I raced upstairs before anyone could speak to me, I half hoped Blaike would come after me but he didn't and I breathed heavily as I knocked on Emy's door. It didn't take her long to answer and she looked more bright eyed than I expected.
"You don't look as hungover as I thought you would," I said, leaning against her doorframe.
"Someone left water by my bed and I called down for breakfast early this morning." I kicked myself for not thinking of that in the state I was in earlier. "But you, you look a little off..." She remarked with a surveying glance at me.
"Gee thanks, but that has nothing to do with the drinking. I need to talk to you about something."
She pulled me into her room and closed the door behind us. I told her all about what happened with Blaike; the kiss at the party, which she squealed at, then everything in the dining room. She swore loudly at Kaleb and Kayle for interrupting us.
By the time I was finished, she seemed more flustered by it than I had been.
"You should have just kissed him, right then and there by the window. It's obvious he really likes you and we both know you've liked him since you met him."
"Have we?"
"Oh come off it, Cass. You were constantly staring at him and getting annoyed at him when he didn't really do anything wrong. You even said it yourself you feel connected to him."
"But how do I know if it's real? It could just be the prophecy, we need to be connected to destroy Riltresik, remember?"
Emy laughed, "I don't think it meant connected in a lip lock though," she giggled.
"So you don't feel anything like that towards Kaleb? Not even a little bit?"
Emy shook her head, "Not even a fraction of a little bit, we're just good friends and believe me, I'm not his type." She seemed to find that part extra amusing.
If she didn't have feelings for Kaleb in the same way, that had to mean mine and Blaike's feelings were most likely real. My heart skipped and I felt my cheeks go red, which made Emy squeal again.
"You have to go talk to Blaike and sort this whole thing out, right now."
"I can't, we have our magic lesson soon and there's nowhere private to talk around here."
"Oh yeah, okay I'll find a way to sort it out for you," and she jumped off the sofa, heading for the door.
I ran after her, "Emy, don't you dare! Emy!"
I chased her down the stairs but she had a lead on me, she reached the dining room and was sat down before I got there. To my surprise everyone else had gone, she was there alone and shovelling food into her mouth.
"Don't worry, I didn't mean right now or even today... I can be discreet." She spoke between mouthfuls and I snorted, Emy didn't know the meaning of the word.
It didn't take long for her to finish eating and we were back out in the garden for our magic lesson. Merkell was already out there with the guys, I caught Blaike's eye immediately and the tension was almost unbearable. I calmed my breathing and tried not to think about the fact that Merkell could probably sense whatever was going on between Blaike and myself.
He didn't comment on it if he did know, he just began the lesson with a review of our test with Dummy-Riltresik the day before. He was still very proud of how we handled things, he had given us some of his best magic and we'd managed not to get hurt.
"As I have said before, it will be much harder in reality and Riltresik and his Dark Menaces will hold nothing back."
"Why do you keep saying that?" I asked when something nagged at me about his words.
"Why do I keep saying what? Menaces?"
"Yeah, instead of just saying Horror, sometimes one of you'll say Menaces, what's that about?" Emy chimed in with her head tilted to the side.
The guys shared a look with Merkell and I narrowed my eyes, "Don't start with all that again, we're in this together so we deserve to know everything. We can handle it, we're not made of glass." My tone was a little teasing and it made Emy laugh.
Merkell must have agreed with me, "You are right, we are passed keeping things from you. When someone speaks of Dark Menaces, they are speaking of Riltresik's followers as a whole. The Dark Horrors are not the only thing he has at his command, we should have told you this sooner but your burdens seem to be never ending. There are also creatures in his service with the name Dark Terrors, they are very much like a Dark Horror but they have large, revolting excuses for wings."
It was interesting to know we could still be surprised by Nentarli and what it possessed.
"That's why we had to train to fight an attack from overhead, to protect ourselves against the Dark Terrors?"
Merkell nodded at my question and I let out a long, heavy sigh at the prospect of having to fight something like that.
"Bring 'em on," Emy smiled and nudged my shoulder. "It's not like we aren't prepared, forget the wings and they're just the same as their disgusting cousins."
"Don't call them cousins, Emily," Kayle said and his nose was crinkled.
Emy and I both laughed, but Merkell was looking at us with a strange smile on his face.
"What's that look for?" Emy asked bluntly and I couldn't help laughing again.
