Safir picked up the paper and quickly read it.
“Fuck, this has to be a trap, but… how would she know?”
Zora read over his shoulder. “It could be coincidence.” She looked over at me. “There was a bit of a hubbub around the barracks when I arrived, about you nearly killing a wolf shifter? Maybe this is a reward?”
Punitive deathmatches were meant to be a reward for shifters, despite how it sounded. It wasn’t the shifter who was being punished or put to death. These sick spectacles had been going on for ages, a tradition here at the academy. When a shifter distinguished themselves, they were sometimes given a chance to show “the world” their skill by killing a condemned criminal. The criminal usually wore a binding collar, which limited their magic and strength, so the fights were often one-sided, but that didn’t mean they were safe. More than once, it had been the shifter who’d died… since the reward for the criminal was not only their life… but their freedom, so they had a lot to fight for.
And as much as this might be a reward for defeating Artol, I had a strong suspicion it wasn’t. It didn’t sit right with me. I hadn’t done that much by defeating him, even if my cohort leader had praised me. No, I was still a nobody as far as most people were concerned, far from a standout.
“No, I don’t think so,” Safir countered Zora. “The timing is a little too conspicuous. Just after Izzy wins her freedom against Saldrea, Myel gets a summons? No… this is a trap, I feel it in my bones.”
Though we hadn’t seen eye to eye on much lately, I fully agreed with Safir.
“What do I do?” I asked. I’d been ready to run with Izzy for days now, yet we were both still here. “Run? Fight?”
“We don’t even know who your opponent is,” Zora said. “And if this is a trap, there’s no guarantee their binding collar will be working properly or at all.”
“So… run?” I asked.
Safir growled and began pacing. “No,” he hissed. “I’ve learned the hard way that our princess can’t be too far away from you, not yet anyway. And I’ve also learned she doesn’t run. Which means you stay… unless we can get Lhorine to break your bond.”
My heart broke.
Had it come to that already?
I remained stoic. If this was what I had to do, then I’d do it.
“I need to talk to Izzy,” Safir mumbled, then growled again. He was slowly getting used to the fact that Izzy was in charge, but at times like this, I don’t think he liked it much. He wanted to be able to make this call on his own, but he couldn’t.
He came to me. “Go… get Izzy, bring everyone to the training compound, we’ll talk there.”
I nodded and shadow-stepped away.
When I got to Izzy’s room, I found her asleep with the angel wrapped around her, the dragon guarding them both. Koar raised his brows in question.
“I need to wake her, there’s news.”
Koar grunted. “That didn’t take long.” He nodded.
I gently shook Izzy, and she groggily opened her eyes.
“Just five more minutes,” she mumbled.
The angel woke quicker, however. “What’s up?” he asked, gently stroking Izzy’s side, soothing her. Izzy had others to comfort her now, she didn’t need me. Maybe it would be better if Lhorine broke our bond… before I got too attached. Oh, who was I kidding, I was attached like a leech.
Olinara came out from the bathroom. “I heard voices…”
Good, she should hear this too.
“I’ve been summoned to partake in a punitivedeathmatch this Sulnari. The timing’s suspicious, we think it’s a trap.”
Vyns nodded. “It is. I don’t know how Saldrea found out about you, but she vowed to go after Izzy’s friends. This has to be her first move.” He cocked his head. “But… she probably doesn’t know you two are bonded, or she’d just kill you. So… she knows about you, but not much more. Curious.”
Curious? This was my life!
“What’s that?” Izzy mumbled waking a bit more. Her eyes blinked open again and this time focused on me. “Myel?” Her beautiful brow furrowed as she registered trouble. “What’s up?”
“We need to talk, all of us, at the training compound,” I said. “I’ll explain everything once we’re there.”
