Aros tugged me forward, his feet eating up the distance faster than I thought it would be possible for me to follow, and yet somehow I managed it. We were almost to the edges of the academy now, with only the mountains in the distance, separated from us by a short stretch of forest, where Coen and Rome were waiting.
“What happened?” Coen demanded, once we reached them. His eyes were on my hand. Specifically, the hand that Aros was holding.
His bright green eyes narrowed, luminous and dangerous, and I tried to tug my hand free, feeling a ball of panic lodge in my throat. Now wasnotthe time for them all to start fighting over dweller-slave-claiming-rights or whatever. They could do thatafterI was dead. Aros tightened his grip, and I swallowed, my stomach lurching.
“She ranked us,” Yael replied nonchalantly. He seemed to be the least concerned about the ranking, compared to the other two.
“Shewhat?” That had been Rome. He looked confused.
“RIGHT HERE!” I shouted, my temper flaring and bursting before I even had the chance to realise that it had been building. I was panting again, but this time it wasn’t from the exercise. It was because the five idiots were messing with my internal organs. Or my brain. Or something. They wouldn’t stop making me dizzy.Aros wouldn’t stop holding my hand!
Siret burst into sudden laughter just as I managed to finally tear my hand free from Aros. Everyone was staring at me as though I had just temporarily lost my mind, except for Siret.
“Well?” Coen crossed his arms, giving me a look. “If you’re right there, go ahead and explain yourself.”
“Nothing to explain.” I shrugged.
“This is why we don’t talk to her.” He tossed his hands up, turning on Yael. “What ranking?”
“She ranked us,” he repeated. “Four—” he jabbed a finger at his chest, and then turned it on Siret, “and five. Don’t know what she gave you guys.”
Rome’s mouth dropped open, but Coen was all stony-faced, until I caught the edge of his eyebrow inching up. “Is this out of ten?”
“Maybe.” I considered telling him that it was just their dorm numbers, but that wouldn’t have been half as fun. It was nice to see him squirm. I considered it pay-back for the crossbow incident.
“What’s my number?” he demanded.
“One.”
He frowned, and I knew that he was considering the possibility that this might have been aone-out-of-tensituation.
“And him?” Coen jerked a finger in Aros’s direction.
“Three.”
“And him?” This time, the finger was jabbed in Rome’s direction.
“Two,” I said, cocking my head at Rome.
Rome was smiling, like he had figured it out. He didn’t tell the others, though. He seemed content to allow them all to stand around, baffled. I would say that it made him a little bit evil, but what difference did it make? They were all evil anyway.
“Can we figure this out later, maybe?” Once again, Yael seemed unconcerned with the ranking.
The others nodded, Coen casting me one last look before they started moving again—this time, through the forest. Because the trees were so dense, we had to slow to a walk, and Yael dropped back to walk behind me. The others didn’t seem to notice when he twisted a hand in my shirt and pulled me off my feet. This was just way too much yanking around for my poor cap, and it finally gave up trying to cling to my head. I tried to see through the spill of white-blond curls, feeling like the sudden colour was almost blinding after not having it swinging into my line of vision for most of the morning.
“What—”
A hand slapped over my mouth, cutting off the question before I could voice it. My back hit one of the trees and I quickly pushed the hair out of my eyes. Yael was only an inch away, leaning into me.
“Raise my ranking,” he ordered softly. I felt the heavy roll of his power rushing over me, carrying on the tenor of his voice.
Holy shit, were these five competitive or what?
I made a sound behind his hand. His eyes narrowed, and he lifted his hand almost suspiciously.
“Not a ranking!” I finally managed to get out. “It’s just your dorm number.”
He frowned. “Make me One, then.”
