Magus {Complete}

2

 "Where's Lyn," Kydyn asked. He sounded irritated, the way his voice just huffed out the words made it clear to Cinder.

"Should already be here," Jika answered.

They were standing off to the side of a huge dome like room. The lobby to the Capitol echoed with the whispering voices that didn't have the courage to rise in volume. Cinder shifted, his nerves dancing on end. He kept glancing at the two guards next to the front door where they'd come through. Dressed in black uniforms they looked far too intimidating to even ask for directions from. Swords were at their sides, but Cinder was pretty sure they'd never use the weapons. They were just there for looks and not functionality.

Apart from the stoic guards, there were two other groups in the huge dome, one on the opposite side of where Cinder stood with Jika and Kydyn. The other near a spiraling staircase that led up to a second floor with a balcony that hovered over the receptions desk. At the pearly desk was a pretty woman with blood red hair and eyes to match. She'd sent chills down Cinder's spine when they first walked in and asked her about seeing the council.

Apparently they already had an appointment thanks to someone named Lyn. Cinder grimaced as the woman looked up and caught his eye. She must have felt him staring at her. Turning away, he sought out something else to focus on and found himself staring at Kydyn. The warlock was dressed in all black again, just like he'd been the night before. Except replacing the long trench coat was a shorter jacket that only covered about half of his torso. Zippers and buckles laced the heavy material, adding to Kydyn's already intimidating appearance.

His pitch black hair was swept off to one side, accenting his pale features and his rich blue eyes. Cinder swallowed hard, remembering the way they pulsed with a different color the night before. He'd obviously powered up on something, but what that was, Cinder wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

"What are you staring at?" Kydyn snarled, but the angry tone shifted to something more sarcastic and playful a second after. The change was quick enough to have Cinder reeling from it. "Wanna play with me? I know. I'm hard to resist."

"Shut up!" Cinder snapped and his voice carried far louder than he'd wanted. If the initial blush wasn't hot enough, it certainly burned like a fire as the whispering quieted and the shuffle of clothes said people were staring at him.

Snickering, the warlock tilted his head back as he watched Cinder. He was highly amused and it was starting to piss Cinder off. Turning away, Cinder ignored the warlock and tried to make himself as uninteresting as possible so that everyone would stop looking at him. It took a while before the whispering started up again, filling the dome with its low drone of noise.

"There he is," Jika said, startling Cinder after they'd been silent for so long.

The dome room grew heavy, as if the air itself had weight to it. Looking up, Cinder found the once empty balcony filled with a handful of people. All four of them were dressed white uniforms, cloaks of pure gold hanging off one shoulder on each. Descending down the stairs rapidly was a young man who looked no older than Cinder. He was scrawny in appearance. Black hair that bounced around his face brushed into his equally black almond shaped eyes. He hurried over to their small group and flashed a cute smile. "Ready for this?"

"Yeah, what took so long, Lyn?" Jika asked.

To that, Lyn frowned, but it looked more like a pout on his child-like face. "You know them. Stiffs about everything. I'm so freaking tired I could drop dead right here. I've been up all night with those tight asses. Cut me some slack."

"All right, let's get this shit over with. I hate being here. So stuffy," Kydyn said as he tugged at his jacket.

They trudged up the staircase to the group of waiting men and women. The one that met them at the top of the stairs was old and wrinkled, but he looked warm. He gave Cinder a kind smile that Kydyn made a rude noise in response to. The old man ignored Kydyn and it seemed to be a thing that everyone did with the warlock. Instead, he offered a hand out to Cinder and he hesitated two steps down from the landing on the second floor.