“Already?” she managed, voice rough.
“You must rise.”
One twin approached with a basin of water that smelled of rosemary and frost-mint. Their hands worked with mechanical precision, peeling the nightdress from her shoulders and cleansing her body. The wraiths then clothed her in training garments, fitted leather, still stiff against her bruises. Maris shivered as the cold leather slipped across her skin.
The Wraiths combed her hair, braiding it and binding it at the base of her neck with a simple leather tie. They stepped away as one, dark eyes watching without a hint of feeling.
“You are ready mistress,” they intoned.
Maris rolled her eyes at the unless brief provided by the twins. She glanced down at the leathers that made her look like a warrior, when she most certainly was not.
Before the Wraiths could say farewell, the chamber door slammed open hard enough to make the iron hinges shriek.
Valea swept in, armor half-buckled, a streak of nightsteel glinting like a threat at her waist.
“You think you can lie abed like a court pet?” she snapped, voice cracking through the room like a whip.
Maris tried to stand straighter, but the ache in her ribs made her sway.
“I . . . I only just woke,”
“Not good enough,” Valea snapped. “The king said you are to train from dawn until high noon."
At the mention of the King, something shifted in Maris’s eyes, a spark she couldn’t hide, heat blooming in her cheeks against her will.
"First light crested the mountain peaks a while ago. Would you like a written invitation to join the rest of us in reality? " Valea pursed her lips in disapproval.
Valea caught Maris's dazed expression, a glint of amusement twisting her mouth.
“Apparently not, rather be dreaming about our kin?”
Maris’s heart slammed painfully in her chest.
“I— no — I . . .”
Valea smirked, crossing her arms as if she had peeled Maris open to read her secrets.
“You think I don’t see it?” she teased, with an edge that was half-mocking, half-knowing.
Maris swallowed, suddenly cold.
“How did you , did you… see my dreams?”
Valea tilted her head, eyes dark as a midnight sea.
“You know nothing yet of the powers we wield here,” she said, cryptic, leaving Maris wondering whether the commander truly had spied on her sleeping mind or if she was just that transparent.
A chill swept down Maris’s spine.
How many of them can do that? she wondered, heart twisting. What powers do they hold that I cannot even name?
Valea’s expression softened by a sliver, barely there.
“You must train,” she repeated, voice low. “Mind and body. Nothing less will keep you alive here, I don't have the time to be your escort today. The wraiths will walk you to drills.”
Maris nodded, forcing the air back into her lungs, mind spinning with more questions than answers.
Valea turned on her heel, leaving the chamber steeped in the faint smell of iron and roses.
