, I read it every chance I can get because it’s my only source of information about what being unbound means. About what I am and the history of people like me.
Tonight, I’m reading about “manifestations” for the hundredth time. Supposedly, unbound can develop a unique, one-off kind of power independent of the affinities. Things like enhanced strength, making plants grow from nothing, matter manipulation, and even terrible things like the ability to pull the blood from people’s bodies with their mind.
These manifestations seem to be the reason humans eventually hunted down and exterminated unbound people. Apparently, Lorkan Grace manifested a power so terrible that people saw the existence of unbound as an existential threat. Worse, unbound can also tether people somehow, just like primals tether elementals. Lorkan was also said to have used the human tether for some nefarious purpose, but the book is vague on the specifics, so I’m rereading again for hopes of finding something I’ve missed.
After half an hour, I’m left with the same uncomfortable conclusion. No matter how many times I try to read it a different way, I can’t see another explanation. Unbound can tether people. Lorkan used this ability to make some kind of monstrous army that threatened civilization itself.
"I smell your fear," Typhon observes, rising to full alertness. "What troubles you?"
I hesitate. Typhon can always feel my thoughts, but I’ve learned it only happens if he’s trying to pay attention. At times, he seems to tune me out, like when I’m focusing on the book. He finds the subject upsetting for some reason and prefers not to talk with me about it. But maybe tonight he’ll be willing to help shed some light on it for me.