“Do you know what this is, Adrian?”
“A book,” I said stupidly.
Cosmo sighed and shook his head.
“Yes, it’s a book,” he agreed. “A very important book. As you know, House Viper and the other two major houses, House Lynx and House Avus, are the oldest in Sanctuary. Our ancestors were the founding members of this place. And they, along with some ancestors from the minor houses after which they are named and some of the Second Ring, are the only ones who’ve ever made it through all ten Trials.”
I nodded. That was all common knowledge.
“This,” he continued, patting the cover of the dusty book between us, “is the Journal of Prima.”
My jaw dropped. Prima of House Viper was the very first, along with her partner, Valin, to make it through all ten Trials. She was a legend, a hero. She was sacred. It was only because she’d already been a member of this illustrious house that another hadn’t been named after her. Valin, having come from the less noble masses, had made enough of a name for himself as her partner to earn the namesake of one of the Minor Houses. But hers was the legacy that his had been built upon. Their partnership had served as both an inspirational tale about a nameless nobody risen to greatness through brave victory—and a not-so-subtle reminder that such a thing still wouldn’t have been possible without his noble partner.
Hundreds of years ago, our people worshipped Prima as a goddess, a chief among saints. Now we visited her statue in the Hall of Heroes and sang songs about her beauty and bravery. She’d been a cornerstone of our history, a relic of a lost faith, and a hero of an ancient age. And this was her journal, preserved for centuries by the members of her family, passed down through her descendants.
I leaned forward even more.
“Can you read, Adrian?”
Coming out of my reverie, I blinked and looked at Cosmo. I shook my head.
He sighed. “I feared as much. This journal has valuable information regarding the Trials. Not the specifics, of course. Prima was bound to the same Oath as you and I, but she gave as much information as she could, along with her insights about our world, about the Geist.
“I’ve heard about your outburst at the party of the House of Valin.” He frowned and shook his head, clearly disappointed. “Unfortunately, I’ve noticed the same despondency from others in the lower rings. The lack of faith, the spewing of blasphemy. Perhaps it’s our fault for keeping these secrets to ourselves. Perhaps we haven’t done enough to share the light of the Geist. But if there is one thing I won’t tolerate in my home, Adrian, it is ignorance.” He slammed his hand down on the book and I jumped. “So you will learn to read and then, you will learn your faith.”
I sat completely still while Cosmo snatched the book away and placed it back on the shelf far above his desk. Curiosity gnawed at the edges of my mind. I wanted so badly to know what was in that journal, but he was right. Giving it to me would be pointless if I couldn’t read.
“Bria will teach you,” Cosmo said without turning back to face me. “You are dismissed.”
Blinking, I stood and shuffled out of his office.
“Why did he summon you?”
I startled. Dante leaned against the wall a few feet down the hall, glaring stoically. Arms crossed, I wouldn’t have pegged him as anxious over the private meeting I’d just had with his grandfather had I not been able to feel the tingle of it through our bond.
“To scold me,” I answered, hearing the exhaustion in my own voice. “Mostly.”
He frowned. “You aren’t telling me something.”
“Who’s Bria?”
He blinked at me. “My cousin. Why? What did he tell you about her?”
“Dante,” I sighed, “I know you aren’t pleased to be partnered with me. I can feel it. And even if I couldn’t, I’m not stupid. I see the way they look at me. Cosmo, Myrine; all of them. They think me being your partner is a guarantee that you’re going to fail. Do you know how difficult it is to be around people every day who look at you like you’re a failure before you’ve even actually failed at anything?”
His lips parted, then his eyes narrowed.
“DoIknow?” he snapped. “Do I know what it’s like to live with them? Is that what you’re asking me, Adrian? Do you think you’re the only person in this house they deem a failure?”
Dante walked toward me as he spoke. His hands shot out and slammed into the wall behind me, caging me in. Mere inches from my face, his expression contorted in disbelief and a bit of that anger he kept hidden deep inside at all times, the burning rage I could feel emanating from him in moments when his guard was down.
“You understand how the first Trial works, don’t you?” he continued, biting out each word. “I was supposed to be paired with someone who is my equal. Like Olympia. We’ve trained together since we were toddlers. We were evenly matched in every way, to ensure we would end up as partners. But then I was linked withyou, a nobody from the Third Ring. You aren’t the failure here, Adrian, not as far as they’re concerned. You’re just the physical manifestation of mine.”
He tore back and stormed away, leaving me alone in the hallway beyond his grandfather’s office, staring after him and seething at his words.A nobody from the Third Ring.Asshole.
***
It was humiliating. That was the only word that fit. No, that wasn’t true. I could think of a few more; embarrassing, outrageous, pathetic. But most of all, humiliating.
