The other chair didn’t prove any more helpful; no hidden compartments or built-in mechanisms revealed themselves as Lory smashed it against the wall with all her strength. But wait…
“Frost—”
The ashling paused his search as Lory called him over to take a look at the thin, horizontal line at the bottom of the wall, where the dust was dancing above the floor intiny clouds. A sweet smell climbed up Lory’s nose, making her sneeze.
“Could be something.” Frost ran his fingers along what could have been a mere crack in the rock but had the definitive potential to be something more, his features twisting. “Or it could be a trap.”
“A trap?” Sliding away from the wall on her knees, Lory threw Frost an incredulous look. “What the fuck is this?” She gestured around the room, at the door through which Falcrest had left a mere minute ago. “Is he playing games with us? Is this what he does instead of actual torture? And if we don’t find a way out of here… what happens then?”
A myriad of ways Falcrest would make them pay sped through her mind, actual physical torture only one of them, and the sense of urgency in her chest manifested as full-blown panic. The walls closed in, the torchlight assaulting her vision, and breathing… Breathing had become so fucking hard.
“Vednis.” It was only when Frost’s hand locked around her arm, dragging her into a sitting position, that Lory realized she had folded in on herself. With a wheezing breath, she tried to get the air in, but her vision blurred, and Frost became an icy presence in the heat surrounding her, making her hair and clothes stick to her body. “Lory, wake up.”
A slap of frosty cold to her cheek made Lory’s teeth sing, but her eyes focused, and she could make out Frost’s features once more.
“Can you hear me, Vednis?” He reached under her shoulders, pulling her along the floor until her back rested against cool stone.
She bobbed her head in an awkward motion, groaning as she fought to get down a full breath. Why was it so hot in here? And why didn’t whatever it was that did a number on her affect him in the same way? Slowly, her lungs expanded, filling with cool air and clearing her head.
“That’s better, Vednis. Continue breathing.” Frost’s hand was on her forehead now, a curse escaping his mouth as he felt her temperature. “You’re burning up.”
“What’s happening?” It was the only question she got out. “Why aren’t you wheezing?” A cough racked the end of her sentence.
“No idea. In all the tests Falcrest has given me—and he’s put me in a lot of different rooms over the weeks—nothing like this ever happened to me.”
“Very reassuring.” Lory braved a chuckle. “That means, either I’m unusually weak and susceptible to whatever poison pollutes the air down here, or you’re lucky Falcrest doesn’t hate you quite as much as he does me.”
With a grunt, Frost kneeled in front of her, taking her face between his icy palms. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, will you? Falcrest hates everyone, and you’re no different. If anything, you can consider yourself lucky he gave you this much leisure until now. I was stuck in a room like this the night of my arrival.”
Lory tried to shake him off, turning her head to the side to escape the stinging cold of his touch.
“Stop it. I’m trying to help you. If your fever rises any further, you’ll black out, and then you’ll be useless for our task.” Lory couldn’t help but notice his features hadsoftened, and where, usually, that grim expression dominated, a faint smile spread on his lips.
Lory didn’t return it. “Perhaps he gave me more time to adjust because I haven’t killed anyone.”
The smile left Frost’s face so fast Lory didn’t have the time to regret her words before he struck back, “Maybe whoever I killed really,reallydeserved it.” His voice turned into a growl, eyes narrowing on hers in that glacial stare she’d noticed the first day they met, and with every second of his cooling touch, Lory’s mind returned a bit more to normalcy.
Guardians, he’d just admitted it. Hehadkilled someone.
“How did you do it?” She spat at him, ignoring that he could end her right now if he chose to. He could freeze her brain over and eradicate everything Lory Vednis had ever been. “Did you make them suffer? Did they deserve it?”
“They deserved to die for torturing my little sister, yes.”
This time, regret and guilt spilled through Lory’s system so fast she could barely grab for Frost’s hand as he pulled it back.
“I’m… I’m sorry.”
Frost looked her over with his dark blue eyes, like he couldn’t truly believe those words had come out of her mouth.
“I’d do it again, no matter the consequences.” He meant it, too. “I’d come here to fight for survival a million times if that could prevent those bastards from ever touching her.”
The way his gaze turned flat and his fingers started trembling told Lory everything about how deep the pain he fought so hard to hide truly ran. A deep breath. Another.
Lory didn’t think when she reached for his shoulder, squeezing lightly while the last of her blurry vision and dizziness cleared.
“I lost a brother. And if I’d had it my way, the monsters who killed him would have died at the tip of my blade. Maybe we’re not so different, you and I.”
When Frost’s eyes met hers once more, they had cleared, and a new, but not uncomfortable, familiarity shone in his dark blue irises. “Call me Aiden.” He placed his still cool hand on Lory’s shoulder, returning the gesture. The faint smile returned to his lips, and where distrust had inhabited her chest before, a sense of camaraderie spread that made her wonder if she’d found a kindred spirit in this shithole of an academy after all.
