The Gift of Good and Evil: Bound By Blood

Qui Gong

"Any news on Y/N?" Espada asked from where he sat at the staff table.

It was the first weekend following the start of the new semester, and Dovey had decided it was a good time for her to call a staff meeting to check in and see how everyone was doing.

Emma shook her head. "Kass said that she's been helping Lady Lesso do research...but nothing has come of it yet. Camelot's resources, at least in terms of knowing about blood magic, seem to be pretty limited."

Rumi's face dropped as he nodded. "I can't imagine...being taken over by such a volatile form of magic like that...Y/N must have been so scared."

"I know...I bet she-" But Anemone was cut off when Lady Glosso, who was sitting on the other side of her, elbowed her. When she looked over to Laila, she watched as the dark haired woman's eyes pointed in the direction of the door.

When Emma followed with her own gaze to see what she was looking at, she realized quickly why Laila had shut her up; Lady Lesso was walking into the staff meeting. It wasn't that people couldn't mention you around Lesso; in fact, you were realistically one of the only things Lesso wanted to talk about. However, it was just...awkward. It wasn't like the Dean of Evil was hiding the fact that she was miserable. She often sauntered around, her head hung low, her cane dragging the ground, and her flask half hanging from her coat pocket.

It was blatantly obvious that she was falling into a bout of depression. And it honestly broke a lot of the teachers' hearts. Though not all the professors of the school were nevers, most of them still had a lot of respect and reverence for Lady Lesso. She was often very well put together and truly cared for her students, even when she punished them. She had earned every bit of her title as dean; and seeing her like this...it was something no one, not even some of the teachers who had known her the longest, had ever seen.

She had never felt like this before...not even with Rafal. And that had been one hell of a heartbreak.

"Morning," she grumbled as she shuffled to sit in her seat at the head of the table. The chair screeched against the stone floor as she pulled it out before slumping down into it. Her hair was wilted and her face looked sunken in, which left a dark shadow underneath her eyes.

Kass had come in right behind her, though whether that was on purpose or accident, who knew. She made a point to sit down right next to Lady Lesso, resting her hand on Leonora's arm as she sat.

"Were you up all night researching again? Did you get any sleep?" She whispered as she leaned into her red-headed half-sister-in-law. She placed a mug full of coffee down in front of the dean, pushing it toward her.

"Maybe an hour," Nora mumbled to her as she grabbed the mug, while Dovey moved to sit down next to her at the head of the table.

Kass wanted to continue the conversation, to ask her if she'd found anything. She knew that Lesso had been once again searching the library in the old castle for any books about blood magic. She had also gone to the village book store several times, and Tedros had even offered to let her go to the palace to look through their library; though she hadn't taken him up on that offer yet.

She was definitely still harboring a grudge for him poisoning her wife with blood magic.

But Kassandra was interrupted by Dovey, who sat down and immediately started talking. "Okay," she cooed excitedly, trying to get the energy up for this early morning meeting. "How was everyone's first week? Are we having any issues?"

For a moment, the murmurs between colleagues continued before simmering down, as Dovey's question started to sink in. Then Professor Sahar leaned forward in his chair.