"I am just admiring how far you have both come, it is comforting to see that you take such difficult conversations with ease now." He smiled wider and clapped his hands together, "Alright, that is enough talking, we are already late in starting today's lesson so let us begin."
The lesson was intense, Merkell really stepped up his game to teach us more offensive magic. I learned more ways to hurt someone than I care to admit and Merkell surprised us by bringing up the topic of Kayle becoming a Vessel. He needed to know how well Kayle understood magic before we could even think about beginning.
He took Kayle aside while the four of us continued to practice our attacks, when they came back Merkell claimed it wasn't time yet. I wondered if that meant that Kayle wasn't ready yet or that we weren't. However I became distracted when we actually received homework for the next lesson. The five of us had to come up with our own attack strategy and manage to land a hit on Merkell without him deflecting it.
Emy and I were discussing our ideas as we headed up to our suite to wash up for dinner. I tried to think through a strategy while I washed and changed clothes, but no matter what I came up with I could see Merkell deflecting it. I kept thinking on the way down to dinner, I hoped Emy wasn't planning to wait until the last minute and just improvise hers.
When we arrived in the dining room I noticed the parents were there, they were sat at the table with their heads over a piece of paper. As soon as we walked in they looked between each other and it was hard to gauge their emotions.
"What is it? You guys are almost never at dinner with us..."
They exchanged another look but it wasn't all doom and gloom, I could see a hint of a smile on my dad's face.
"Tell them, but you are dealing with the onslaught of abusive words afterwards." He said to my mum and Colensa.
They looked worried but not in the same 'danger is coming for you' kind of way that we were strangely growing used to.
My mum seemed to take the charge, "We have just received a Trokarra message from Eribourne. The two of you have been invited back, to make up for the terrible events of the last visit."
Emy snorted and began to serve herself some food. "Is that all? I thought it was something bad the way you were acting."
The guys walked in then, all washed and changed, they must have caught Emy's words.
"Something bad has happened?" Kaleb asked in confusion and the three of them stopped before sitting down.
"You could say that," my dad said and if I didn't know him better I would have said he was smirking. My mum elbowed him and he gestured to the paper. "Tell the girls the rest of the letter, it is not just an invitation back to Eribourne."
I frowned in confusion and Kayle snorted louder than Emy had, "Telvil is expecting them to go back to Eribourne after what happened?"
My mum shuffled in her seat, "No, it is not Telvil that has invited them." My first thought was Brianne and my guards instinctively went up, I would never have guessed the next words out of her mouth. "Jaleel, has requested their invitation, he would like you both to go back and visit with him."
Emy choked on her food and I patted her back while shaking my head, "He can't be serious? He was a shallow pain in the neck, and that's me being polite. I'd rather fight another Dark Horror than have to sit around talking with him again."
"We can refuse, can't we?" Emy asked hopefully, now that she had finished coughing.
"It would not be polite to refuse, he is the son of the leader," Colensa began to say.
"You don't believe in polygamy over here, do you?" Emy asked quickly and my dad and Alacor laughed.
"No we do not, but he has made an innocent request to make up for your last stay."
"Just us? Is this like some audience, date thing with him?" I asked and I heard someone shuffling just out of sight.
I knew it would be Blaike and I couldn't imagine what he might be thinking. Despite the fact that we hadn't even got to the conversation about our feelings, it had bothered me when the two girls from Eribourne had wanted an audience with him and Kaleb. But now things were further along and he had to hear this.
"The message states he would like to invite Cassandra and Emily to Eribourne, with whomever they choose to bring with them, to atone for the mishaps of their last visit. It does not mention an audience but it does seem to be his intention..." My dad seemed to find this funnier than he should.
"He does realise we're kinda busy getting ready to save the world, doesn't he?" I asked and tried not to feel even more awkward that we were discussing this in front of everyone.
"It appears he thinks this is important," Alacor suggested and Emy rolled her eyes.
"He's a moron, can we refuse or not?"
She was as blunt as ever and I was glad, even if I wasn't entangled in a bizarre mess of feelings and missed conversations with Blaike, I wouldn't want to go see Jaleel again.
"You can, you are grown women with your own rights. But I fear he may take this as a challenge to try harder." My mum said and she seemed annoyed at the idea.
"He's gonna think we're playing hard to get? He really is an idiot then, we were winding him up the whole time we were there." Emy chuckled and I half smiled despite my feelings.
