Slipping out was much easier than sneaking in. All of them just hopped into the back of a cart and hid themselves under the cargo it was taking out. The guard’s, tired from a long night, barely checked the cart as they let it out. After moving for a few minutes, they silently hopped out of the cart, leaving it to carry on its journey without them.

  The tower wasn’t too far away, especially since George could fly. It only took them a few minutes to get back home.

  Sam fell asleep on the sofa, tired and overwhelmed from the day and the stress of what they had done.

  George left not long later to head home for a bit. His family would want to see him again. Promising to be back within the next couple of days, he flew away from the tower.

  The only two left awake were Spring and Mat. Neither of them were tired enough to sleep. Mat took her hand and led her into the bedroom.

  The second the door clicked shut Mat’s arms were around Spring and they were kissing passionately.

  Now that there was no danger or time limit, Mat finally allowed himself to sink into the moment. And into her strong arms.

  His coat lay discarded on the floor and Spring’s hair was sticking out in all different directions. Mat’s hands fiddled and played with her long hair as she swiftly unbuttoned his shirt.

  Fingertips tickled his chest, making his body shake. Her clothes took little time to take off, and they were soon naked, though still kissing passionately.

  “You’re so sexy when you take charge.” Spring said as Mat removed her final piece of clothing.

  “I – do you – are you – I mean -”

  Spring giggled cutely, and Mat could feel himself crumbling under her love.

  “Yes, my love?”

  “Am I really?” Mat asked.

  Spring grinned and rubbed her foot on his leg.

  “You are.” She said, taking his head in her hands and bringing it close to his. “And I love you with every fibre of my being.”

  Mat closed his eyes, bridging the final gap.

  Spring touched his face sweetly, her eyes staying locked onto his.

  “You were really impressive today.” Spring said earnestly. “It went perfectly because of your mind. That’s why I love you. Because you aren’t just a boring handsome man. You have something fascinating within you. Your mind is incredible. You are the most interesting, loving person I have ever met. Does that answer your question from earlier.”

  Mat pressed his lips into hers, letting her know how much he appreciated what she had said.

  The bed loudly creaked beneath them as Mat began panting hard.

  “I want to name the Time Bloodline with you.” Mat panted. “I want this to be our thing.”

  “You’re sweet.” Spring said. “I think something to do with the length of time could be good. Like the Eternity Bloodline.”

  A thought occurred to Mat. The perfect name. Named after Spring herself.

  “The Eternal Heart.” Mat said. “Because that’s what you are. My Eternal Heart.”

  Spring turned dark crimson.

  She planted kisses upon kisses on his chest.

  “Spring…” Mat groaned.

  “Take your time sweetness.” She said.

  “I – want to – give you – the world.” Mat’s mind had gone foggy and all that mattered to him was Spring. That was all that had ever mattered.

  Grenduti entered his office, sinking into his beautiful chair. Eritandellion had called him for a meeting then not turned up.

  Who was he to waste The High Educator’s time?

  Well, it mattered no longer. Finally Grenduti could get to the most important work he had received in years.

  Strangely, he thought he saw a paper missing. He must have misplaced it earlier.

  Snapping his fingers to disarm the trap, Grenduti slid the draw open. Rather than seeing his work on the new Bloodline however, he saw a not. On the document that was missing.

  It wasn’t a long not – only a couple of words in fact.

  The words on the page made his blood boil.

  YOUR MOVE

  Eritandellion silenced his senses as he felt Spring and Mat enter the bedroom. While he wanted to keep an eye on them, he wasn’t going to invade a personal moment between them.

  He had stopped watching them in the Archives as well as he knew what they were thinking about doing. Once he felt the dagger he began watching again.

  Eritandellion was very interested in the dagger.

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  “Well, what do you think?” He asked Klaressi.

  “They are mighty impressive.” She agreed. “I can see why you want to help them as much as possible. They could turn into real powerhouses in time.”

  “Indeed, they could. My main concern is this world, however. I don’t want Spring involved with The Dominion.”

  “I see. So they are a means to an end?”

  “NO!” Eritandellion roared. Coughing, he rearranged his coat. “Apologies. I forgot myself for a moment. Spring is very important to me. Mat makes her happy.” He said. “I want them to have a happy and peaceful life together, after all of this is done.”

  “Do you think Spring will want to spend her life in a quiet cottage somewhere? They have barely learned to walk and have robbed one of the most powerful institutions on this world. How can you imagine her going from that to one of the most powerful women on this world living a quiet life?”

  Eritandellion couldn’t respond to that.

  Mat wasn’t embarrassed about Spring holding him tightly instead of the other way around. Perhaps some would be too insecure to seem like anything but a protector; they would feel emasculated by having a stronger, more powerful girlfriend. Mat didn’t hold that view.

  Spring made him feel safe and loved, even if he stumbled over half of his words.

  He had no qualms with admitting that Spring was far stronger than he was and could kill him if she wanted to.

  But she didn’t.

  And Mat knew she wouldn’t. She was far too kind and sweet to do that.

  Not that she hadn’t killed before – she had taken a large part in killing that robed man.

  So had Mat.

  He hadn’t really thought about it, but it was true. The scary thing was that Mat had no regrets about impaling the man. He had intended to kill him, after all.

  Still, surely there should be some regrets or repulsion for what he had done.

  But he was going to kill Spring. Mat would kill to save her.

  He had never felt that before. He assumed that was because it wasn’t a very regular occurrence on Earth.

  The man wouldn’t have regretted killing Spring. He would likely have forgotten by now.

  Mat felt the same way, though he couldn’t forget. Despite standing by what he did, the memory was seared into Mat’s brain.

