She exhaled loudly and her shoulders sagged.
“Despite what I know about your history, you’ve never given me a reason not to trust you. So if that’s really what you need from me, okay.”
“Thank you,” I said, hoping that there was enough emotion in my voice that she knew I was sincere, but not enough to divulge my true feelings.
Jaden left and I turned to my laptop, knowing if I wanted to hold off any further visits from the Council, I had to call Dominic. I took a deep breath and carefully sculpted my facial features into a bored and unemotional expression, before making the video call.
“Tremain!” Dominic yelled into the computer. “You’d better have a damned good reason for ordering a Council Warrior to leave that school. You haven’t given me any information or made any progress in your investigation.”
“I’ve managed to cultivate a secure place among the students at the school. The students and the staff all trust that I am here to study with the new generation, as they were told prior to my arrival. Having a Council Warrior poking around draws attention, attention that hinders my investigation.”
“If your investigation is going so well, how come you have no new information to report?” Dominic sneered.
“It is my belief that the call in question was a Resistance ploy to draw the Council’s attention to this school, which is a well-known to be affiliated with the Council, in an attempt to distract us from a real threat elsewhere.”
Dominic’s entire demeanor changed as he considered my lies. He was pleased with this train of thought and with the idea that I was still unerringly loyal.
“Any ideas what the real threat could be?” he asked.
“No. Until I find a connection between the Resistance and the school, there’s no way for me to have that information. I still have leads that I’m running down. I’m getting closer, but I don’t believe the actual culprit is at the school.”
“Very well,” Dominic said with a nod. “We can spare you for a bit longer. Get me answers as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll have information soon.”
Then screen went blank and I released the tension I’d been holding. If Andrew was right and Shaylee was a Mage, we only had a week until her Transition. After that we would know for sure if the Prophecy was real. I’d hopefully bought us enough time that Shaylee would be safe until then.
My thoughts dwelled on Shaylee, who was nothing like I’d expected. There were things she said and did that were so reminiscent of my past. There had even been moments when I wondered if some part of her recognized who and what I was. Other times she was unfamiliar in every way and did things exactly the opposite of what I expected. I’d been slowly trying to get to know her since the holidays, but everything I learned about her only left me with more questions.
I left my room, deciding to patrol the school grounds. It was boring to say the least, but Jaden wasn’t going to be Shaylee’s first line of defense, she was going to be the last. Anything or anyone who wanted Shaylee was going to have to get through me first.
Chapter 9
Jaden
When the sun finally rose, I was grateful. It had been an agonizingly long night listening to Shaylee’s various bad dreams. I wanted nothing more than to spend the entire day in bed recovering from the lack of sleep, but I knew that wasn’t to be.
Shaylee and I walked down to the Dining Hall. We were both quiet. I was too tired to make conversation and Shaylee seemed distracted. Aaron was already sitting at our table when we arrived. I couldn’t help but notice the smile that formed on Shaylee’s lips when she saw him waiting for us. That was a new and interesting development.
Aaron smiled at Shaylee as we sat down. I tried to remove any hint of disapproval from my expression before he looked at me, but when his smile vanished, I knew I’d failed. I looked down quickly.
When I glanced up again, Aaron had returned his attention to Shaylee and was attempting to make small talk. I noticed the way they leaned toward each other, as if attracted by magnetism. There was a connection between them that I’d never noticed before and I ran the last few weeks through my head attempting to remember when it had begun. I wondered what was happening between them, but I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the fact that he shouldn’t be interested in Shaylee no matter what had happened.
I picked at my food. I had no appetite and I knew Shaylee would be suspicious if I didn’t eat anything.
“Jade?” Shaylee asked, grabbing my attention.
I looked up startled. I glanced from Shaylee to Aaron, realizing that I must have missed something.
“Sorry. I missed it,” I said.
“We were wondering if you wanted to go into town with us,” Shaylee replied, with an uncertain smile and I knew that my friend had picked up on my mood.
“I’m actually super tired, because I didn’t sleep well. You guys go ahead. I can meet up with you for dinner later,” I responded.
“Sure,” she said.
Seemingly satisfied with my answer, Shaylee stood up and stacked all three of our trays. She picked them up and walked over to the trash.
As soon as she was out of earshot, I leaned forward and accusingly asked, “Why are you so interested in her? I thought you wanted me to protect her because she’s human, not for your own benefit.”
Aaron grinned. He leaned towards me.
“That’s for me to know. Why does it matter to you?”
“Maybe because I could have been guarding something important instead of your pretend girlfriend.”
His smiled disappeared and I briefly wondered if I’d crossed a line.
“You were where I needed you to be. That’s all you need to worry about.”
“She isn’t even one of us. How could you develop
