Blue Flames

Chapter 23

"Arthur wants you in his office."

I had felt Charles approaching, but thought he only wanted to oversee the lesson. His snapped words, emphasized by his dark mood, took me by surprise.

We were by the lake, in the midst of another lesson with the juniors. Vanessa was nowhere to be seen. Corbin told me that he spoke with her and that she was doing fine. Apparently, she was sent by Arthur to someone who would teach her to cope with her bloodlust.

All the juniors straightened up at the sight of Charles.

"Now?" I asked him.

"Yes, I'll take over the lesson." He replied, and I swear I heard some of the soldiers actually groan.

Apparently, the issue was of importance for Arthur to put a halt on my lesson. If there was one thing I knew about him, it was that he valued his men and women and wouldn't have taken away time from their class unless it was an urgent matter.

I made my way as fast as I could to Arthur's place, my mind running wild with all the possible reasons he would summon me this way. They were all bad.

Harvey and Amanda were by the door, I smiled in greeting as I passed them by, their response was a tight one compared to their usual cheerful attitude.

That was the second sign this was not good.

I hesitated at the stairs. Did it have anything to do with my past? It probably did. I could run away. In fact, I had been struck by the urge to pack my bags and get away several times over the past few weeks.

But then again, it wasn't like I could hide from Arthur if he truly wanted me found. I could certainly try, but it was pointless.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders and climbed the stairs up to my fate.

The door was pulled open the moment I stopped in front of it. Arthur was sitting at his desk, his face impossibly blank, facing a laptop. He pointed at a chair behind him and to the side with a thumb.

"Sit."

The urge to curse him was impossibly hard to deny, but one look at him had me holding back my tongue. He was in a mood.

I took the seat, and settled with glaring daggers at the back of his head. The glossy waves of his black hair teased his nape. Damn him, he had great hair.

A moment later, the laptop chimed with an incoming video call.

"Don't make a sound," he said, then pushed the reply button.

I was glad I was sitting down, because the face on the screen would have sent me either to my knees or running out of the door. I was out of his sight, thankfully, only Arthur was in the camera frame.

"King Ronan, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Arthur asked with a honey toned voice that hinted at nothing of his real mood.

The man on the screen, a handsome blond with hair a few shades darker than his brother's, smiled in what appeared to be sincere warmth.

"Arthur. Very delightful to see you. It has been a long time," The fae king, my uncle, said.

"It has, indeed."

"Let's cut straight to the heart of my call, since I know you're a busy man."

Arthur chuckled, but the sound was just... wrong, very unlike his usual laughter. "I always have time for the fae king, Ronan. But go ahead."

"Thank you," Ronan lowered his head a fraction. From a king, that was as good as a full ninety degrees bow. It drove home the fact that Arthur, no matter how approachable he liked to portray himself at times, was a man who has ruled over sprawling territories for millenia.