AN: I realise its been a very long time since I last posted - I've been very ill and life has been hard. I have 9 episodes ready to post (shorter than I usually write but probably better for it) to finish off this set of chapters. They are written so guaranteed to post them, just finishing off edits. I'll post what I have regardless, but if theres any interest I would like to continued posting on this story again.
I've outlined a new Harry Potter story from the Malfoys perspective (with a few changes, naturally) and I've got some chapters written up ready for edits. I'm aiming to get the first one posted by the weekend, so check it out if you think it might be for you :)
Whether your an old reader of this fic or a new one, I hope you're well, and I appreciate you getting this far through 3
Warnings, Warnings, Everywhere
JANUARY 31ST
At barely first light, Odi dressed for the day and wished it were already over. He looked at his bed and yawned.
"Do I have to go?"
He knew the answer before his father told him he did.
Another yawn. The poor kid was dog tired. He hadn't slept a wink the night before, his mind on his best mate…the one he'd dropped in the shit. It would be the first day of the Aro's 'new order' where young vampires would fall under the constant and oppressive gaze of the coven overlords. Odi was 20 years old, give or take 800 years, and he was being sent to school. The very idea was depressing, but the thought of seeing Turk perked him up a little. He wished to speak with him so desperately. His oldest mate, his best mate. Although, that could all have changed by now. Odi knew Turk had faced discipline from the coven for his knowledge of the Outcast mission - knowledge he only had because of Odi. Would Turk blame him? Would Turk resent him? The very idea caused his stomach to twist painfully as it flipped.
Please don't hate me.
Embroiling Turk in their plans had been foolish. Pointlessly foolish. Turk didn't need to know. It served no purpose at all except to earn the guy a round of fucks.
Odi's stomach flipped again.
"Do I really have to go?"
He flinched as his father roared back, "Yes! Now shift yourself. If I have to come in there…"
Magnus allowed his words to drift off as Odi flashed in front of him. Wordlessly he passed his son a goblet of bloodwine, raising a single eyebrow when Odi did not take it. It was enough. The kid took the blood with a grimace.
"I don't need to drink as much blood as this," he said, knocking down half the cup in one.
"Your eyes would say otherwise, son."
Odi went to the hall mirror to fix his scruffy black curls and had to agree - his eyes were black with dark circles beneath, contrasting sharply with his pure white skin. "I'm just tired. You know, I'm so tired that I don't think I'll make it through the day."
"You only have to make it to 4 in the afternoon. Then you'll be with me in the guard hall, so if you need a nap, you can nod off in my chair."
Odi's mouth dropped open. He would rather die a thousand deaths than let the guards know he slept - the ones who didn't already know, at least.
Magnus chuckled to himself and slung on his coat. "Ready?"
"You can't come!" Odi started walking to the door, grabbing his cloak from the hook. "I'm not being delivered like a child. Besides, I need to speak to Turk in private. Without you breathing down his neck."
"I've never breathed down his neck, thank you." Before Odi could complain otherwise, Magnus held up his shovel sized hand. "Don't start again. We covered this last night. I punished Turk, that's all."
"Sounded like you were killing him to me."
"And it sounds like you're starting again."
Odi backed against the wall, shielding his bottom from his father. They had indeed 'covered it' the night before, and he'd received a wicked smack for his efforts. Hard enough to bring a tear to his eye. Who was he kidding - he'd howled! Quite mortifying, as Caius and Dora were there to witness the whole thing. And his mother. Frankly, only crying and not screaming in horror at being smacked on his still welted backside was a miracle. It was his mother's fault for causing the original damage.
It was weird that Caius hadn't taken the chance to wind Odi up at the time, though.
"Don't!" Magnus had snapped in Caius's direction.
Caius scoffed, leaning awkwardly against the back of Freyr's chair where she sat playing chess with Dora. He'd been on his feet all evening. "I haven't said anything."
"Keep it that way."
Odi expected Caius to ignore Magnus and go right ahead and take the piss, but he'd been oddly quiet since arriving in the middle floor apartment. Odi had the impression that Dora had forced Caius to attend that evening, as he certainly seemed put-out to be there. If he'd scowled at Magnus once, he'd done it a thousand times, and towards Freyr, too. Only to the backs of their heads, mind.
Caius's only response to Odi's continued humiliation—which he was sure his parents were conducting as some sort of sport—was to pass the kid his own bloodwine which held a decent slosh of whisky.
