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Without further ado...
Selkies' Skins 2
Temple and Skinquest
Installment 53
Chapter 23a
The Serpent's Knot (working title)
“I think that’s enough studying for today.” David frowned at her.
Kirsty blinked at him and looked up from the shoulder currently serving as her pillow. Her cheeks felt hot and stung. By the way his eyes lingered on her cheeks she knew she was red enough to notice. Her arm tightened around his back when the dizziness increased and the sensation of cobwebs and strings being pulled away intensified.
“Should you have a child, whether with the boy or another, you must tell them NOT to strain forward in time.” Mara’s voice brushed her inner ears while the scent of salt filled her nose. It echoed, far off and wavering like a distant radio signal. “Tell me, are there times in classes where you had headaches, perhaps nosebleeds, the last year in school?”
“Way too soon to think about kids, but she is old, and once I would have been the right age.”
David’s nose twitched and he looked more curiously into her face as the sea’s scent wafted from her breath into his own. “That’s noteworthy…” he thought, followed out loud by, “Definitely enough studying. Matron Laryna told to me to make sure you took it easy.”
“But how did we get out here?” She touched her nose lightly. The burn inside made her nibble her lip and wait to see if there would be the dreaded trickle.
His gaze sharpened and the arm she was nestled in tightened as he pulled the book she held open on her lap decisively away and snapped it shut. “We walked after she cleared you to come have some fresh air with me.” He sighed in exasperation and no small amount of hurt since she’d also held his hand during that walk. “You don’t remember? You had begged her to release you early.”
Kirsty shook her head then stopped when it brought back the pressure between her brows. “I don’t, but if you say we did and that I said so, that must be what happened. I’m sorry. Sorry my memories are so scattered.” Her eyes met his and she hoped the shame she felt wasn’t obvious.
His blue eyes only looked into hers in concern, though she saw an unasked and bothered question behind them.
She cast around and tried to remember. She had very hazy memories of the medical wing very slowly returning to focus. Mostly it was blips. The rustle of the Matron’s gown, the sound of David’s voice reading to her while she must have been unconscious, the feel of his hand in hers, the murmuring voices of their friends with him. Questions. Theories. Her aunt’s voice. A short litany of what potions she was taking to regulate the things her age now required when David asked about interactions sometime that he was present during administration. Being hungry and writing a letter that hadn’t been answered yet. Time mashed together and moved in ways she didn’t like.
Where had her school year gone? She knew she’d lived it. Plenty of classes, surely. She did write that letter, didn’t she? There was definitely a promise to David that she was going to write that letter.
He frowned and kissed her forehead as lightly as he could. “I’m just worried. You were unwell for too long this time for my liking even before we convinced you to get looked at.”
“Do you ever? I certainly don’t like being unwell.”
“No.” As unobtrusively as he could he tried to check her pupils and how they reacted to the change in light from his shifting. “I really hope this is the last time. I’m the one that’s supposed to have ‘mysterious afflictions’ now and then. Not you.”
She blushed deeper at the kiss, smiling a bit and chuckling very quietly and carefully after the joke processed and kissed his cheek. “Bloody noses I’m sure are not high on the list of attractive features except to vampires.”
“That’s better. I prefer your smile.” He put the book they had been reading together out of the way before slipping both arms around her and laid his head softly over hers when it settled where he’d hoped. “I would have an issue with any vampire going after your nose though. Let’s avoid you putting that mental image in my head again.” When she snuggled more into him and relaxed further the tautness of his body lessened slightly, then continued releasing when he was more certain her melting into him was comfort and not mere exhaustion.
They sat like that on the bench a bit longer while a group of students passed them by on their way to a class. Their eyes landed on the pair then slid away. It was not unusual to see her lean into him, although his gaze warned them away today. One nodded as they passed, acknowledging the unspoken request. Kirsty continued to rest like that, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart and breathing, the song of the blood moving in his veins, small waves circulating. She smiled slightly.
The moment passed as they all do and he rubbed her back gently after checking his watch. “Time for class.”
“Ok.”