"Things are done a little differently here, he saw you as two unattached, pretty young ladies. He has requested your presence in the hopes of spending more time with you. You can still say no, he has no rights to either of your time or attention."
I bit my lip when Alacor said unattached, was I really unattached now? My feelings were very much attached to someone, who had to hear another guy saying he wanted to spend time with me.
"What if we were attached? Or like, seeing someone... do we have to have an audience with them to prove it to anyone else?" Emy asked and I side glanced at her.
She wouldn't look at me, I knew she wouldn't say anything about Blaike but what was she getting at?
The parents became collectively interested then, my mum and Colensa leaned towards us.
"You do not have to prove anything to anyone, he will simply have to accept that you are not interested. Or are you actually involved with someone here and wanting to know for that reason?" Colensa asked and she looked inquisitive, her eyes wide at the idea.
"It's just hypothetical, I was curious how it all worked..."
"Your love life is your own, an audience is just an informal way of getting to know someone that may have caught your eye." Colensa replied but she was watching Emy suspiciously.
I hid a smile behind my hand as I rested my elbow on the table.
"Okay, send a message back telling him that we are both grateful for the offer but he can stick it where the sun d-"
"Emily, no," Alacor interrupted and Kayle and I stifled our laughter.
"Okay, tell him we're grateful but we're not interested on account of saving the world, including his shallow, self involved... okay, be polite or whatever, but definitely reject him." Emy added after a warning look from her mum, and returned to her food like the matter was resolved.
I chanced a glance at Blaike while the parents were deciding what they would say. He was looking down at the table but he must have noticed my movement, he locked eyes with me and I could see his agitation. He didn't like what he had heard but there was something else, a sort of eagerness that I hoped wasn't about to find its way out.
The parents distracted me before I could worry too much, "We will send the response back to Eribourne today. You do have much more important things to focus on but we did not want to keep anything from you."
"Thank you but any more audience request can go straight into the bin-"
"Or the fire," I added to Emy's words, smiling at my dad who was still finding all of this amusing.
I just hoped Blaike got the message I was trying to send, I wasn't interested in entertaining anyone else.
"Understood, now shall we eat?"
I was surprised they wanted to eat together, this almost never happened anymore. I forgot how nice it was. Merkell joined us a little while later and we ate as a group, fresh food was brought out and I ate until I was full.
The conversation was light and enjoyable, it veered back to Jaleel's request at one point when Emy made a comment and Merkell asked for clarification. At these times I could have sworn I saw Blaike tense up, he looked like he was preparing to do something but never actually did. I was a little relieved when the meal ended and everyone dispersed.
Emy and I had plans to go open my presents since I had left them in the room where the party was. The hangover and training had left little time for presents. I was eager to see what they were, obviously with no electronics it intrigued me what kind of presents were given here.
We wandered down the hall to the room, it looked different to the night before. The streamers and balloons had gone and the furniture had been put back in its place. There was no fire going but I used a little magic and it blazed to life instantly while Emy closed the door.
"Isn't it weird that we can just do that whenever we want now?" Emy asked, she walked over to the table with the presents piled on top.
"Yeah it is, but our whole lives are weird now so I'm sort of accepting things as and when they happen." I chuckled and joined her at the table.
"And what about the things happening with Blaike?" She asked quietly as she picked up a small box, looking at me over the top of it.
"That's a whole different kettle of fish, I know we like each other but things keep getting in the way. And we have to think about the fight with Riltresik, we might not survive that... or what if one of us survives without the other?"
All of my doubts were pouring out and I didn't stop them, Emy had heard my crazed rants before and she listened as she always did with an open mind, mostly.
"But that makes it sorta romantic, you need to make the most of your time together just in case it gets taken away from you."
"Emy, that's not romantic, that's morbid," I stated, toying with a long, thin present in a black box.
"Whatever, I think it's romantic and you should get your butt moving before something happens."
"Yeah that sounded really romantic, Emy," I chuckled and sighed as I perched on the arm of the nearest sofa. "We'll see what happens, he was definitely unhappy with the conversation about Jaleel."
"I noticed, I thought he was gonna burst a blood vessel at one point. See, he likes you so much he's willing to get hurt just for you."
"Emy, that's really not helping... let's get down to some present opening instead," I changed the subject quickly.