It was bloody stupid of him to argue with his father after the event, anyway. What did he hope to achieve? It wasn't like Magnus could take back Turk's punishment, even if Odi could convince him it had been unjust. That didn't help the guilt in the pit of his stomach, though.
"Are you listening to me?"
Odi blinked back at his father double quick. How long had he been standing there like a dweeb?
Magnus sighed and pushed a book into his son's hands - Odi's book with his name on the front. The one where his behaviour would be recorded for the day as a damning indictment of any and all misdeeds. Magnus didn't need a telepathic gift to know what his boy was thinking - his emotional output told the story well enough.
"Yes, you have to go, and yes, you have to take the book with you." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder, guiding him to the door. "I want you on your best behaviour today, young one. You've got some making up to do around here, yes?"
Odi made all the right noises, but his heart wasn't in it.
The right noises were an improvement on the night before. Magnus and Freyr had tried to impress upon their son how important it was for him to behave, to mind his elders…
Magnus tried to help his son understand, noticing his frustration taking over..
"You aren't the only one having this conversation tonight, young one." He chuckled a little despite Odi's scowl. "The rest of your crew have got Basileus to contend with on top of their parents. It could always be worse."
Dora explained just how much worse it could be, worse even than Basileus dropping by for an impromptu and terrifying chat.
"When I left the guard hall, Ren was having this conversation with Corin and Phil was growling it at Turk."
In the middle of the guard hall with half the coven looking on? That made Odi feel quite faint. When Dora nodded solemnly at him, he grudgingly accepted he was slightly better off.
January 1690 had been the most stressful month of his life. So many things were still uncertain, but he desperately wanted, most of all, to feel less alone. He wasn't pleased about being lumbered in with the very youngest of the coven youth, but it was better than being alone. Knowing they were all suffering the same indignity as he was helped him swallow the bitter pill of being reminded to behave and 'mind his elders', which sounded so condescending!
He tried telling his father so, but Magnus rejected the claim at once.
"I am not being condescending," he explained. "You are supposed to mind your elders. As I've been telling you since you were ten years old."
Odi's eyes cut across to Caius, still leaning against his mother's chair.
"Yes, even him," Freyr told her boy without looking up from her chess match. Dora was winning somehow and the shield maiden was sure she must have been switching the pieces. "And he's going to be very nice to you. Aren't you, Caius?"
Caius didn't respond, knowing he was winding Odi up. He just couldn't help himself.
Freyr knew what he was doing, and she wasn't standing for it. "And if he isn't," she told Odi. "Let me know because Caius and I have agreed how we'll deal with it."
Caius started choking on his bloodwine and coughed a good glug back into his cup as Freyr's terrifying words from the evening before flashed inside his mind: 'And you will be bare'.
Odi eyed his mother and Caius cautiously. He had no idea what they had agreed, but it really bothered the young coven master and that pleased Odi. He thought it good to know Caius wouldn't give him any shit, and then suddenly he realised how easy it would be to turn tables on Caius.
One complaint about him being a bastard to me and Mom will… well, whatever it is, it must be awful. Brilliant!
Magnus smiled to himself. "I'm glad that's perked you up a little, son."
Magnus had briefly worried Odi would send himself spiralling down after he'd smacked him for his mouth. He hadn't wanted to, of course, but Odi kept arguing about Turk and he would only stand for so much lip. He was glad to see his boy get some bounce back so quickly.
"Just keep in mind," he went on. "You're expected to set an excellent example for the younger ones."
"Felix causes trouble in an empty room. So does Demetri when the mood takes him," Dora said, coming to the kid's defence. "Odi is not nearly the worst of them."
"Odi is no worse," Freyr agreed. "Felix and Odi are on par when it comes to misbehaviour. If Odi is behaving himself and setting a good example, Felix is less likely to cause trouble, too."
Caius had done a decent job of being nice to Odi that evening. For him. But if Freyr would let the little sod smirk at him (even if Odi didn't really know what he was smirking about) then Caius thought it only fair if he could laugh at Odi.
Hearing him begin to laugh, Magnus began to growl.
"Oh, come on!" Caius said. "It's funny!"
He needed a good laugh after what he'd been through since the doomed mini mission. Hearing Freyr speak about Odi like he was still the same kid they'd taken in centuries before was a damn good reason to laugh!
He stopped suddenly when Magnus made to stand, putting his hands on the armrest of his chair, and Freyr turned in hers to see him more easily. Caius wasn't sure which one of them he was reacting to, but he couldn't have laughed any more if they had paid him his weight in gold.
