The oak doors of the lecture hall swung shut behind him as he walked away from the classroom. He didn't stop until he reached the balcony of the side of the academy that acted like the royal wing.
He gripped the obsidian railing hard his knuckles turned white.
"Damn it." he hissed.
The silence inside him was terrifying.
For months since he'd been poisoned, the Gilded Ivy had always let him know it was alive—a rhythmic, golden heat that reminded him he was rotting from the inside out.
Now, after Elias Thornbloom had touched him, the parasite was quiet. It wasn't dead yet, he could still feel it but it was dormant, as if it had been lulled into a deep sleep by the just the little contact they made.
His palm tingled. He still felt the warmth of Elias's hand.
He hated it.
He was a Thalorin. He was meant to be the sun around which the kingdom orbited. He was supposed to be the definition of Efficiency.
He paced the balcony.
"Your Highness?"
A shadow detached itself from the pillars. It was Xavier, his personal guard.
"The class ended early?" Xavier asked, his eyes darting to Cassian's trembling hands.
"The class was a joke." Cassian snapped. "And the boy is a lot more… different than I thought."
"Thornbloom?" Kaelen's brow furrowed. "I thought he was a nobody from a fallen house. At least that's what the rumors say."
"He is a nobody who just bloomed a Silver-Leaf Sprout into a White Transcendence in front of three hundred plus witnesses." Cassian said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
"Zayne will hear of it by lunch. My father will hear of it by sunset."
He turned away from the view, his red eyes burning.
"Watch him. If he speaks to anyone about the nature of our... collaboration... bring him here. I will deal with him myself."
Cassian strode away, his cape snapping in the wind. He didn't know what his brother would do if he found out that there was a plant mage strong enough to bloom what usually took years to bloom- in one day.
He felt the Ivy stir beneath his skin again. It felt like it was searching for the what soothed it before.
And for the first time in his life, Cassian felt fear.
Fear that he might become addicted because of the curse. Fear that he would soon start searching for the boy too.
That... would be disastrous.
ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ
The hallway outside the lecture hall was still packed with students.
Elias emerged from the classroom ten minutes later, his head spinning with the information he had gotten from the professor.
He had expected to slip out unnoticed and get to the quiet of the greenhouse but things don't always go as planned.
Students stood in groups, their conversations became whispers the moment he stepped out.
"There he is."
"How did he do it? The Prince actually touched him and he didn't die."
"I heard the Thornblooms used to be court sorcerers. Maybe he used a forbidden charm."
Elias kept his gaze fixed on his boots. He wanted to sleep even though he woke up like thirty minutes ago. The damping had drained him more than he wanted to admit. He just wanted a bowl of broth and a dark room.
A hand caught his shoulder, spinning him around.
"Elias! What in the name of the Old Gods was that?"
Mina was breathless. She looked like she had run a marathon just to catch him. Her notebook was clutched to her chest, and her eyes were wide with a mix of awe and genuine panic.
"A practical, Mina." Elias said, trying to keep his voice neutral. "We were paired. We grew a plant. That's what happens in Botany."
"Don't give me that." she hissed, pulling him into a recessed alcove away from the prying eyes of the passing nobles. "That wasn't just 'growing a plant.' We've been doing the Silver-Leaf demonstrations for three years. No one—not even the seniors—blooms a White Transcendence. And certainly not with him."
She lowered her voice, her grip on his arm tightening. "Eli, people aren't saying you grew a plant you know. Why'd the professor call you.. Are you... are you in trouble?" Her eyes widened.
Elias looked at her. He saw the genuine worry in her eyes, and for a second, he wanted to tell her. He wanted to say that the Prince was a walking corpse and he was the only one keeping the crown from falling.
But he remembered the signet ring.
"You won't live to see the winter harvest."
"I'm fine, Mina," Elias said, his voice coming out more flatly than intended.
"I'm sure it was a mistake on the prince's part. The Prince has more magic than he knows what to do with, and I just happened to be the one standing there to catch the overflow. It won't happen again."
"It better not." Mina whispered. "Because Zayne Thalorin's inner circle was in that room. I don't want you getting involved between two royal rival brothers."
She let go of him, her expression grim. "Be careful okay? You are my baby brother you know. I'm having a class now." She ran off after messing up his hair a bit.
BLING!
That was the bell signal for his next class. He turned and walked away while pushing everything else to back of his mind. He was one week late so he had lots of catching up to do.
ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ ʚ♡ɞ
Elias opened the door to his dorm room plopped on the edge of his bed. His muscles ached from the lack of sleep from this morning and the rushed lessons he had to do cause he resumed late.
He didn't turn on the mag-lights. He preferred the dark.
As he lay down on his back he stared at his right hand.
In the moonlight, the palm looked ordinary, but he could feel a little heat.
'"Family genes" he said?'
He closed his eyes, and the memories of the afternoon he had buried, came flooding back.
"Stay behind, Mr. Thornbloom."
Dr. Vane had stayed at his podium, meticulously cleaning his green-stained fingernails with a small silver blade.
"I have a few things to say to you for personal and selfish reasons. Don't think you're invisible." Vane had said, when the room cleared out.
"Don't think that because your family lost its name in society, people have forgotten the history of the linage."
Elias had stood close to the door, his heart hammering against his chest.
"W- what do you mean, Professor?"
"Don't pretend, boy. I knew your greatgrandfather. I knew the man who could make a desert bloom in a single night."
Vane looked up from cleaning his fingers then. His eyes were sharp, devoid of the sarcasm he showed the other students.
"The Thornblooms weren't just plant mages. You were the plant mages. The only bloodline capable of suppressing the any type of plant— regardless of the species or how dangerous they were. And they were also able to suppress magic itself."
Elias had felt the air leave the room. "If you know that... why tell me now?"
"Because you just showed the world your teeth." Vane hissed. "You were left because you weren't seen as a threat. Yes, some people would believe it's the prince's magic but the that raises the question of how we're you able to survive it?"
The Professor stepped closer, the smell of damp earth clung to him.
"I am not your ally. I care only for the plants. And the students." He added the last part like an afterthought.
"But a dead student is an inefficient student. Hide yourself more, Thornbloom. Or just go home."
He turned like was going to leave but then he paused
"And I'm sure you know your parents death wasn't an accident like you were made to believe."