“Well, this has been a real pleasure,” he laughs, wincing as he pushs off the wall, straightening. “But I need to find Luc before you do any real damage.”
Talen pulls a key from his pocket and starts walking back across the narrow ledge to the locked door.
I narrow my eyes. “I thought you said there was a way down from this side...”
He flashes a smile over his shoulder. “One thing you should’ve figured out by now, Bloom, is that I lie. A lot. But only when it helps people.” He slips the key into the door. “And right now, you need help getting over your stupid fear of heights.” The lock clicks open. “See you tomorrow. Five o’clock. Food hall. Our next date.”
He steps through, and then he’s gone, leaving the door open behind him.
Shit. The light’s fading fast, shadows already bleeding up the walls. I’ve got no real answers, and now I’ve got to get down from this goddamn ledge on my own.
Perfect. Just perfect.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Alinor Bloom, Second Year Cadet, Entry #54
I thought I could handle it. That if I followed the rules, kept my head down, did what was asked of me, the truth would come in time. But the more I learn, the less I understand. There are doors I’m told never to open. Questions that aren’t safe to ask, and the people who asked them… they’re gone.
Serrane tells me he believes in me, that he sees what I could become, all the good, the light in me. I want to believe him. But Merrin… ever since he learned about my third Thread, something in his eyes has shifted. Not pride. Not trust, something colder. Like he’s already imagining what I could do for him. What they could make me do.
Maybe it’s just fear twisting everything out of shape. Maybe I’m wrong. But I can’t afford to be wrong—not with what’s coming. But if I’m not? If I’m right about what they want from me…
I don’t know if I can stay, but I don’t know if I’m brave enough to leave…
I’m glad Ezzy’s alive, I really am. But fuck do I miss my space. The quiet. Not having to sidestep every damn question, because now that she’s healed and back, there’s no outrunning her.
It’s been twelve days since she came back. Twelve days of her voice cutting through the dorm room in waves, filling up every inch of silence I’d been hoarding like oxygen. Twelve days of dodging lies and Twelve days since my first date with Talen on the ledge.
The only peace I get is when the library finally digs up that book she’s been losing sleep over,Toxic Flora and Fauna of the Outerlandsor something, I don’t know. It’s thick, ugly, and full of creatures that kill you in seventeen different ways or maybe spit out a cure if you’re lucky.
But it doesn't take her long to finish it, and then the lies just keep coming, too. The tunnels. The truce. The kiss.
They don’t line up anymore, not really, and Ezzy frowns when the details slip—when my story turns sideways. But then she shakes her head, muttering something about the fight with Elijah messing with her memory.
I let her think it, safer that way, cleaner.Only a few more days left, that’s what I hold on to. After today I just have one weekend to go.
One month, that was the deal with Merrin. Survive, keep my head down, walk out with the journals.
It should make it easier, knowing there’s an end in sight, but instead it makes everything inside these walls feel hollow. The lectures, the drills, even the meals—it’s all just noise now, something to get through until I can leave.
Still, my heart stops every time a name’s called for a Demonstration, bracing for Ezzy or Finn or Rowan. It was a twisted relief on Monday when it was my name instead.
Professor Weasel waved me down in Non-Magical Combat. The gleam in his eye said it all—he was hoping I’d get torn apart. But the duck’s been keeping my Threads sealed tight, so at least there’s no chance of torching myself or half the hall. My opponent was a Water Realm cadet who made damn sure to sneer at me first, just in case I’d missed the part where Outerlanders aren’t welcome.
And, of course, Talen was there, leaning in the corner, arms crossed, watching. Annoying as hell, distracting, too—though I’d cut out my own tongue before admitting that out loud.
The cadet came in wild, fists flying, but I didn’t return the fury—I slipped, deflected, let her waste herself on air until frustration dragged her guard wide. One twist, a shift of weight, and she was on the mat with my arm locked across her shoulder—tight enough to hold, not enough to break. Two minutes in total and she was tapping out.
Ryven was there, Elijah too, smug as ever. Our eyes locked as I stepped off the mat. I didn’t bother with a smirk or a line, just held his stare long enough to make the point that I hadn’t forgotten what they did to Ezzy.
I’m not the only one who hasn’t forgotten either. Rowan’s still on Ezzy’s back, making her train every spare minute of the day, though the tension between them still hangs, charged, if you know where to look.
But Ezzy’s getting her sparkle back, bit by bit, and it’s almost enough to make you forget what happened. Finn, though… Finn’s different. Not brooding, just quieter—like someone dimmed a light and never bothered to turn it back on.
Not that it’s my place to ask. I wasn’t supposed to get involved. Wasn’t supposed to care about them.
And yet…