Odi didn't care whether Caius was laughing or not. It had neither registered that he'd started nor he'd stopped as he concentrated on his mother's words.
He didn't want to be lumped in with the likes of the twins, but he'd accepted it because at least he'd be with his mates. But now he was supposed to set a good example for his mates? Who he would be in the same strife with. So, he and his mates would be in the same trouble, but they would hold him more responsible for not setting a good example?
How was that fair?
"If I'm such a terrible example, you shouldn't inflict me on the younger ones in the first fucking place."
No sooner had he spoken, he made to flash across the room. He planned on locking himself in his bedchamber, and perhaps barricading the door until morning.
Magnus grabbed his wrist as he fled passed him. "Hey, hey, hey," he said calmly. "There's no need for that." He glared at Caius, misreading his son's frustrations.
Odi tried snatching his wrist free. When that wouldn't work, and still very much frustrated, he said, "You've always told me my behaviour is a reflection on you, so maybe it's your own shitty example you should be concerned with."
His father really walloped him that time.
Magnus tapped on the book Odi's hands and told him to get moving unless he'd like a note in there before the school day began. It didn't even register than his father wouldn't be walking with him. Magnus tried telling his boy he had to meet Phil in the dungeons to sort the bloodwine barrels, but all Odi heard was 'school day'.
It was just so bloody awful!
Leaving the north tower, Odi realised he would still be early for the library. In a snap decision, he walked the long way around and diverted to the guard hall instead. He made it just in time to accidentally-on-purpose bump into Turk holding his very own book of potential doom. Perfect! But he wasn't alone.
"Morning," Richard greeted the guard masters' son. "You aren't going to get him in any more trouble today, are you?"
"Rich!" Turk muttered some darker words that Richard couldn't quite make out. He glanced up and down the hallway and into the guard hall behind him. The few guards around hadn't paid them any attention, thankfully.
"Odi likes trouble," Richard patiently explained. "You don't, Turk."
"I can fight my own battles, thanks."
Richard stepped back and looked the young barkeep up and down. "Can you, now?" He bobbed his head a few times and smirked. "I'll remember that next time you follow Stupid and Caius wants your guts."
Turk didn't mean those sorts of battles!
"I'm not stupid," Odi butted in, saving Turk from having to explain himself. "I just… do stupid things."
Turk snorted hearing Odi's weak-ass defence. "And say stupid things."
Richard didn't really have anything against Odi, and he knew the guard masters' son was Turk's best friend. His only real friend, even. He wanted him to take advantage of the chance to mingle with other young vampires in the coven without getting into any more mischief. At least for a while.
Active 2: We really stuck our necks out to keep you from greater consequence," Rich said. "I'll check that book of yours when you get back here and I'll be pissed if you've landed yourself in any strife."
Turk gulped down the complaint that he hadn't asked them to. "Yeah, yeah," he muttered, pushing Odi to get them both moving.
Richard pulled him back. "And Phil will be fucking livid."
Ice ran down the back of Turk's shirt. He was sure of it. "No trouble, no strife," he agreed, all but dragging Odi down the corridor.
"So," Odi started. "Do you have two dads now?"
"No?" Turk wasn't sure about the labels.
"Is Rich, like, the mom and Phil more like the dad?"
"Shut up."
"You seem more scared of Phil."
Turk halted and looked back the way they'd came to make sure Richard hadn't followed. Seeing they were clear, he whispered back, "Everyone's more scared of Phil."
Odi couldn't deny it. Phil was part of the standard mission crew along with Afton and Alex and Lev and the other double-hard bastards who enjoyed inflicting pain. Truthfully, Odi found Phil to be joyless. He couldn't understand what Richard saw in him - he was far more likeable. Usually, at least.
Turk got them both moving through the corridors again and they went in silence whilst Odi tried to pluck up the courage to say what he really needed to say.
The grey stone walls felt darker than usual, partly because the January sun had only just begun to creep up the shaded windowpanes. Wall after wall, stone after stone, Odi felt a little more suffocated. Even the portraits of the great and good in their world, decorated in bright oils and gilded in gold, appeared dull and listless in the dimly lit hallways.
Odi puffed out the air in his cheeks. They were getting closer to the library, though neither walked at more than a human pace. It may have been because the day ahead held little relish, or it may have been that both were still suffering the aftereffects of recent consequences. If there were any other conscripts waiting to enter Marcus's domain, Odi would miss his chance to sort things out with Turk.
