Alpha Academy: Misfit's Rise

Chapter Thirty: The Warnings

It was too bright when I woke up. That must have meant I failed, and the fire was still going. My eyes shot open and as I sat up, and nearly collided with the person sitting next to me.

"Easy, Billie," Lucian said, gently wrapping an arm around my torso to steady me.

I glanced at him, and then at the neat little beds in rows around me. I'd never been inside, but I had to guess this was the Alpha infirmary.

"What happened?" I asked, blinking in the light. I felt like I'd been asleep for weeks.

"I should be asking you that," Lucian said. He softly pushed me back down into the bed and removed his arm.

Slowly, it was becoming easier to think, and remember. Remember all the things I couldn't tell him.

I shook my head. "I can't, I—"

"I know," Lucian interrupted, "Artemis told me. She also told me where to find you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Artemis Icegaze, hero of the hour."

Lucian couldn't help but crack a smile at my less-than-subtle sarcasm. "If this makes things sound more reasonable, she seemed more concerned about Sedna than you."

And then it was my turn to crack a smile, except that brought up another question. "How's Sedna?"

Lucian's smile faltered, and his eyes grew darker. "She'll recover." He looked away for a second, and when he looked back his eyes were much clearer. "And she says thank you. Sort of. Thea and Iris were asking about you too. They'll be thrilled to know you're awake. Arthur, too, wanted me to send you his best wishes. Oh, and Thorin said if you didn't wake up by the end of the day, he was going to come in here and sing drinking songs until you did. " He winked at me. "You've got more friends than you thought."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I moved on to my next question.

"And the others? Saranya and them?"

"They'll be fine," he sighed and looked away again. "They've got a lot to say about what happened though. They've figured out a way to make you and Sedna the culprits in all this."

"And I can't correct them." I slumped down lower in my chair.

Unless ...

"How do you get out of blood binding?" I asked quickly.

Lucian didn't look surprised about my question, which meant Artemis had given him plenty of details. "The binder formerly releases you from your task," he said grimly, "or one of you dies."

I slumped down, again. "Great, so Helena's going to be the lord of me until one of us is dead."

"Well," Lucian said bracingly, "the ability to bend the will fades after a few hours, few days at most. It's just the bonds that were set during the binding period that are permanent."

"You mean if Helena were to tell me to make out with a pole, I wouldn't have to do it?" I almost couldn't contain myself. This knowledge might have made the last two weeks bearable.

"Was that your biggest concern?" Lucian tried, and failed, to keep himself from chuckling. "That she was going to force you to kiss an inanimate object?"

My face burned, but I pretended it didn't and asked, "There's something else. I—heard Helena's voice, even though she was nowhere near me." I didn't say in my head, but I think it was implied. Lucian's eyes widened for a moment, but he shrugged. "A lingering side effect that should fade in a few more days."

He wouldn't meet my gaze again, which meant there was something he wasn't telling me. I was too tired to press him, though.

"What happens now?" I whispered finally.