  He blocked the thought from his mind. Thinking about it wouldn’t do anything.

  Mat buried himself further into Spring’s arms.

  Mat, Spring and Sam stood around a table the next morning, looking at the documents Mat had stolen from the Archives.

  The main one Mat wanted to show them had drawing of runes of them, shaded blue.

  “Do you remember that man we killed when all those monsters stormed the city?” Mat asked. Spring and Sam nodded their heads, signalling him to go on. “The man had some of the drawings dug into his face.”

  The memory of the man’s face was revolting, but Mat shook it off.

  “That wasn’t just nothing.” Mat continued. “He was part of something.” Mat stepped back, allowing the other two space to look at the documents.

  “I see.” Sam said eventually. “It would appear that these are some types of ritualistic symbols. Perhaps used by some sort of religious order.” Sam suggested. “I’m not entirely sure though.”

  “Were the runes glowing?” Spring asked.

  “Yes.” Mat said. “Glowing blue.”

  “Then the runes aren’t just a calling card for whoever this is. The runes are likely part of the power these people use.” Spring said.

  “That’s a good point.” Sam said. “It may distort their power or heighten it in some way.”

  “Do you think they’re the reason for the attack?” Mat asked.

  “It is possible. I’ve never witnessed an attack on a city before or even heard of one in recent times. It has happened in the past though.”

  “Then this could be the start of something bigger.” Mat said. That was what he kept feeling.

  On the horizon was a world changing event. And it was circling Destol right now. Mat just couldn’t pinpoint where.

  “What’s the plan then?” Mat asked.

  “There’s little I can do without further references.” Sam said. “Now, without the Academy’s support, I’m basically lost. I should have gone to collect a bunch of books before we left really.”

  “We can go back.” Spring suggested.

  “No, that’s too risky.” Mat said quickly. “They’ll be recovering from our heist last night. We can’t try and rob them again.”

  “I suppose. But then what can we do?” Spring asked.

  “Let’s just look through all the things we brought back and figure it out from there.”

  While Spring sat in a quiet corner of the room, trying to integrate her orange jewel into her Sword of Eternal Flame, Sam held Mat’s new dagger reverently.

  “Fascinating.” Sam muttered. “You say that it called out to you?”

  Mat confirmed.

  “Absolutely fascinating. On the outside it looks just like a fancy dagger. No special powers. No abilities. Just a dagger. But inside of it is a hidden power.”

  “What is it?” Mat asked as Sam got distracted looking at the dagger.

  “Hmm? Oh, yes. Sorry. The dagger grows with its user. It will get more powerful as you Advance. From everything I have read about Growth weapons, they usually wait until a soul bonds themselves to it. This one, however, appears to have some stronger form of sentience. Not as much as you or I, but more than most Growth weapons. It has picked you without needing your soul to bond to it.”

  “What if somebody takes it from me?” Mat asked, feeling the urge to rip the dagger out of Sam’s hand.

  “It won’t work how it does for you. It will likely reject their soul bonds and just be a regular dagger. It chose you. I would keep it close if I were you.” Sam said, handing it back.

  Mat ripped it away from Sam without thinking. When he realised how rude he had been, he profusely apologised.

  Sam just chuckled.

  “That is rather common when somebody has been bonded to an item. Especially in the early days. They become territorial over it. You’ll have to try to keep that it check.”

  Mat had to agree. He couldn’t act like that over a dagger.

  Mat slipped it in his pocket, though his fingers kept tracing over it.

  “How is it going?” He asked Spring.

  Sam was looking over some of the other papers that Mat had taken from the Archives.

  “Great.” Spring said sarcastically. “I’m having the time of my life over here.”

  “Can I do anything to help.”

  Spring sighed at another failed attempt, turning a warm gaze on Mat.

  “I could do with a drink.” She said warmly.

  “I’ll get that for you now.” Mat promised. Walking in to the kitchen, he heard Spring tutting behind him.

  Popping the kettle on, Mat whistled quietly as he picked out three mugs. He poured the water in and stirred the tea bags. Spring always had two sugars, just like Mat, while Sam had three.

  He stirred it for a moment before pouring the milk in. Giving it one last stir for good measure, he brought them out. He placed the first one on front of Spring, who was now lying on the floor, hoping a new angle would help her work, then put one of them on the table Sam was working on.

  He looked confused for a second.

  “I just thought you could do with a drink.” Mat said.

  Sam picked it up thankfully, giving him a nod as he used his other hand to carry on reading.

  Mat walked back over to Spring and placed his mug in front of hers as he laid on the ground opposite her.

  “Thank you, my love.” She said as she closed her eyes to try again.

  Mat stayed quiet so as to let her focus.

  Mat heard a quiet whistling coming from somewhere behind him.

  “Be quiet.” Mat said. “Spring’s trying to focus.”

  Sam looked over, confused.

  “What do you mean.”

  “You were -”

  A realisation dawned on Mat. The whistling hadn’t stopped when Sam was speaking. And it was getting louder. Much louder.

  “Do either of you hear that.”

  Spring opened her eyes staring at Mat.

  “What?”

  Sam was looking around, also unable to hear it.

  Mat closed his eyes as he fully listened to his senses.

  “SAM!” Mat roared. “GET DOWN!”

  Mat threw his body over Spring to protect her. Her Sheild of Eternal Flame sprung up around them as Sam flung himself under the table.

  The sound of glass smashing echoed through the room and two bodies flew through the spot where Sam had been standing.

  The sounds of grunting were clear and when Mat looked, he saw George standing in front of him, sword raised.

  With his Eyes of the Tiger, he knew who the other person was. Humphrey.