Chapter 15. Somehow Different

  [Lorelei]

  My mood was off the charts when I walked through the academy corridors, practically dancing with happiness after acing my teleportation exam. I let out a surprised squeak when someone suddenly pulled me by the arm — into an alcove, behind a pedestal with a marble vase.

  I didn’t have time to be scared or fight back because I immediately caught the familiar scent of citrus cologne with a sharp note of ginger. And the next second I found myself pressed against the wall by Calypso, who without any warning began covering my neck with kisses, occasionally biting the sensitive skin quite firmly.

  “What are you doing? Someone will see us,” I whispered.

  But my smile was threatening to split my face in half, and my eyes were already closing on their own from pleasure, especially when Calypso ran his fingers suggestively along my hips.

  Mmm, that feels so good…

  “They won’t. And even if they do let them be jealous, who cares.”

  “I actually have a lot of complaints about you as my warden!”

  “Oh really? I’d love to hear your complaints. Go ahead, start complaining. I’m listening very carefully.”

  His lips were fluttering across my neck the whole time, making it hard to concentrate.

  “You’re arrogant and have no sense of professional boundaries,” I breathed out as Calypso’s hands slid under my blouse.

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes! And also… Also…”

  I fell silent because particularly sensual kisses on my neck made my thoughts scatter like water rushing downstream.

  “Go on,” Calypso breathed against my lips while his hands drove me crazy with intimate caresses.

  “What else are you unhappy about?”

  “Your suddenness and intensity,” I whispered, smiling as I bit my lower lip.

  “You can’t just scare your innocent wards like that, Mr. Warden!..”

  “Mmm, you’re the picture of innocence, a perfect model of purity, yes. Indeed.”

  I was bursting with a whole storm of emotions. If someone had told me just a couple of days ago that Calypso himself would be passionately kissing me, catching me in the corridors of Armarillis,I would have asked what kind of intoxicating potion he'd been slipped.

  But no, there was no potion involved. Just mutual attraction and such intense sensitivity to every touch, every kiss that it took my breath away and I wanted to make it last forever. A couple of forevers, please. And no, I’m not asking for too much — I’m just getting started.

  “By the way, I have complaints about you too, Lora, as my ward.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Ye-e-es. You have trouble relaxing. I’m not satisfied. I’m assigning you daily private sessions,” Calypso whispered, his belt buckle clinking.

  “Daily, really?”

  “Twice a day, morning and evening. No objections accepted.”

  “But this morning we already… had a session, didn’t we?” I breathed, burying my fingers in Calypso’s long hair.

  “Then three times a day. Way too much time has passed since this morning.”

  “Mmm, a whole couple of hours?”

  “Exactly! Way too long!..”

  “I thought you were supposed to do meditation with me… But you’re kind of… Oh… Doing something else with me…”

  “Consider this meditation. Meditation comes in different forms, you know. This is my, mmm, innovative technique. Very effective, so don’t get distracted, Lori.”

  He didn’t let me talk anymore after that, and I wasn’t exactly opposed to such pleasant silence… I mean, meditation, yes.

  “So why do you always wear gloves?” I asked Calypso as we walked through Rauf Park.

  Yes, we finally made it there, with the goal of meditating in a peaceful setting. Proper meditation, the real kind, as intended. And now we were walking along winding paths past old maples with spreading branches. Calypso wasn’t in any hurry to answer my question, but I wasn’t planning to back down.

  I didn’t really understand why he’d chosen this particular place for our sessions. The park was pretty crowded at any time of day, and it was hard to find a spot where nobody would walk by.

  Though I started to understand what was going on when I saw Calypso striding briskly across the park, past all the clearings and fountains, heading north toward the old cemetery.

  “But you said we’d be meditating in the park itself,” I said uncertainly, giving Calypso a questioning look.

  “I did,” he nodded.

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  “Then why are we heading to the cemetery?..”

  “There’s a perfect dense dark aura hanging there constantly, it’s great for masking any magical flares. I’m a regular here with my forbidden experiments. Nobody bothers me. Not the nicest spot, to be honest, very ancient, every inch is saturated with darkness. White mages feel uncomfortable here, but that’s not us. If I’d told my father directly that we were heading there, he would’ve forbidden it and made sure I didn’t take you there. So we teleported to the park entrance and walked around it thoroughly, so anyone who wants to check our trail will get a clear sense that we went into the park and there’s nothing to worry about. I always do that… just in case.”

  “Ho-ho! Sounds like someone really loves breaking the rules, huh?”

  “Let me remind you that if it weren’t for this trait of mine, we wouldn’t be having this conversation after our hot encounter with the kernals,” Calypso smirked.

  Hard to argue with that.

  ***

  The Kalacen Cemetery was probably the most ancient in Forland. Abandoned and therefore unkempt, long overgrown with ferns and wildflowers. The trees here were gloomy — only a few had bright green leaves; mostly there were firs with dark needles. And there were lots of dead trees too, their gnarled bare branches adding to the unique atmosphere. Mmm, just the way I like it: a walk through an ancient cemetery with no one around, just the two of us with Calypso, rustling through the grass, with him holding my hand and leading the way.

  Beautiful. This kind of ‘date’ is right up my alley, huh.

