Abaddon's Gift

Chapter Forty-Seven

Content warning: read with caution.

Graydon knew that Naena found her way back to her dorm. He saw Nillon deposit a stone in the hand of one of the statues that decorated the alcoves of the first-year floor, then he settled in to wait.

Naena slipped out of her dorm, her lips quirked upward and a glassy look in her eyes. She was worlds away, her nightdress lifting and tumbling about her knees as her magic oozed into the hallway. Her magic raised her hair about her like a mane and sparkled as it cleansed the air of all the bad in the world. That feeling wafted back to Graydon and washed over him like a waterfall of cold water.

She went barefoot despite the fall weather, perhaps not quite understanding how cold it could get at night.

Graydon let out a little sigh and stood, pulling a cloak with him.

Theon would have told him to reign the silly fool in. Put her back to bed and sit outside the door to make sure she stayed put. His father would have told him to follow closely and spy.

The dragons would say to let the little dragoness fly and stretch her wings. To guard her from a distance and keep away stupid drakes.

Graydon wasn't quite certain where he settled in the matter.

He slipped out of the dorm building and followed Naena.

An easy feat, once he had familiarized himself with her magic.

She was long gone, not even the sound of her on the air. The woman didn't wear perfumes, complicating Graydon's usual hunting methods. He was unfamiliar with her true desires because she had no chance to act upon them. Though he could see she was not headed toward the main building from his vantage point.

Her magic, though?

It danced upon the air, teasing and warning him at the same time. Tingling sparks played across his arms and up the back of his neck, raising the hairs there.

He was aware of the fact that Naena was not quite herself, but some colouring of her magic set off the alarms at the back of his mind. She might have been drunk and was definitely high on something, but that wouldn't stop her from lashing out at him.

A warning, then.

Graydon hadn't thought that last part. He certainly wouldn't have applied it to Naena, but he knew any 'stupid drake' as the dragons would put it, would be put down. She probably wouldn't even recall what she had done. He also knew, because of that warning, that he had to walk carefully, hunt and stalk cautiously.

Once he knew where she settled down, in a field, behind some bushes where she was hidden from the main building, he stepped back and gave her space and time. He felt that euphoric washing feeling of a mage caught up in a world of their own making. Coasting on elation and skipping from one idea to another.

Under careful observation, the use of drugs and sometimes alcohol could benefit a mage. Especially those stuck on a spell or troublesome problem.

The problem was recreational use and then the uncontrolled magic let off by mages. No one needed that sort of thing. A mage who used magic while high had to be allowed to see it through or killed. The Seven didn't police mages, if Naena started using magic, Graydon would have to follow where she led.

So, once the given amount of time had passed, Graydon slipped out of the shadows and around the bushes. He stepped onto the field and looked down as Naena lay sprawled under the full moon, her lips curved up, eyes closed.

Her hands were tucked under her head. Skin bare and naked as the day she was born. Her chest rose and fell slowly, nipples erect and protesting the chill to the air. Graydon wanted to run his hands along the sides of those breasts, to feel the soft skin under his fingers, and hear her fight back a moan.