I didn't know what I was waiting for with Blaike, I could just go and find him now and sort this whole thing out but something stopped me.
I tried to put it out of my mind while Emy and I opened the presents, I was right to assume they would be different to anything I had received before. The servants of the house must have noticed my sweet tooth because they had given me a box of brightly coloured sweet treats that I hadn't tried before. Some were sugary jellies which Emy and I finished off pretty quickly, others were hard candy or a marshmallow-like substance that I saved for later.
From my parents I received a silver and a diamond-like gemstone hair comb, in the design of a bird. It looked extremely expensive and beautiful, I was careful as I put it back in its wrapping. Emy had gotten me a book, it was large and old looking, a story of some kind from what I read in the first page.
"It's a story about some magical folk waaayyyy back when, I don't know but I thought you might like it. It's not like I can just go shopping for things." She laughed lightly and shrugged.
"Your description was fantastic," I chuckled when she scowled playfully, "No, I love it, thanks Emy."
She nodded in response and helped me open some more, Kaleb had given me a knife that had an engraving of patterns that when held at a certain angle spelled out my name. I grinned and slotted it into the pocket of my boot, it fit perfectly. Kayle's present was odd, at first I thought it was a toy kaleidoscope like I'd had as a kid but when I looked through it I was shocked. It was a telescope and a very good one, I pointed it to the door on the other side of the room and I could see the grains in the wood.
I smiled, passing it to Emy and moved on to her parents gift, they gave me some tokens that I knew to be old Nentarli currency, I had been fascinated by them in one of our lessons. And then we got to Blaike's present, the long thin box that I had been toying with while we talked. I raised a brow at Emy and she urged me to open it.
I pulled off the ribbon holding the birthday wish from him and opened the lid of the box. Inside, buried in a cushion of their peculiar paper, was a silver necklace. I carefully pulled it out and stared at the pendant, causing my pulse to speed up. It was a purple gemstone the size of a ping pong ball, fashioned in the shape of a heart. It was backed onto a silver heart-shaped disk with curlicues caging the heart against the silver. My eyes were wide as I looked at Emy and she was staring at the necklace in wonder.
"The comb from your parents was gorgeous but this? This is totally different, this is from a guy, someone who didn't even have to get you anything. You can't say this isn't romantic, I won't let you." Emy's tone was adamant and I stared back at the necklace.
"Emy, put it on for me, please?"
I had to wear it and I couldn't disagree with Emy, it was incredibly romantic and sweet. Once the necklace was on and I gazed down at it, my mind was made up.
"Emy, I've gotta go, just leave this stuff where it is, I'll sort it later."
"Where are you going?" She asked but her voice was all too knowing as she smirked at me.
"You know very well where I'm going, to find Blaike." I rushed to the door and heard Emy cheering from behind me.
"I'll sort this out and I want to hear everything later!" She called after me as I jogged down the hall.
I didn't know where Blaike would be so I tried his room first, I knocked and knocked while trying to calm my frantically beating heart. It didn't work and still nobody answered the door. I knocked on Kaleb's door and he answered within a few seconds.
"Do you know where Blaike is?" I tried to stay casual but it was difficult with my heart banging against my rib cage.
"I think he went out, why do you ask?"
He took a closer look at me and that's when he saw the necklace, he must have known what it meant and who it was from.
He smiled widely, "I think he said something about needing to go for a run but I did not know if he was serious. He will be out in the gardens if anywhere," Kaleb added and arched a brow, as though ushering me to go find him.
I smiled, I knew I was blushing but I didn't care, "Thanks, Kaleb." I said before rushing off back down the stairs.
I could still see the look Kaleb had given me, he had known about Blaike's feelings and I wondered what their conversations might have been like as I jogged past people on my way out to the gardens.
It was dark when I stepped out of the door, the only light came from the moon and a few brighter stars. I created my own ball of light and headed further out into the gardens, I assumed he would be in the far garden where we had our hand to hand combat lessons. I looked everywhere but there was no sign of Blaike, I traipsed back through the garden with fountains and statues.
If he had gone for a run out in the village I would never find him and I wasn't about to wait outside his room for him to return. I was starting to lose my nerve, was it selfish of me to make things happen between us when we might die in our fight with Riltresik? Maybe the universe was sending us signs by way of people interrupting us. I rolled my eyes at my own ridiculous thoughts and headed back towards the house.