Obsidian Kiss

fifteen

Lav was pretty sure she was the one gawking and sort of swooning. For the first time in her entire existence, a Guard hadn't whipped out divine cuffs or threatened to send her back to her room.

Had she been eaten by the serpent? Was this the afterlife?

"Forget it, Rhine. Those cashews were a one time thing. You're never going to find them again."

"That's why I'm asking the fledglings. Trust me, Eli, they can get their hands on anything. I've seen it happen. Remember those pink chips that Vi was obsessing over last week? Fledgling magic produced that."

Eli still didn't seem entirely convinced but shrugged. "Obsidian's going to flip if he finds out."

"Which is why he won't find out. Ever. This stays between us or I'm ditching your ass and you can partner up with Eero."

He rolled his eyes but relented. "Fine, destroy the entire realm for all I care. Just keep Eero away from me."

"There's a serpent in the sky!" Lav blurted out before realizing that wasn't the best thing to start off with.

When neither Rhine nor Eli jumped into action she realized it wouldn't have made a difference if she shouted that the four horsemen of the apocalypse were here. It was all a bunch of rubbish coming from her mouth.

Eli didn't waver but he released a sigh when Rhine gave her the benefit of the doubt, tilting her gaze up to the heavy clouds. Of course the serpent didn't pop out to say hi.

"Pretty sure we would know if a serpent was here." He speculated.

"Just like how you and your superior crew knew when demons charged into the realm four days ago?"

Eli leveled her with a hard stare. Now that was something more Guard-like. "The demons came because they were invited. The only mistake we made was having any faith that fledglings weren't that stupid."

She wasn't sure which to address first: the confirmation that a fledgling at the academy had invited demons into the realm or that he'd called her stupid.

And then her brain jumped to Obsidian and his investigation. He thought she had invited demons into the academy. He thought she had inadvertently killed Genevieve.

No wonder he's so reluctant to make out with me. But he had it all wrong. Lav was a corrupt babe but she wasn't a total maniac.

On second thought, scratch that. She was proud to be a maniac but hurting others wasn't on the agenda. 

On third thought, scratch that. Some people deserved to be hurt. But not Genevieve. And if these Guards didn't get past their superior complex then another fledgling could meet the same, if not worse, fate.

Flicking daggers into his soul with a harsh glare, Lav bit back the full verbal onslaught she wished to deliver and went for a nicer version.

"We're in danger and last I checked, which was two seconds ago, your job is to whip out the big guns and put that glorious body to use instead of standing there and looking sexy because there are human-sized bat creatures heading this way as we speak."

Now both Guards eyed her like she belonged in a psychiatric ward. Not many spoke so brazenly to the Elite Guard to begin with. Lav didn't realize she was asking for a one-way express ticket to her own demise when their eyes suddenly drifted beyond her. She spun to follow their line of sight and immediately regretted it.