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Chapter 1
Nariana
There was only one thing better than being pampered. That was being loved. My guys were spoiling me, using the excuse of choosing our specialty before our second year as initiates started as a reason to enjoy our last few days of summer. Naturally, we'd put the decision off until the last moment.
The weather was the perfect kind for a romantic rendezvous, but the stack of papers Eladehl and I kept going through were a reminder that this was serious. While he read the list for the millionth time, I rested my head on my guardian's chest and watched the puffy clouds drift slowly through the trees overhead.
"He's gonna pick Control," I said.
"No, I'm not," Ela assured me. "No more than you're going to pick Subjugation."
"I know!" I turned my head to see him turn the page one more time. "You're going for Exotics!"
"I am not going to shit on my trinkets," he groaned, finally giving up and passing the papers to his guardian.
Wraythe took the lot, stacked it back together, then set it far enough away that neither of us could reach it. "Nari would do well in Sensuality, and you know you want Control," he told Ela. "Those fit your styles. If that's what you want, just declare them."
Ela just scoffed. "Talin, will you please explain to this mountain of a man why I don't want to specialize in Control?"
Talin just lifted an arm and pointed down at me. "He's got a thing for our girl. You both know which specialization you need. Looking at the list again isn't going to make another option suddenly appear."
I groaned, because he was right. I also wished he wasn't. "You know they're going to find some new way to fuck with us, though. Every time we have a session, someone else tries to make sure I'm kicked off my Path simply because it's the one time we can't prove what really happened. After two months of being left alone, I am really not looking forward to that."
"Me either," Talin agreed. "Then again, I don't count two months of running around with my sister-in-law to high society parties as 'being left alone.'"
"But those weren't official events for the Temple of Temptation," I pointed out. "Our instructors, exes, and the High Priest had no control over any of it. At worst, someone gave me a disgusted look, but none of them have any control over my future here at the temple."
"Or life in general," Ela grumbled.
"But we have new instructors this year," Wraythe said. "You know that Saval isn't going to harass you the way Oryll did, so what's the problem?"
Eladehl leaned, trying to grab the stack of papers one more time, but Wraythe was too fast. With a huff, my partner moved to lie beside me on Talin, giving Wraythe a scathing look. Not surprisingly, Wraythe didn't seem bothered by that at all. Instead, he smiled at us sweetly.
"What's the real problem, Ela?" he pressed.
"Specializing in Entertainment means more sessions than the other options," Ela said. "More sessions means more chances of someone trying to put a knife in one of our guardians. More knives in our guardians means more stress, and then I get cranky, and none of us wants to deal with that."
Talin just chuckled, bouncing both mine and Ela's heads on his chest. Considering that he was the one who'd had the knife shoved into his neck, I was just glad he could laugh about it now. In truth, Ela's teasing covered a real concern. How many times had our training sessions been used against us? Every single one. One way or another, they'dallbeen problematic.
But this year was going to be different. This year, we had new instructors - ones who didn't want to see us fail. Saval, my own mentor in the Paths of the Word, Action, and Obligation, would be teaching the Path of the Body courses. I wasn't sure who'd be teaching the Path of Protection courses yet, but my mentors had assured me that all of the options were safe.
Sadly, I wasn't used to people not trying to kill me.
Then Wraythe sat up, crossing his legs under him so he could see all of our faces. "Ok, so here's a question. If you're declared partners and both doing Entertainment, wouldn't you naturally be assigned to work together?"
"In theory," I admitted. "Although that theory didn't work out well last year. I have a feeling a few of these will be solo sessions too, simply because most of our class isn't paired yet."
Beside me, Ela lifted his hand and flapped his fingers. "Just let me look at it again, Wraythe?"
"No," Wraythe told him.
So Ela rolled forward, darting at his own guardian in an attempt to catch him by surprise. It almost worked. The only problem was that Wraythe had a good five inches on Eladehl, so he could reach the stack of papers, hug Ela to his chest, and still keep the list of options out of reach. My partner wasn't ready to give up yet, so he stretched, twisted, and tried everything, yet his arm was a couple of inches too short.
The pair wrestled on the ground, rolling around as Ela tried to get the papers, and Wraythe struggled to keep them away. In desperation, Ela poked at Wraythe's ribs, but the big guy just ignored it. Then he tried to crawl along Wraythe's body, but Ela's guardian simply held him tighter, hugging Eladehl much closer than most straight men ever would.
Then a laugh made all of us pause, looking away from the temple in the direction of the sound. A guy in a pair of relaxed grey pants and a billowy green shirt was making his way over. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and his head was down, but none of that hid the smirk toying with his lips. Clearly, he was a priest from one of the other temples, enjoying the communal area behind the buildings just like we were. The only confusing thing was that he was headed right toward us.
"Eladehl, right?" he asked when he was close enough, lifting his head to look at me. His face was very, very familiar. "And Nariana?"
