Blood and Ivy

Chapter 39

Rolo cocked his head in annoyance, "What are you talking about?"

Synne twitched her nose, anger building, "You put my dad's journal on my desk. The one detailing all of my shortcomings as a mancer youth."

"Well yes I put it there, you're the rightful owner being the Montaigne heir."

Tears came to Synne's eyes as she said what she had been trying so hard to ignore, "Except I don't want to be! How can you be so calm knowing what I am!?"

Confusion crowded Rolo's face, "Synne, what are you talking about? If this is about your father being on the Council-"

"It's about the elves! It's about me being a siphon." Tears now threatened to spill over.

"I told you I would figure out the siphon thing but I've been a little busy being mauled." He crossed his arm, "What do elves have to do with anything?"

Synne smacked the table in frustration, "Don't play stupid, I know that you know what I am. Some half breed monster." Her voice cracked.

Rolo became deathly still, eyes widening as his voice was barely above a whisper, "Synne, do you know what you're saying?"

She nodded, "That's why I haven't died from the Codominance, the siphon side balances it out. Lucky me."

In one lunge Rolo was in front of Synne. She winced as his hands held a death grip on her shoulders, "You can't tell this to anyone. No one. Do you hear me?"

She looked into his eyes, confused by the wildness she saw, the fear?

"Do you understand?!"

"Y-yes."

Rolo's grip relaxed.

"I thought you knew, I thought that's why you gave me dad's journal. To taunt me."

"Of course not. What you're saying... it's blasphemy among mancers. The Elder City outlawed that sort of practice hundreds of years ago."

Rolo sighed at Synne's look of confusion, "The Elder City is where the goveners for mancers reside. They make the rules, but not if the Baron can help it."

"So they banned it because we're... monsters." Synne whispered, ashamed of her existence.

"They banned it because of the extraordinary power the offspring possessed. I don't know many details and that's the point. The governors hoped the practice would fade out of history. I'd only heard rumors of what could be done... I never imagined..."

Then, there it was again. The thread that pulled tight between their bodies. The feeling that burned in each of them, whispering that they weren't alone as long as they were together. Rolo leaned in closer to Synne, so close her eyelashes almost brushing his cheek. Their lips hovering over one another. Rolo's warmth emanated off of him so unlike Caser...

The door groaned open, Miles happily walking in.

Rolo jumped back and cleared his throat, the concern fading from his voice, "Don't think that your daddy issues are an excuse to miss practice tomorrow."

Synne's eyes dropped to the ground, her cheeks burning.

The mage's jaw dropped, "Master Cain, I don't believe that is a good idea, for either of you. But Synne's injuries are mundane, they will take longer to heal regardless of my salve-"

Rolo brushed him off, "It's not my fault she lost the joust." He turned his head back to stare at her, eyes burning, "Tomorrow, 8 o'clock, don't be late."

He slammed the door behind him, the noise echoing off of the stone walls. Synne glared after him.

"How are you feeling, my dear?" The mage peered down at her with concern in his eyes.

Synne released the breath she was holding, "Sore."

Miles clapped his hands together, "Nothing some tea won't fix."

He paused, frowning down at her through his glasses, eyeing up the blood that stained her bandages. "You won't get better if you continue to over exert yourself."

Synne looked down at her hands, "I don't have a choice." She mumbled.

Miles turned to the wall that held his bookshelf, holding his hand over the stones beside it. They shimmered before fading, revealing a small pantry of herbs and... dried body parts she would rather not think about.

He plucked a glass jar off the third shelf and sprinkled some of the green leaves into a teacup. He flicked his hand behind him and a copper kettle floated onto the fire.

Synne watched in marvel, "How do you do that?"

Miles smiled, "Not accustomed to aeromancy, are you? That's alright, not many mancers possess the element in these parts. Julian and his council look down on it, think it's too delicate, a bunch of party tricks."

"But- but you just moved that. It's amazing. How does it work with the wall?" She felt stupid as her jaw hung loose. Sometimes she forgot that she lived among magik.

Mikes chuckled, "All illusions my dear. Once you learn to harness air, you'll find you can bend light. Change the appearance of objects."

He picked up the teacup and waved his fingers before it. The familiar shimmer she had witnessed before distorted the image until it was gone completely. Miles tapped where it had been with his fingernail, the teacup clinked.

"It still exists on our plane physically, but your eyes cannot render it."

The teacup shimmered back into view.

"How do you keep up the illusions? I'm exhausted just summoning magik, let alone holding it."

"It all comes with time and practice. And the knowledge that soul stones live in the walls."

"Soul stones?"

Miles nodded and tapped the stone wall, "The Baron's ancestors built this manor with soul stones in the walls in order to keep long lasting enchantments alive. They're called such because of their strong ties with certain reservoirs and can channel them easily, thus holding your magik for longer. Of course it relies on the mancer to still be live."

The amber pendant in Synne's pocket burned against her skin.

"So if there were enchantments to prevent someone from leaving their balcony or... scaling the fence, the soul stones would be responsible?"

The mage's eyes twinkled as he winked at her, "Exactly."