Eira tried to keep her panic contained. It swelled in her throat, making her force a smile and the words, “I am.”
“Can I join you both?” Cullen asked. He’d just emerged from his room across the main living area.
Eira shared a look with Alyss. Her best friend had gathered on the journey that something had changed between Cullen and Eira. But Eira had managed to dodge most of Alyss’s questions. Mostly because Eira herself wasn’t quite sure what that “something” was beyond a deepening, uncomfortable tension every time Cullen was around.
She met Cullen’s amber eyes. “I suppose it’d be fine.” Then Eira looked to the door with the red diamond. “Should we ask if Noelle wants to join us?”
“You heard her, she’s not emerging from there until she has her clothes. She doesn’t want to be seen inthese rags,” Alyss said dramatically.
“Alyss has a point.” Cullen shrugged. “And I’ve no interest in seeing Noelle naked, assuming that wasn’t an empty threat.”
“I don’t think Noelle does anything in half measures,” Alyss murmured.
“I can agree with the lack of interest in naked Noelles,” Eira said. “So just the three of us then.”
“Should we let Mister Levit know we’re leaving?” Cullen paused at the first door to the left of the entry, glancing at the black diamond.
“I’m sure it’s fine; we’re not wandering far.” Eira was already pushing the main doors open. She didn’t want a handler. She wanted to meet the other competitors without the tension of someone hovering over their shoulders. She had enough distracting her already.
“Eira’s right, it’s not like we’re allowed to leave the manor itself.” Alyss brushed past Cullen, following Eira out to the landing, her heels clicking on the marble floor. “How much trouble could we really get up to?”
“Knowing you two? A lot,” Cullen said, but followed them anyway. He had an approving smirk despite his words.
“If you’re so worried, thenyoucan be our chaperone.” Alyss peered up and down over the railing. “Where to first? The Twilight Kingdom? Meru? Or the communal areas?”
The waters within Eira were churned by the echoes around her and made murky by the infinite, unseen possibilities the halls held. Were those possibilities unknown delights—knowledge and experiences she’d yearned for her whole life in Solaris? Or was her demise lurking somewhere above, or below, just beyond the curve of the stairs?
What are my orders?Ferro’s voice. Her head jerked toward the right of the door to the Solaris area. Even though it sounded like he had been speaking over her shoulder, there was nothing there.
“Are you all right?” Alyss asked, touching her arm lightly.
“I’m fine.”
“A voice?” Alyss’s voice dropped to a whisper. Cullen took a half step closer. Eira hated how they circled around her protectively, as though she were some broken and pitiable thing.
Eira shifted the topic as quickly as she could. “It’s nothing. Let’s start in the communal areas. I doubt the other competitors appreciate strangers barging in on their personal space unannounced.”
Cullen and Alyss shared a worried glance. But they didn’t press the matter of the echo she’d heard.
“Surprisingly restrained.” Cullen sounded like he approved.
“Glad I can surprise you.” Eira gave him a slight grin and started down the stairs, walking with her shoulders back and relaxed as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
As if Ferro’s voice wasn’t lingering in the air around her.
They wound down the way they came, arriving at the main atrium. The doors to the Meru competitors’ quarters were still shut, so they continued down and ended in a single room that spanned the length and width of the entire house. The back wall was stone archways, chiffon curtains wafting effortlessly on the afternoon breezes. They teased glimpses of terraced gardens that tumbled down toward the main river of Risen the house had been built along.
Inside, the room served multiple functions—from the kitchen and its marble counters with copper pots hanging overhead, to the three fireplaces and seating areas, to the billiard and gaming tables off to the right. At the last of which, two men were playing.
They sat around a carcivi table, only a few moves in judging by how many pieces were on the board. The first man, with bright orange hair, had a book balanced on his knee that he was constantly referencing. The other brushed his fingertips lightly over the pieces as he waited.
“We could just ask them about the rules.” The man touching the pieces stopped and looked their way. He had deep, gnarled scars over half his face—the half that was originally facing away from them—and both his eyes were a pale, milky color. Alyss took half a step back and Eira grabbed her friend’s hand, squeezing it tightly so her startle didn’t offend. “You’re the ones from the Dark Isle, aren’t you?”
“Yes. It’s nice to meet you.” Eira spoke for the three of them. “I’m Eira, this is Alyss, and this is Cullen. And you two are?”
“I’m Ducot,” the man answered, “And my woefully inept opponent is Graff.”
“Nice to meet you both.” Eira’s eyes darted between their faces. Instead of eyebrows, they each had faintly glowing dots along their brow. Their ears were rounded like a human’s, unlike the pointed elfin’s. “You’re from…the Twilight Kingdom?”
