The Warrior (Kiss Me at Midnight) by S.S. Skye Page A

going to find himself drowning in the sudden attentions of unattached mages.
    Edander knew better than to bother by now. In a kingdom as damp as this, it was hard for a mage who dealt in fire to truly excel. He’d managed well enough for himself, getting good marks in his studies and receiving his accreditation with no problems. This kingdom boasted more weather and water attuned mages than anything else, though, and mages with other affinities were scarce at the Conservatory. When warriors came looking, the professors were always sure to put their best pupils in the warriors’ ways. Edander had no such advantage.
    Rather than risk the public spaces in the Conservatory which would no doubt be flooded with gossip, he headed back to the dormitory. Relieved to find it empty, he sat to write his weekly letter home and then complete his reading for the next day’s seminar.
    When the rest of his dormmates finally wandered in in the wee hours of the morning, he was fast asleep at his desk.
    *~*~*
    The next day dawned a bleak gray, clouds hovering oppressively low and mist hanging in the air. Edander had woken up still slumped over his desk, a crick in his neck. His dorm was already half empty as he got up and stretched, moving stiffly to collect all he would need for the day.
    The corridors he favored were mostly deserted at this hour and they sheltered him from the weather when it became extreme. He still wouldn’t call them pleasant, but at least they kept him dry.
    As if on cue, the wind whistled in through a crack under one of the doors that lined the hallway, and Edander pulled the collar of his coat higher, trying to burrow into the scarf his mother had sent after his first year there. He’d been wholly unprepared for the cold that winter, but in the years since, he’d at least figured out how to survive, if not terribly comfortably.
    Too immersed in his thoughts, Edander didn’t see the person coming around the corner until too late. His nose smacked into what he thought might be the other person’s chest and he flailed as his balance shifted. Large hands clamped onto his elbows and they almost toppled over, before the person he’d crashed into tugged him forward. The ground steadied under him, but he only distantly noted it.
    Pulled into the other’s personal space, Edander felt a wave of heat wash over him and blinked stupidly for several moments before he realized how inappropriately close they were standing.
    He jerked back a couple steps, looking at his boots as he blurted, "Terribly sorry – my fault – wasn’t watching where I was going –" He started edging around the man he could just make out from the corner of his eye.
    Edander was making progress down the hall when the man called, "Wait!" He turned slightly to look, taking in a brief look of him finally. "I… can you tell me the way to the Chancellor’s offices?"
    He stared uncomprehendingly for a minute. "Uh… just head straight down this corridor until you reach the library. Take a right there, and then the next two lefts."
    The man shot him a grateful smile that showed a surprising number of teeth and that made the hallway seem a little brighter. He offered an absent thanks over his shoulder as he turned away and headed in the opposite direction.
    Edander was halfway down the corridor before he realized there were a limited number of people with business concerning the Chancellor and only one who wouldn’t know where her offices were.
    He tried to pull up a mental picture of the man he’d run into, so he could judge for himself how true the rumors of the stranger's appearance were. All he could summon, though, was that fleeting moment of finally feeling warm.
    *~*~*
    The afternoon found him in one of the practice courts, meditating and using his powers to shape a small flame to exercise his control. He drew it into a long wire, weaving it in and out around itself, a burning knot that floated in front of him and whose flames licked at his hands