She sighed and extricated herself. He took her hand unthinkingly and helped her rise before they gathered their few possessions and made their way back in. Kirsty paused a moment before they began up the steps, looking above the doorway with furrowed brow and twisted gut.
“Kirsty?” He looked up to the lintel and then back. The symbols of the three houses continued their normal gaze, each busy with checking and rechecking students that passed beneath.
“It’s silly… I just wish there were another way back in.”
“Why?” Now his eyebrows furrowed and drew together before raising in question. Other students continued through and around, though they were neatly off to one side so that anyone running would pass them without jostling.
“I’m… not sure. Something.” She nodded toward the serpent holding its tail, shivering when the eyes landed on hers.
“I’m not sure there is another way in right now, not that we can use. I’m still not clear on why they designed it this way.” He took her hand and squeezed it when she still hesitated. “It can’t get you. He is up there. We are down here. The charm is just some form of mind-sifting. Nothing that should hurt you.” David wasn’t clear on why he said the last words, but the set of her mouth and wideness of her eyes bothered him.
A stone snake wasn’t something he could deal with unless it made an obvious move, despite his own uncomfortable experiences with it. He narrowed his eyes at it.
“You’re right. Can’t hurt me. Silly.” She reached up and rubbed between her eyebrows before starting walking again. She squeezed his hand again as they passed underneath, trying to shut her mind when the scaly touch came to it.
He felt her draw away as they passed beneath though her hand was firmly in his and stinging from the brief force of her grip before they were once more out. “Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it has already hurt her somehow. But how? What do I even look through to find out what to do about it?”
Classes passed without remark and mercifully without a nosebleed, fainting spell, nor any slightly greenish tinge to her cheeks. He waited for her to be busy with her own affairs before paying a visit to his own Head of House, Professor Elphen.
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Live Journal
Dreamwidth
Copyright 2012-2022 and onward by Teresa Garcia
The ebook's official release for Book One (Castle and Well) was March 16th on Smashwords, and is currently also on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The print edition is available in paperback on Amazon, and hardback on Lulu with Samantha Buckley's stunning cover depicting Kirsty and the storm. An audio edition of the first book in the series narrated by Illya Leonov and now available on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible, with other venues pending. (click to hear what he sounds like in past recordings of other projects)
Got a question? Ask it and maybe the answer will be revealed in the story, or in a comment on the extras page if not part of the story itself. Spy a typo? Website code broken? Would you like the episodes to be longer or shorter? Please let me know!
Installment Uploaded here: June 18, 2022
Uploaded to Dreamwidth: May 15, 2022
Uploaded to Livejournal: May 15, 2022
Patreon: May 15, 2022
Book Two's Landing
(manuscript in progress, be watching for installments)
Live Journal
Dreamwidth
Copyright 2012-2022 and onward by Teresa Garcia
The ebook's official release for Book One (Castle and Well) was March 16th on Smashwords, and is currently also on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The print edition is available in paperback on Amazon, and hardback on Lulu with Samantha Buckley's stunning cover depicting Kirsty and the storm. An audio edition of the first book in the series narrated by Illya Leonov and now available on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible, with other venues pending. (click to hear what he sounds like in past recordings of other projects)
Got a question? Ask it and maybe the answer will be revealed in the story, or in a comment on the extras page if not part of the story itself. Spy a typo? Website code broken? Would you like the episodes to be longer or shorter? Please let me know!
Installment Uploaded here: June 18, 2022
Uploaded to Dreamwidth: May 15, 2022
Uploaded to Livejournal: May 15, 2022
Patreon: May 15, 2022
Book Two's Landing
(manuscript in progress, be watching for installments)
If you'd like to have another episode in the update schedule, feel free to use the Paypal button below or the Patreon button. Alternatively you can buy an ebook, print book, or audiobook from me through Amazon, B&N, or Smashwords. Basic schedule will be biweekly release.
As of this writing I am working on Chapters for Book Two (Selkies' Skins: Temple and Skinquest).
As of this writing I am working on Chapters for Book Two (Selkies' Skins: Temple and Skinquest).