“Professor …” she breathed.

It was clear by the way she spoke that she had heard rather too much. The vague story of my being a tiefling and being much younger than I actually was crumbled into dust before my eyes. Slightly, I grimaced, immediately blaming Morningstar in my mind because it was the easy thing to do, and then understood it had been nobody's fault. I was smarter than to act upon my instincts.

What needed to be done was figure out how much precisely she had learnt. I began to step forwards, to invite her into the office, when Morningstar reacted. Curling a hand around my shoulder he pulled be back sharply, casting me back into the room. Rolling my eyes I began to protest, but he was already there, right before Ayna, glaring at her.

“You're a student of his, clearly,” he snarled at the drow.

Ayna swallowed, and I saw her eyes take in Morningstar with hesitation. Of course, she had seen him before, at the back of my lectures, and even dared to call him 'handsome’ once, but this time was different. Now, he was full of fury and power, skin beginning to blossom crimson as if splattered by blood.

Grabbing her shoulder suddenly he yanked her into the room.

“Morn-” I began but he held up a hand to me. Cutting off, I sighed as Ayna was forced between myself and Morningstar, her body stiff in a mixture of shock and uncertainty.

“Professor …” she repeated, mumbling to me, her silver eyes filled with anxiety.

Morningstar slammed the door behind all of us, before he stalked towards Ayna. “How much did you hear?” He asked her, anger in every phoneme.

Ayna just stared at him, wide eyed.

“How much?!” he demanded, smacking a hand down on my desk. It shuddered, violently. I placed my head in my hand, sighing.

The young drow whimpered. “Enough,” she mumbled.

Morningstar curled his lip. As silence fell I lifted the hand from my face, watching as he slowly took a step towards her, ridding the space between them in an instant. The look in his eyes was maddening, as if hellfire had taken up residence in his soul. Hands came up, reached for her …

“Stop,” I said quickly, and quietly.

He stilled in place, rearing above her shivering, thin form. Slowly his eyes shifted, his face twisting in an arc to swing over and glare at me. Pausing at the corner of the desk I was merely a splinter in relation to his vast forest of power, yet I was still his brother, and he had listened to me for the past weeks.