  Many gravestones were covered with green moss and looked quite grim. That’s exactly where we were walking. From my dear warden’s confident stride it was obvious he knew this place well. And the narrow path suggested that someone came here quite often.

  There was no one else around wanting to explore the crumbling ruins, and Calypso said hardly anyone ever came here.

  “The energy here is too dark. Even dark mages don’t really like it. Ancient, steeped in darkness. Some hellish bloody battle happened here once. Things like that leave a permanent mark on the land. This gloomy feeling will never leave this place.”

  “So why did we come here then?”

  “Can’t you feel it?”

  “Feel what exactly?”

  I tuned into my senses but didn’t immediately notice anything special besides the oppressive silence.

  “The space here slowly draws dark magic out of a mage,” Calypso explained.

  “Not critically or dangerously for us, but still. Can you feel it?”

  I focused on my sensations again and finally understood what Calypso meant. The space really was drawing out magic — gently, subtly. It felt more like a light tickle. Actually quite pleasant, because in my case any draining of my magic generally had a positive effect on me.

  “I want to test a theory with you,” Calypso continued.

  “But I chose this place as a precaution, so that if you have a powerful dark flare, your uncontrolled dark magic will just sink into the ground. That way it won’t hurt anyone.”

  “Do I need to take off my gloves again?”

  “Definitely.”

  I sighed and nervously clasped my hands together in front of me. It’s a nervous habit — I always got anxious when I had to take off my gloves. Instinctively I’d tense up inside, bracing for the worst. Couldn’t help it. Every time I’d think — what if something goes wrong again?.. Like that time… In my childhood… Not exactly a fun game of chance, to be honest.

  “So what about your gloves?” I reminded him.

  “You didn’t answer. Why do you wear them?”

  “Maybe I’m just a germaphobe?”

  “About what?” I didn’t understand.

  “Well, maybe I just don’t like touching people directly in ordinary situations?” Calypso smirked.

  “All these people walking around the academy, touching me, you know…”

  I snorted loudly, crossing my arms over my chest.

  Ri-i-ight, he doesn’t want to tell the truth.

  “So you’re not exactly the warm and fuzzy type, are you?” I smirked.

  “Honest people are rarely pleasant to talk to,” Calypso smiled broadly.

  “And sweet hypocrisy is all the rage these days.”

  “You could stand to be a bit more fashionable,” I said with a snide tone.

  “And you could stand to care less about what others think and focus more on yourself,” Calypso winked cheerfully.

  “We-e-ell, if everyone only thought about themselves, the world would drown in selfishness…”

  “Wrong. If everyone thought about themselves, there’d be no need to take care of anyone, since everyone would be taking care of themselves,” Calypso smirked.

  “I’m a fan of healthy selfishness.”

  “That’s the thing - healthy. But you’re talking about total selfishness. And sometimes you have to take care of the weak.”

  “The weak have no place in this world,” Calypso declared categorically.

  “So someone like me has no place either?” I smiled crookedly.

  “What makes you think you’re weak?” Calypso seemed genuinely surprised.

  “You’re very strong. So strong that your power doesn’t fit inside you. Your problems aren’t related to weakness, but to a magical conflict.”

  “Either way, you’re speaking from a position of strength,” I shook my head.

  “What if you’d been born weak? Would you really think the same way?”

  “I wouldn’t really be thinking at all, since I’d try to rid the world of my worthless self as soon as possible.”

  “You’re wrong,” I shook my head.

  “You have some kind of twisted perception of weakness…”

  “Well, I probably do have a complicated relationship with weakness, I won’t argue,” Calypso agreed unexpectedly easily.

  “It scares me. To be honest with you, I’m terrified of screwing up and not measuring up.”

  “Your teenage maximalism is still alive and kicking,” I smirked.

  “Guilty as charged,” Calypso smiled.

  He was quiet for a bit while we sat down right on the grass in a small clearing in the middle of the cemetery, then said softly:

  “For as long as I can remember, people always looked at me like I was some kind of exotic creature… Everyone looked at me that way: classmates, senior Fortemins, inquisitors… Everyone knew, I was the son of Ilforte and Sirinity, the Mentor of Armarillis Academy and his right hand. They all looked at me with a silent challenge in their eyes and, you know, this slightly condescending ‘Well, what’s little Calypso going to do to impress us, or is he going to crash and burn?..’. Sometimes I feel like a lot of people around me were waiting for me to ‘crash and burn,’ and they’re still kind of waiting for something. I’ve always felt that psychological pressure acutely. And I was always afraid of falling short and showing weakness that would, you know… disgrace my family. And if I’m being honest with myself, I’m probably still afraid of that.”

  “You’ve just learned to be afraid of it secretly, so that even you don’t notice it anymore?”

  “You catch on fast,” Calypso said with a smile, snapping his fingers.

  I nodded in understanding. That attempt to hide your true weaknesses behind pride and arrogance was more than familiar to me. I got in my own head like that sometimes too.

  “I guess… You know, I guess apart from my parents… you’re the only one who’s always looked at me differently,” Calypso added quietly, looking into my eyes.

  “Somehow… Different… I don’t know what to call that look, but it was completely different… You always looked at me without inflated expectations. Just… differently.”

  ‘With love,’ I thought to myself. ‘I’ve always looked at you with love, my dear Calypso.’