Chapter 13:

Lexi was eyeing me up and down as soon as I pushed our door open and walked into the room. Her brown eyes caught on the two swords I held as she raised one dark eyebrow at me. Now, since the numbers had been effectively halved, it was just the two of us in our room now. Genie had been placed across the hall with a Vampirian girl who, from what they had said, was nice enough.

I opted to ignore the look she was giving me for a moment as I just set everything down and pulled off my uniform, uncaring as I changed into one of my sleeping gowns before all but collapsing into bed.

"Spill it, Ari," Lexi called, coming over to the side of my bed as she took a seat on the edge of it, looking expectantly between me and the blades now propped up against the wall beside us. "Are those who I think they're from? And did said man literally walk you back up here? I could have sworn I heard his voice in the hall, so you better start talking, cause you're not sleeping until you do." She grinned as she leaned in closer to me. "Come on, Ari, you know I won't tell anyone."

"Anyone other than Genie, you mean, and yes, okay, yes. I don't know what changed, or exactly when it happened, but he's actually been rather nice to me. Well, at least as nice as I think he's physically capable of being. He gave me those just now, and yes, he walked me up here, and if he hadn't, then I would have cracked my head open on the stairs and probably passed out in the hallway. However, I have a feeling that those have more to do with the fact that he has orders to go to the front line, and thanks to Bane and Nova, has to take me with him." I told her, and she paused entirely for a moment as she just looked me over.

"They're sending a student to the front line?" She asked, seemingly just as surprised as I had been.

"Not just the front line, the center, and that's what I said, but he told me that I wouldn't actually be fighting. I'll just be helping with chores around the camp."

"Well, I guess it could be worse then, but still none of those camps are good news, Ari."

"I know."

"Although, on the bright side, you're going to get a lot of alone time with Xavier." She grinned as she poked me in the side, making me smile. "You like him."

"I do not, he's too much of an ass to be likable," I retorted, but I felt my cheeks heat. After the last few days, I wasn't actually quite so sure that was actually true anymore. Lexi, however, just grinned a little wider.

"You can't lie to me, Ari. I've seen it. You know, the whole doe-eyed look you give him, well, until he pisses you off, which I'm honestly starting to think he does just because he enjoys the reaction you give him. Everyone else is way too scared that he'll just take their head off to actually mouth off to him like you do, not to mention the little fact that you're the only person he hasn't actually knocked some sense into for doing it."

"I really don't want to talk about this right now, Lexi." I groaned as I rolled over on my side away from her.

"Because you know that I'm right." She giggled at me, and I just shook my head. "Deny it all you want, Ari, but just know that I'm not going to judge you. Other people might, considering he's an assistant and all, but there are no rules on assistants, or commissioned officers being in relationships with students, only professors." With that, she moved off my bed and back over to her own as I got comfy.

'She's not wrong, Ari, and you know it. There's no reason to be ashamed of your feelings.' Nova chimed in, and I shot her a warning glare.

'We both know that just because he's being nicer to me doesn't mean that he actually cares in the slightest. Plus, being in any type of relationship with him would be a bad idea. I mean, we're practically tied together for life because of you and Bane, so if something did happen, and it ended badly, then we're all fucked. Not to mention the fact that I'm nothing more than a nuisance to him. He had to babysit me while I was out because it would have been inconvenient for him if I had died, and now he's going to have to babysit me while trying to fight on the front line, Nova. I'm nothing but an unwanted tagalong.'

'As much as you say that, you don't know that it would end at all, let alone badly, and if you really think you're unwanted, then you should really start thinking back over his actions, Ari. No one made him stay there every single night. No, he chose to be there with you. Bane was more than capable of taking down any one of those threats to you, but Xavier chose to take them on instead. Not to even mention what happened after you told him about Jaxon. I hate to break this to you, but that wasn't the reaction of someone that didn't care, Ari.' I didn't answer her, but... I couldn't deny that. His reaction after I had told him about Jaxon wasn't that of someone that didn't care; he had been pissed... for me. I took a breath, shutting my eyes, trying to go to sleep, but my mind kept going back to rethink every single interaction I've had with him, thanks to the two of them.

The next day went by just as slowly as the last. Every single movement still felt heavy, everything took far too much energy to do, but it was still better than yesterday. By my third day back in classes, I was back to finally feeling up to training and met up with Xavier that night, where he started teaching me how to use the swords he had gifted me. Teaching me how to strike where the points of armor would be the weakest. However, I could tell that he was taking it easy on me. I didn't feel the strain in my body that I had started to get used to from all our other sessions.

When Saturday rolled around, I was absolutely terrified all the same. It didn't matter how much training I've had; it still felt like far too little to go out into one of the harshest camps on the front line.

I had finally been able to pick up my armor from the tailors yesterday, along with another set that felt thicker than the other two. Then I remembered Xavier saying that he was going to put in an order for winter leathers for me, considering all the camps close to the Beastial border tended to be quite cold. I had never actually seen snow before, but they said that the second you passed the border into the Beastial lands, the land turned into miles of dense snowy forests and mountains.

I packed the winter set of leathers into my bag along with my other spare set before wearing the third set. The pants were similar to our uniform ones, but they were a little smoother of a material and tighter fitting. The vest that went over the uniform undershirts had plated leather armor all along the chest and back, along with sewn-in sheaths for the daggers that we had been issued the first week. The winter set was similar, but instead of just a vest, it was a lined, armor-plated jacket. They had also supplied me with a pair of fur-lined boots and gloves that I packed away before hanging my swords off the back of my backpack. I quickly double-checked that I had everything before heading out to the field to meet with Xavier.

As I walked out into the field, Nova leaped from my shoulders, shifting to her larger form as she ran up to Bane. Seeing them together in their large forms really put his size into perspective. Nova was decently large, easily the size of most normal houses, but Bane all but dwarfed her. She barely came up to his shoulders, and the huge wing he splayed over her almost covered her entirely. It was honestly rather adorable. They were never very far from each other, as long as they didn't have to be, but the soft nudges and twining tails were always just so sweet. 

Xavier came up to me as they greeted each other. His long stride ate up the distance between us in a matter of seconds as the soft breeze blew his dark hair back off his forehead. However, the way those bright eyes looked me over had my mind wandering back to the conversation I had with Lexi and Nova the other night. 

"Did you pack everything you need?"

"I think so, I packed all of my armor, winter gear, and all my underclothes. I wasn't sure about food and water, since I kept forgetting to ask about it, but I can always run and grab it quick if I need to."

"I have that covered. Let's get moving then. It's a two and a half day flight in and a half-day's ride into camp, and I would like to get there in enough time to actually sleep before I'm expected to fight." I just nodded as he turned on his heel and headed over towards Bane.

"So... How is this going to work? I've never flown before, and Nova is unable to carry me." I called after him as I practically jogged to keep up with his long stride.

"Bane is large enough to carry both of us, along with our supplies, no problem, and the fact that you've never flown before is exactly why you're flying with me, so that I can make sure you don't fall to your death. Surprisingly enough, war isn't the top killer of flyers. Gravity, on the other hand, is." Well, that made me feel so much better... Great, now I have to worry about falling from several thousands of feet in the air. At least there was more than enough space on Bane's back for the both of us.

Nova's laugh cut into my thoughts, and I looked over at her. 'There's only one safe place that you can sit to fly on a dragon, Ari.' I raised an eyebrow at her, hoping and praying that she was just toying with me. 'Nope, sorry, Ari, but you and Xavier are going to have to get rather cozy.' She snickered at me once more, and I blushed, instantly worried about just how cozy we were talking here... This was going to be a long journey.