CHAPTER 53: THE OTHER SIDE

Sylas’s mind was riddled with thoughts and questions. The Kind that didn’t offer favourable answers, and something in his eyes shimmered as he watched the girl sleep.

Then, he felt a dull ache at the back of his head, and a voice caught his attention.

Took him long enough.

"Boss," A rough, animalistic voice spoke.

Sylas turned slightly to the darker part of his room, and the glow from his blue eyes through the glass became even more obvious.

Telepathy.

Only his inner circle were allowed that.

"Report," Sylas ordered.

A hum of static shook the edge of the connection, and Sylas knew that the person on the other side was on the run, "We have a problem. Several, actually,"

Sylas’s eyes narrowed dangerously, "Speak,"

"First, one of Gravemont’s night staff just took a bribe,"

There was a short pause, and Sylas’s eyes flickered to the door of the room, already calculating and mapping out the obvious and the not-so-obvious threats lingering about.

"Does this Staff have a name?"

"Not yet," The wolf replied, "He was careful. But he’s feeding someone information from inside the academy. We traced the signal to the city, not the estate,"

Someone in Gravemont was leaking information. Someone close.

"Next,"

Sylas heard the wolf exhale, his breath ragged like he was now dodging through trees, "The other side is sending a team to the capital tonight, they’re targeting someone high. A public figure with too much influence for the other side’s taste. If he dies, there’ll be uproar in the Council. They want Gravemont to become unstable with this,"

Sylas’s lips curled a bit, and his jaw worked.

"With the way they’ve been moving these days, it’s almost as if he’s desperate," The wolf added.

The word ’desperate’ lingered on Sylas’s mind. These actions had begun the night Theodora had collapsed at the discipline hall after what had happened to the mirrors and the ward. And if the other side - that man - had someone felt the shift in the veil, then it would all make sense.

The connection wavered again. The wolf was running even faster, trying to get away from whatever it was.

Sylas kept his tone even, even though he was boiling so hard from the inside, "What else?"

The Wolf hesitated this time, and Sylas got the feeling this report might be the worst, "We picked up chatter. The other side wants a hostage. Not a civilian. But a student of Gravemont,"

"Who?" Sylas questioned calmly.

"We don’t have the name yet. They’re being vague,", The wolf lowered his voice, "But the orders mentioned making the North look responsible. Something about it being the last push to stir up war between the North, and another region,"

Another region? Last push?

Sylas didn’t need any more explanation. He understood perfectly.

His hand flexed once, controlled, the only outward sign of the violence that spiked in him, Where are they now?"

"Two of my scouts spotted movement near the lower district. We’re tracking, but... there’s a lot of them, boss. And they’re prepared to take the kid fast,"

"They won’t," He replied, eyes shifting again to the girl sleeping on the bench. Why does everything have to be connected to her?

"One more thing, boss,"

Sylas’s eyes lifted slightly.

"If the other side hits both targets as they want to, the public figure and the student, not only will it stir up war, but with the bribed staff inside Gravemont... he’ll make it look like the academy failed on all fronts,"

A perfect political collapse.

The other side were classic.

"Keep eyes on the assassination team. Do not engage until I say,"

"Understood,"

"I’ll find the traitor myself," He murmured coldly.

Then, Sylas closed the link with a cold, clean sever.

.

.

.

It felt like someone had wedged an axe into Theo’s head and was politely tapping on it from the moment she tried to open her eyes.

It took a few seconds before her eyes adjusted to the sight, and she found herself looking at the familiar ceiling of the dorm room.

But the scent in here was different. This wasn’t her room.

When she tried to move, her limbs ached terribly and she let out a whimper.

"Thad?" A voice called, very close, "Thad!" It exclaimed with more life and she heard quick movement right before a head came into view.

"Liam?" She blinked.

"You’re awake," Liam breathed in relief.

Theo groaned as she pushed herself up to a sitting position, leaning back on the pillows. The throb only got worse, and her eyes spun a bit.

"Oh God," She groaned, wishing the pain would go away, "What happened? What am I doing here?"

"The Professor dropped you off here hours ago," He replied.

"What Professor?"

"Sylas,"

Her eyes widened, "Sylas? Why?"

He watched her warily, "Don’t you remember anything that happened?"

"Uhmmm...," She tried to think, but her last memory was stumbling out of Ashwood retreat after bading Liam goodnight, "What exactly did I miss?"

"You really don’t remember anything? Not even a little?"

The way he spoke made it look serious, and she knew anything that involved Sylas had to be serious, so she tried again. She tried to get past the throb in her head and search for anything - even if it was just a memory flash - but nothing came.

She shook her head weakly, "Maybe when this headache is gone, it’ll all come back,"

"Not necessarily," He shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"You’re not gonna remember everything,"

"Why do you say so?"

"That’s how Silverbloom wine works. It messed with your head, and those who take large doses like you did, don’t really remember even half of what they did when they were intoxicated,"

"Silverbloom wine? Was that what I drank?"

"Yeah,"

"What happened after I drank it?"

"You retired for the night, but you didn’t return to the dorm,"

She panicked, "Then where was I?"

"Look at what you’re wearing. Maybe that’ll jog your memory a bit,"

She wanted to ask him what it had to do with her clothes, till she looked down and realised... these gigantic shirt and pants weren’t hers. She literally looked like a skeleton in them.

How on earth did...

And then, the scent from the shirt hit her lungs.

Hard.

The pain from the headache had dulled her senses before.

"What am I wearing?" She looked horrified.

"What does it look like?"

"It can’t be. I didn’t...,"

"My guess is, you spent the night at Sylas’s place. He must have found you wandering around drunk,"

She was trying to understand, trying to find another explanation for all this, "Are you telling me that he changed me into these clothes? He took off my clothes?"

"Probably,"

He took off her clothes?!

Her face was pale. She has never been drunk before, but she could already picture a thousand things that could have gone wrong while she was drunk. How on earth was she supposed to look at Professor Sylas again?