"Are we…" Odi sucked in his breath and steeled himself for the answer before he asked the question. "Are we still mates?"
"Course. Why wouldn't we be?"
Odi threw out his father's trademark raised eyebrow. "Because you got in a lot of shit because of me. I'm so sorry…"
Turk shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you' weren't werewolf food."
Odi glanced at his best friend to assess how true to his word he was, but he became distracted with the pained gait to Turk's step. The guilt rolled over him like a wave creating yet another bout of nausea as it settled in his stomach.
"I, um, I told my dad he was a real dick for being so hard on you."
Turk damn near choked on his own venom! "Tell me you didn't actually say that to him."
Odi smirked. "It may have slipped out when I was putting him straight last night."
The very idea that Odi put Magnus straight…Turk burst out laughing. He knew his buddy well enough to know how that conversation really went down—it explained Odi's limp—and he was a good enough friend not to say so.
With one eye on the guy as they walked, Odi soon realised Turk was telling him the truth. No animosity, no bother, nothing. Okay, so it hadn't gone so well trying to argue with Magnus on Turk's behalf, but Odi wanted to do something to prove his loyalty. He came up with the oddest of ways to do so…
"I know all of this started because of secrets and stuff, but I have another one."
"No thanks," Turk chuckled.
"I really want to tell you."
Turk shook his head. "Don't tell me any more secrets."
"It's a good one."
"I'm still smarting from the last one!"
They rounded the corner to the long library hallway. To their left, the gallery wall where masterpiece after masterpiece hung bathed in sunlight from the windows running along the right. Usually, at least. It was far too early in the morning for such an effect. Instead, the grand gallery looked as depressingly lack-lustre as every other hall they'd walked through at a snail's pace.
Turk breathed a sigh of relief seeing Carlisle already waiting there - he was off the hook for hearing more of Odi's no doubt dangerous secrets.
The relief was short-lived. When Carlisle spotted the pair of them, he turned his back, grumbling to himself.
"What's that about?" Turk whispered.
Odi didn't know, but he planned to find out. The Volturi prince had done the exact same thing to him in the library meeting nearly a week before and at the coven meeting on Sunday. He wanted to find out what the hell was going on before Marcus arrived.
"Well?" Odi said, approaching. "Are you going to spit it out?"
Carlisle looked back over his shoulder briefly before scowling and again facing away. "Spit what out?"
"You look like a mutt sucking on a wasp."
Odi walked right around Carlisle, so he had to face him. And when Carlisle tried to spin away, Odi spun him back. Carlisle easily pushed him off, but he at least stayed facing the younger vampire.
"Why didn't you ask me to go?"
Odi wasn't sure how to respond. He looked at Turk, who uselessly shrugged.
"On your mini mission," Carlisle said, his lip curling on one side for a moment as he chewed on the betrayal. "Why didn't you ask me to go with you?"
Odi still wasn't sure how to respond, but at least he knew what was bothering Carlisle. "It was an outcast mission, and you're not an outcast. You're still an inbetweener." He rolled his eyes and added, "You ditched me, remember?"
"That's pathetic."
Carlisle's right hand flexed, trying to ball into a fist. Holding his book prevented him from letting his right-hand ball into a fist and being tempted to swing. To keep his hands busy, he pushed Odi away at the chest, then jabbed a finger in his direction.
"I tried to include you, even after I was told to give you a wide berth." With a dramatic and mocking eye roll in return, he added, "You ditched me, Odi."
"No, I…"
Odi drifted off, looking to his feet as he thought back over the events leading to his doomed mission…
Carlisle hadn't ditched him at all.
The poor kid had suffered a heavy diet of humble pie since the rescue in France. A quick glance at Carlisle, waiting expectantly for a response, and Odi knew he'd have to eat a little more. With his stubborn streak so recently whipped out of him, Odi squared his shoulders and attempted an apology. Of sorts.
"I was hungry. I hadn't been feeding properly, you know that. Okay, I've been a bit of a dick, but I'm over it now."
"Good to know."
Odi caught the Volturi prince as he tried to turn away again. "I mean it, Carlisle. I've been a dick and I'm sorry. Can we go back to being mates, please?"
Carlisle wasn't one to hold a grudge, Odi knew that. It only took a few moments of a sad smile and pleading eyes for the guy to relent.
"Fine, but at least involve me next time."
Turk frequently found his coven mates bewildering. Particularly the members closer to his human age and the way they leapt from one painful episode to another, seemingly unchanged. After the round—make that rounds of fucks—he'd received for his minor involvement, he planned on keeping well away from the trouble they apparently enjoyed.
