Abaddon's Gift

Chapter Fifty

Maeno didn't quite believe his ears in the days following the party.

Rumours swirled.

Most people didn't know what happened. It started off as an 'incident,' which was all the instructors really said about the event. Then there were whispers of the issue which grew in size and problem until someone claimed a dragon had come out of the sky itself and tried to eat Naena.

Then everything boiled down to: Mud club tried to summon a demon, screwed it up like a virgin in a brothel. Graydon Pan killed the demon, cut off its head, and even laughed as he dropped it at his father's feet, saying, "That was fun, let's do it again!"

Naena appeared distant, even upset, in the days following. She made a comment of Feon joining her work with Theon, but that was as far as it got.

Maeno tried to push her to take a workroom, so she had a place to retreat to, something that was just hers and no one else's. She refused, stating that if she did that, then there would be a place where she could be found daily. Someone would find and hurt her at their own leisure.

He didn't manage to get the story out of her of what happened that night, nor did she explain why she suddenly carried a book. All she said was that she had asked Theon and he said everything was normal.

But she rubbed at her right shoulder, rolling it where she hadn't before.

None of the rumours which remained after the first week involved Naena.

Her involvement simply forgotten.

Members of the Mud club returned to class slowly, filtering in one by one. Their heads hung down, shadows in their eyes. No one got the story out of them either.

Their leader, Rance, was in the infirmary quite a bit longer than any of them. When he returned he refused to speak a single word. He still functioned, still went through the daily life expected of them all, but he seemed distant and distracted.

Those last few weeks before winter break passed quickly. The time had spun out just as quickly the year before. Classes wound up with more and more homework and assignments. One day melted into the next as everyone struggled to survive the workload.

Then came the day that auditors arrived at the school.

Auditors were never a good thing, the whispers said. Members of the Seven families were given certain privileges over all other members, including the lords. They had a right to audit anything and demand immediate changes or the execution of whoever stood in their way.

Not dismissal, not punishment, or uttered threats.

Execution.

The auditors showed up the first day of the last week. A hundred or so of them. There was one in every class, and they switched every other day so that more than one person did the auditing of the same class. The instructors simply continued on, but the students could feel the uncomfortable weight of the auditors' eyes.

As quickly as they arrived, the auditors left again.

No explanation.

Then came the day that Nendan knocked on Maeno's door, and Feon let the Lugh heir into their room. Small words were exchanged, and Feon left. As soon as Feon left, Nendan shifted to the side and pulled the rug away from the door. The heir looked from the spell Maeno had drawn there, up to him, then back again.

An icy cold crawled up Maeno's spine as he sat there, willing his bladder not to empty involuntarily.

"Well?" Nendan asked.