Glass Soldier REWRITTEN

Chapter 32

           "... They don't seem to care as much as last time," Adrian whistled, my gaze following his to a pair of students in white uniforms talking, who found me staring a second later. Humming as they clicked their tongues but quickly moved against the semi-crowded tide I glanced at the dog beside me, who was good at scaring away pests.

           "Yeah, well, you can say I had been given permission to do what I pleased not long after that hallway thing," I offered with a closed-eyed smile, the narrowed gaze of a dog hard to miss but easy to ignore. The memory of the last time they bothered me was not as satisfying as I thought it would be. Perhaps Vitreus was too nice. Perhaps the punishment I had gotten afterward. Apparently, even permission had its limits.

          "Were you ever one to care about that?" He asked with a sharp brow upwards leaving me to blink at the thought.

          "I suppose not," I grinned, a skip my step at the thought. I had never really cared, if worst came to worst I could just run away with Vitreus. They wouldn't be able to catch me on dragon back. Not before I could at the very least find Vixen.

         "Do not encourage her," Came the harsh voice of my guard dog, a fierce glare pointed at the elf that barely offered him a gaze, his long ears flicking dismissively at the elite he had mostly been ignoring. "If you don't want her dead, you will not encourage her," He pressed again, narrowing his eyes as his head leaned over my shoulder to force Adrian's attention onto him, the slouched shoulders tense and glowing hands thankfully tucked into his pockets.

        Emotional as he was he had been improving in not attacking at any minor inconvenience. Truly the kind of man you wanted to give power to. Spitting image of obey or die. "Point those dead eyes somewhere else," He growled at me, his stare down apparently interrupted by my thoughts. With an obedient hum, I gave a closed eye smile, my feet moving once again knowing the dog was stuck on a leash.

        With a click of a tongue, he shot one more glare at a paused Adrian and followed after me. Adrian watched us walk away while I met his gaze over my shoulder, a gentle nod asking if he wanted to come with me or if he was done putting up with the barking. He gave a soft shake of the head, his patience having ended, not allowed to say anything against the childish elite without risking certain death, or, at least, an experience on par with it.

        My gaze lingered for a second longer before I turned to look in front of me again, understanding but a little disappointed. The eyes that followed me had itched less with him by my side. The rumors had got out long before I had even gotten back. Tales of the dragon slayer with red and white hair who was an apprenticeship with the council. Mages they saw relatively often. Mages that stook out like a sore thumb. And there was only one person that could be seen so frequently with those mages.

           That was how it was. The rage and hatred I had sat through, the sneers and occasional pity, every little thing had disappeared the day I got back. My boots were no longer being disfigured or stolen, the whispers about my magic were gone, and those gazes that had always looked down on me were looking away the moment I found them. Like nothing had ever happened.

          I was no longer the weak glass mage that got here with money, no, now I was the dragonslayer learning under the council of mages. And that was a powerful title. One that tucked every tail and scurried them like rodents, not even the perfects, their idols, were standing up to me anymore. I was above them.

          How disgusting it was.

          "Do not just do as you please," He half muttered, my eyes swiveling to him as I didn't so much as pause, his annoyed but relatively relaxed posture one that flipped as easy as a coin. It wasn't a warning though. It was a request.

           "Even I know how far the guillotine falls," I hummed, our eyes locking before he looked over my face, as if it was a joke.

         "And yet you won't back down? Not even once?" His voice was softer this time, the softest I had ever heard it to be. So soft I could barely pick it up within the noise of the hall. A laugh boiling in my chest at the idea, I backed down a lot, I did as I was told far more often than I didn't. But I was regarded as an untamable beast. Even to their rabid dog.

        I wasn't going to cry, what was I to do if not laugh?

       Wiping a tear from my cheek, my chest tight and lungs burning, I grinned as I turned to the unsure and still him. The burning eyes scorched at my hysteria. "What's the point of living if I can't do what I want? If I was anyone else I'd already be dead. I'd have been dead the moment I had tried weaseling my way into the council, no, I'd have died the moment my core had cracked before that stupid atrocity," I hummed amused, running my hand through my peppered hair. Hair that had gained more white after my fight with the dragon. "I won't die of natural causes, I've already come to terms with it,"

        "That's not something done so easily-" My smile remained as his eyes raced over my face over and over, waiting for some kind of falter, some kind of giveaway. But I had meant it. This was simply a temporary arrangement, something to cover my back until they ultimately found out. If I was caught and turned into a weapon, I would die as one, if I ran first, I'd be hunted like a wild animal. There wasn't any reason to not accept it. I was a merger, if sentenced, I'd be an executioner.

         "Only the gods are immortal Averin," I whistled, continuing my way through the hall uncaring if he was following.