Following his Volturi training, Turk kept his eyes averted. He trained them on a cobweb formed inside of the window frame and pushed away the 'friendly chats' he'd been forced to have with Richard and Philippe.
The guard hall chat Dora had witnessed about proper decorum had been a high point, he thought glumly. In retrospect, he should have known it was coming. If Turk was in the guard hall, he was working the bar or collecting glasses. He wasn't one for sitting around in there as he had few friends to sit with between joining the coven many moons since and more recent times. It was changing slowly, and Turk would join Philippe and Richard sometimes after a shift or for an hour before.
Last night, Phil insisted he join the table, the one once named Inbetweeners, to have a chat with him. Richard winked and took over serving drinks, leaving Turk with no choice but to comply. And he would have liked the choice. There was something a little formal about Phil that night, a little scary.
The hall was quiet but the usual suspects were in attendance. Afton and Chelsea sat lazily in each other's arms. Alex told Dora she needed to throw a 'private' party in the north tower to improve Caius' mood. Dora laughed it off, but he could tell she was considering it, doubly so when Heidi hinted for an invitation.
Turk couldn't work out why Phil wanted him to join them, although he started putting two and two together when Renata brought Corin over to sit alongside.
"I just need to talk to you about tomorrow," she said, pressing Corin into a chair two down from Turk.
Richard set a whisky down in front of the two young guards. Turk wasn't a heavy drinker, but he snatched the glass from the table as soon as it appeared. Something told him a little alcohol would help.
Corin mimicked his actions.
How many times had they seen the royal brats taking an ear full in the guard hall? Neither Turk nor Corin could have offered a figure too numerous to count. Over the centuries Corin had found her way into some of those conversations thanks to Felix, and more recently because of her own behaviour, too. It was still new for Turk, though, and he didn't know how to take it on the chin. Later that night, Corin would tell him he'd get better at knowing when to nod in the right places, but that was of little solace to the young barkeep when Philippe started growling in his ear.
Turk was careful not to tell Phil to keep his big nose out, much though he'd have liked to. Magnus and Basileus and then Magnus again had pointed out how futile it would be, so why bother? It became harder and harder to sit there, however. Being moaned at about things he hadn't done yet was futile, too.
One of Turk's huffs sounded too much like a growl, or a rumbling of one. Phil's growl became much louder. Turk ducked in his chair but and his eyes scanned the rest of their table. They all glanced at him, but nothing more. The only time they called for a break in conversation was for them all to say evening to Dora. No sooner had the lady left, Phil looked ready to begin again.
"I get it!" Turk rushed to say. He couldn't listen to another word. "You cause way more trouble than I do around here, so maybe you should think on that and worry about your own behaviour rather than mine."
The whole damn table whistled into the air.
Though he wouldn't have appreciated the comparison, Turk was much like Alec in how he felt about discipline. Neither were in trouble often, so they expected their wonderful records to count in their favour. They did count in their favour, of course, but both Turk and Alec would disagree. They felt it should count to such a degree that everyone should completely ignore their involvement in any wrongdoing.
Neither Phil nor Rich appreciated his opinion on the matter.
"I shouldn't be in trouble when I'm in trouble because it's so rare that I am in trouble, and everyone should be grateful I'm not in trouble more often."
After Turk explained what he thought was right and how everyone should back off him and appreciate how good he usually was, no one in the vicinity spoke. And then Alex started laughing. Then Afton. Then Rich! Soon half the hall tittered away at the young barkeep.
Even Phil found the kid mildly amusing, and he'd been growling at him moments before. "Are you joking? You are, right?"
"I'm serious." Turk insisted to a bewildered Philippe.
"That's a good one!" Alex clapped a hand down on his shoulder. "I'm going to try that one on Magnus the next time I'm in it up to my neck."
Turk shook his hand away with an angry jerk, earning himself a good tut from Alex. "It won't work for you." Turk said. "You're always in it up to your neck, you fucking moron. That's the point."
He found himself lurched from his seat as Philippe dragged him to sit at his other side. Phil wasn't sure how Alex would take the jibe, or Afton, when Turk said a similar thing to him, but he wanted the kid out of the way should the matter turn violent. Phil needn't have worried. Both Alex and Afton found it even more amusing, which Turk found even more patronising.
