15. Chapter Fifteen
1055 Words
15
Chapter Fifteen
Bryar Rose
About an hour later, Knox walks me to my apartment. He still looks so pale, I hate to make him walk an extra yard, let alone all the way to my door.
“You don’t have to walk me home,” I say. “We’re only two floors apart, you know.”
Knox inhales deeply. “You’re worried.”
“Well, you know…” I grip the door handle behind my back and try to think of something totally honest—yet misleading—to say to Knox at this point. You look at death’s door isn’t what he needs to hear. “There’s a lot to worry about. I must find the Codex Mechanica and protect the fountain of magic. It won’t be easy.”
Of course, I don’t add in the part about destroying the fountain of magic. That will just have to wait.
Knox grips the upper ledge of the door. His body frames mine. Normally, the sensation of him looming so close makes me feel calm and safe. Right now, though? All I can notice is how his body trembles.
Inside my soul, my wolf whimpers in fear. “Our mate is ill. Make him go rest.”
“I’m working on it,” I reply in my mind.
Knox leans in, brushing his nose along the length of mine. “I know I look like hell, but just because I look like crap doesn’t mean I’m not on top of this. Believe me, Ty is up to something. If I lay low tonight, I’ll be ready to plan our next move tomorrow.”
Silent calculations flicker through my mind. Today, there’s four days until the autumn equinox.
Four days until the fountain of magic rises again after five thousand years.
Tomorrow there will be three.
Time is running out.
Think about something else, Bryar Rose.
“So, no school for you tomorrow?” I ask.
“Taking a sick day,” says Knox.
This piece of news is something my wolf likes very much. “No school for Knox! Let’s stay home and comfort him forever!” She prances around in a happy circle. “We can spend every day together, away from those nasty fairies that won’t let me chew on them anyway.”
“Ho, there,” I say to my inner wolf. “This is a sick day. Day.”
“No school ever again,” howls my wolf. “No schooooooooooooool!”
I press on my temples. “Stay quiet or I can’t think.”
Knox’s full mouth quirks with a smile. “Your wolf wants to skip school tomorrow, yeah?”
I hiss in an embarrassed breath. “I said that last thing out loud, didn’t I?”
“Sure did.” Knox chuckles. “Glad I’m not the only one who does stuff like that.” He shakes his head. “But tell your wolf not to skip because of me. We’re both going back.”
I give him the side eye. It’s not like Knox to have a strong opinion about school. “And why’s that, exactly?”
“Like I said, Az will kick my ass harder than ten West Lake Preps.” Knox’s face turns serious. “But if you wanted to, we could start our own classroom. You, me, and Az. that old were would love to kick your academic ass, too, you know.”
My wolf is now leaping with joy. “No school. Let’s be with our mate! Maaaaaaaate!” She’s having such a good time in my head I don’t even bother to tell her to shut up.
“And how hard exactly would that ass-kicking be?” I ask, smirking. “Elle and I have been setting our own study schedule, you know.”
Knox chuckles again, and it’s a rumbling sound I like very much indeed. Maybe it’s just in my head, but some of the color seems to be back in his cheeks. Perhaps being around me isn’t what’s making him sick, after all.
“Let me put it to you this way,” says Knox. “This whole conversation? I can repeat it in Greek, Latin, and Persian.”
I mock-frown. “Just those three?”
“Nah, a bunch more, too. But I thought the Persian might really impress you.” He leans in close until our mouths almost touch. “Did it work?”
My wolf adds in some yipping with her prancing. “It worked! It worked! Kiss him nooooooooow!”
“Keep up the commentary, and you’re going into a time-out,” I reply. “There’s no way I can enjoy a kiss with you yipping in my brain.”
Knox leans back. The way he’s pressing his lips together, I just know he’s holding back the mother of all laughs.
I wince. “I said that last part out loud again, didn’t I?”
Knox clears his throat. “Don’t put your wolf in a time-out because of me.” He steps away and scrubs his hands over his face. My mate certainly looks exhausted. “What are you gonna do now? See if you can find that Codex Mechanica?” He snaps his fingers. “Wait. There was something else I was going to ask you about that device, but I can’t remember it right now.”
I decide to skip over the whole you can’t see or remember anything concerning the Void right now because of a memory curse conversation. Instead, I answer the first question. “Yes, I’m going to search online for evidence of the Codex Mechanica.”
Knox nods slowly. “Long night of hacking ahead of you, yeah?”
“That’s right.” My heart lightens just thinking about it. Finding stuff on the internet is my special gift.
“You have trouble sleeping, you call me, yeah?”
“I promise.” Maybe it’s the terrible lighting in this hallway, but it seems like dark circles have formed underneath Knox’s ice-blue eyes.
He can’t be getting worse.
It’s definitely the lighting.
Maybe.
“Go on,” I say playfully. “Get some rest now.”
Moving closer, Knox leans in and brushes a gentle kiss against my cheek. The scent of pain encircles him like a cloud. My heart cracks. This is so bad.
“We’ll talk more at breakfast, yeah?” asks Knox. “Then, we can chat about that whole West Lake thing too.” He heaves in a rattling breath.
My inner wolf goes back to whimpering. “Our mate is very ill.”
“I know,” I reply.
Knox slogs down the hallway. It seems to take forever for him to step into the elevator and disappear. That’s another thing that isn’t like him. Usually, there’s at least one smartass comment before he goes.
Sighing, I turn my attention to the master security panel in the wall by my door. All of a sudden, finding the Codex Mechanica never seemed more important. One way or another, that damned fountain is the source of all Knox’s pain, I know it. And if destroying it at least gives him some peace, then maybe that’s just what I have to do.
- Writer
