“Is that a hint of true admiration there, or are you suffering from hostage syndrome?” Jarek threw across the table, picking at his salad with a fork.
“Definitely hostage syndrome.” Lory didn’t imagine the twitch of his lips. “Perhaps next time,I’ll throw myself at him. I’ve heard he’s superior in bed.”
“Just as he’s superior at basically everything.” Eira slid into her seat next to Jarek, Brycon, and a few other blues at her side.
“Like killing,” Lory grumbled under her breath. One moment of intimacy didn’t change that, no matter how her heart ached at the memory of his unguarded moment. There was more to Falcrest than the unfeeling, ruthless captain she’d suspected since he’d carried her back to the infirmary, but what did that change? He was still the one who delivered stragglers for killing at breakfast. Still the one who told them they’d regret their life choices. As a criminal at Ashthorn Ward, Captain Khayrivven Falcrest was still her handler.
Now, he knew her deadly secret, and all she could do was hope he wouldn’t deliver her to the Triad or worse, Lord Ycken or King Ulder himself.
Sixteen
“Is it even hotter than usual?”Brycon complained as they filed up the narrow staircase to the balcony where Falcrest had first shown them the task they’d fail at for their Veiled test.
“Shut up and climb.” Surprisingly, it was Thal, who had put on a grumpy face that morning and kept it through breakfast and warmups before they headed up to their potential death.
Lory had asked him if something was wrong, to which Thal had responded with a shrug and a sideways glance that was so unlike his usually sunny character.
“Are you worried about the parcours?” Lory gave it another try, falling behind so she walked next to Thal,and squeezing his arm.
Again, Thal shrugged. “No.”
In front of them, Aiden and Jarek made the last turn before the stairs opened onto the balcony.
“Did anything happen?” she tried again.
“Not yet.” Thal pulled his arm from her grasp and slipped around the corner on silent feet.
No one was paying attention to their conversation, the general murmurs and whispers too loud for anyone to pick up a word unless they were specifically listening.
“So, somethingwillhappen? Or are you just shitting your pants because, this time, we’ll be graded?” Keeping her tone casual was the only thing Lory could think of to do. It had helped whenever Evven dove into his worries.
Thal threw her another look. “Somethingwillhappen if you don’t shut up.” But at least he was smiling again, even when it didn’t reach his eyes.
“What? Are you going to throw me off a roof? Get in line.” With a wink, she put her arm around Thal’s waist, squeezing her friend to her side in a tight hug that would have wiped her twin brother’s concerns away and made him forgive any lies and missteps leading to another sparse meal.
Thal’s responding chuckle warmed her chest long enough to forget they were actually climbing to perform a test that would either earn them respect or a broken neck. “Nobody has actually tried to kill you since Ricca,” he pointed out, sliding his own arm around her shoulder as they reached the top of the stairs. “Maybe they’re worried you’ll try to kiss them.”
She would have never admitted his statement stung, so she grinned the way she’d learned to when the rest of her wantedto burn from pain or shame or despair, and her tone was almost credible when she told him, “Maybe I should start with Ricca herself. Then she’ll stay away from me for good.”
The only person she’d like to kiss again was Khayrivven, but he’d disappeared for the past three days without an explanation, and Anees had resumed Veiled training as if nothing ever happened. Whether he’d told her what occurred in the stone chamber that second time or not was a question Lory didn’t dare ask because there was no way it could lead to anything good. That left Lory with no choice but to ignore the dreams starring Falcrest’s eyes and the searing sensation of his hand on her skin, his lips on hers, and his sculpted body against hers.
Lory swallowed.
If he avoided her, that had to be fine with her, as long as he didn’t rat her out and deliver her to the butcher’s block all over again. But a small piece of her was worried about him. What if he ran into trouble for not coming forward right away? What if he wasn’t just hiding from her but was locked up in the dungeons or had lost his head?
“We’ll be fine.” Thal encouraged her with a squeeze of her shoulders, probably misreading her sudden pensiveness for worry they wouldn’t survive the test.
Lory let him.
The sun stood high in the light-blue sky, an unforgiving ball of fire, ready to bid them to cross Eroth’s Veil as they stepped out onto the already crowded balcony. Not a wisp of a cloud graced the horizon, and the limestone walls radiated the heat they’d stored all morning.
Great—they’d not only need to watch their steps but also worry about burning the skin off their hands when touching the wrong pieces of the walls.
“This will be the first real challenge you’ll face, ashlings.” Falcrest’s voice almost startled her out of her skin as it boomed from the other end of the long, slim rectangle attached to the side of the pyramid, where the rest of the students blocked him from view, but relief quickly followed now that she knew he was all right, and Lory couldn’t help the flutter in her stomach at the memory of how different he could sound when he murmured beside her ear. “You have survived almost a month at Ashthorn Ward. Good for you, but you’re still untested. You’ve had weeks to improve your Veiled skills. Stealth and stalking are what will help you survive when you move up in your training and go on missions. Since we don’t believe in sending students who aren’t ready on missions, we are testing you here.”
He paused, probably for effect. Since Lory couldn’t see even a sliver of him, it was hard to tell if he was trying to intimidate them or merely waiting for natural fear to settle in.
Fear triggers magic.