Corin couldn't stand it any longer. She agreed with Turk and said so. Not for herself—she'd gone on the mission, so she knew her round of fucks, all of them, were due—but for Turk there had been no justice at all. Renata told her to keep quiet, but she wouldn't listen.
"Tell him to keep quiet," the girl ground out. "Tell him to shut up and…"
"Ignore him," Renata told her. "I'll speak to Freyr in the morning." She cast a look at Alex and muttered mainly to herself that she'd already warned him about winding up the kids for the discipline they'd received.
Alex shrugged. He and Afton, along with everyone else, had been silent as Phil and Ren lectured their unruly vampires on how to behave properly. This was different in his mind. Turk was complaining about his general discipline, not about mission discipline. Renata and Philippe decided against painting the guard hall walls with Afton and Alex's entrails, perhaps because they realised there was a difference, too.
Alex laughed harder when Turk told him to go fuck himself and Phil shook him like a rag doll. "You should send your kids to bed guys," Alex said. "They can't control themselves."
"They do sound very tired," Afton agreed with a patronising smirk.
Turk's eyes flashed around the hall. Alex and Afton spoke quietly, but what if someone heard them? The official line on who rested, who slept, and who did neither had become increasingly blurry over the years. Obviously, Turk knew the Volturi wouldn't throw him out for it, but he didn't want to have any more marks against him. He wasn't sure who already knew he rested like Odi and Corin, and Irina he assumed, but he would like it to be as few people as possible.
Richard told him not to worry, but that was easy for him to say! Renata appeared to be holding a similar conversation with Corin, Turk realised, as his fellow young guard looked as miserable as he did.
They must have both looked pretty rough, as even Afton and Alex expressed regrets. The former offered to buy them a drink, but it wasn't enough to settle the young vampires. When Afton reached over Corin to collect her glass, she struck!
He deftly avoided being bitten by the girl through pure chance alone. In fact, she caught the tip of his ear with her fang when she'd aimed her mouth at his throat. The shock on the faces of those around her was satisfying, although she would have preferred more than a few drops of blood, preferably Alex's.
Her satisfaction didn't last long. As each set of eyes at the table turned on her, Corin's contentment soured in her stomach.
"She didn't mean to do that," Renata insisted. "Tell him you didn't mean to do that," she hissed to her girl.
The hint of Afton's blood rested on Corin's tongue, and she couldn't formulate a response. "I mean, I did…but not really. I, well…"
Afton touched his hand to his ear and brought it down to look at the smudge of blood on his fingers. He'd shed more from shaving, but that was hardly the point.
"Are you insane?" he asked Corin. Renata looked ready to launch into yet another bullshit defence of the girl, and Afton just didn't want to hear it.
"Let me guess, Ren? She's overtired. I was winding her up. She's been through a lot. I deserve it anyway. Am I close?"
Renata bit her lip and smiled. Lord, she must be so transparent. It was understandable that Afton was annoyed, but he wasn't angry. She was grateful for that. Corin was, too, now reality hit. She tried to fumble through an apology of sorts before Afton told her to forget about it.
Rubbing his ear again, the blood had dried, and the nick already healed. Afton still wanted one last dig. "Ren, you need to get that girl a daddy to knock some sense into her before she's a lost cause."
As a recent, reluctant recipient of two 'daddies', Turk couldn't agree less! Neither Phil nor Rich had tried knocking some sense into him, as Afton suggested, but he believed he would be even more opposed to that.
"She can have one of mine."
Waiting for his first class to start, Turk cringed hearing his own words from the evening before play over in his mind. How embarrassing! His eyes drifted to Odi and Carlisle still engaged in conversation and paying him no attention. At the time he'd spitefully hoped it would show Phil and Rich they needed to back off. With a good night 'sleep' behind him, he had no idea how his words could have possibly achieved such a thing. By the disgustingly indulgent 'aww' Richard had responded with, and the patronising little chuckle Phil gave, Turk realised, by horror of horrors, that he'd just verbally agreed to the whole 'guard under guards' thing and especially him under them. And he'd done it with a table full of witnesses. The guard hall heard him call Phil and Richard his dads.
He could cheerfully cringe himself to death.
Before Turk could warn him of the cobweb, Odi slid into view, dusting the window with the back of his tunic. No matter, he could find another window to fix his gaze on - the library hallway was little but glass on that wall.
"Well?" Odi said.
Turk blinked once or twice. He hadn't followed their conversation to know what his answer should be.
"Stand up straight!"
All three jumped, throwing their shoulders back as Basileus stalked towards them.