The trees were still. Empty. But the airhummed.
And deep inside my chest, that tug was still there.Shewas there. Waiting.
The dining hallbuzzed with laughter and clinking plates. Our squad sat together, joking about drills and sore muscles. I tried to listen. Tried to eat.
But the song was still there, whispering beneath my thoughts.
Orin cleared his throat from besides me. “You’re humming again, princess.”
I cast my eyes down in shame, picking idly at the dried meat and dense bread made from potatoes on my plate.
“I like your singing, Lyra,” Riven said lightly. Dark bruises bloomed over his jaw, his left eye purple and swollen shut. He grinned at me, the split in his lip re-opening and oozing blood. He had refused to go to the healers.
Hadley laughed. “I thought you were from Talloport?”
“I was only there for a month before Ascension. Why?” Riven asked curiously.
“She,” Hadley snapped, pointing her fork in my direction, “is a lunatic. I was friends with a kitchen hand that worked at the castle. She said our princess here claimed to sing to ghosts. That if you listened closely, sometimes you could hear her screams —”
I gripped the edge of the table, knuckles turning white as my breathing laboured.
Claw her eyes out. Drown her.
The whispers slithered through my mind. Something inside me twisted. I wanted her to suffer. I reached for the water in her body and pulled. Hadley coughed, clutching her bruised throat.No.I dug my nails into my palm, grounding myself with the pain.I need to stay in control.
“Go and fuck yourself,” I gritted out. Dreya spat her water across the table, eyes flashing with surprise.
“Lyra.” Orin slammed his hands on the table as he stood. “You’re dismissed from dinner.” My nails split my skin; I focused on the sting. Riven grinned, as if he were watching the most amusing thing in the world.
“As you wish,” I muttered, spinning on my heel and walking through the crowded dining hall. I kept my head high as I walked out, keeping my eyes trained on the door. I stormed out of the dining hall, stalking towards the maindoors. At least I could go to the trees and see if the ghostly woman was still there. I could still hear her singing, like an undertone filtering through my body.
My boots scuffed across the dimly-lit foyer, and I pushed on the massive iron door. Its hinges squeaked, opening to the frigid winds that battered the island. Two Iron Guards turned towards me, metal helmets on as if going to battle, armour glistening in the faint light.
“Sorry, initiate, new curfew. No one leaves the barracks after dark.” One of them stepped in front of me, eyeing the lighter grey colour of my uniform.
I let out a frustrated breath and spun on my heel.I had freed myself from one cage to be locked in another.With nowhere else to go but the room, I stomped up the stairs.
Orin’s boots clipped the stone behind me, taking the stairs two at a time to catch up to me.
“Hey.” He grabbed my hand, and I spun towards him. “Are you alright?”
“Just going to bed like I’ve been ordered.” He stood below me on the stairs, and I enjoyed that I could speak down to him.
“You can’t mouth off at your squad mates like that. It makes me look bad.”
“She was the one speaking about things she doesn’t know. Yet you?—”
I stopped. My hands clenched at my sides and the words died behind my teeth:You didn’t save me. You did nothing. You let her mock me. You left me behind.None of it left my mouth.
“Gods damn it, Lyra. You need control yourself. Especially around other Iron Guards. I am trying to protect you.” He sighed and ran a hand through his red hair. He stared into my eyes and my breath caught, an unsteady sighleaving me. I was no longer the broken princess he used to hold. I had saved myself and slayed my own monster. And worse, I enjoyed the darkness that he saw as a problem. He leant in, closing the distance between us.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I?—”
He held his hand up to stop me. “I know I broke your heart when I left, princess. I know it will take time for me to heal that. But I won’t stop trying. If you just stay in line, we could be happy again.”
I softened. Iwantedto be happy. “Come upstairs with me?” I asked, looking down at the hair I twirled between my fingers.
“I would like nothing more, but there has been an emergency meeting called. The Fae have gathered on the other side of the gate.”
