“They are moving faster than expected.” He waited for Lory to cross the room and sit on the brown leather couch, sinking onto it next to her, his leg close enough so his knee brushed hers.
The fire in her chest ignited in a heartbeat, and when she dared a look at him, his eyes were on her face, a flicker of the Khayrivven she’d witnessed behind closed doors at Lu’Shen’s simmering in them.
“Who is moving faster?” Naturally, Lory had no idea, but at least, it was Anees asking the question.
Khayrivven waited and gestured for her to sit down on the chair across from the sofa, but she was barely there when a knock sounded at the door, and she jumped up to open it.
Frost’s pale face appeared on the threshold, and when Anees returned to her chair, he prowled in like he’d done it a hundred times.
“Heard you’re back,” he said by way of greeting, dropping onto the chair by Khayrivven’s worktable. With everything Lory had witnessed between Khayrivven, Anees, and Frost, she felt like she’d stepped into a portal to another world where hierarchies no longer applied. “Took you long enough to return to the world of black-clad murderers.” He put his hand in front of his mouth as if catching himself saying something he shouldn’t, then smirked at Lory. “Was it at least worth it?”
Had she been sitting next to Aiden, she’d have rammed her elbow into his side to shut him up. She’d expect Thal to be a complete child about everything, but not Aiden. But with Khayrivven the only one within reach, she felt him tense beside her, his fingers flexing and a hint of a flame springing to life in his palm.
Across the table, Anees hid her gasp in a cough.
Lory threw Aiden a nasty look. “First, none of your business, and second, what by Eroth is going on?”
Khayrivven extinguished the flame with a flick of his fingers and rolled his shoulders as if hoping to shake off a burden. “They are moving up your trials, Lory.” He shifted back in his seat so he faced her, careful not to lean against his sabers.
The tension bracketing his mouth and the crease between his brows spoke volumes about how he thought she wasn’t ready. And right he was.
They’d said she’d have months to become proficient at all relevant disciplines, but it was barely two weeks after she’d traded her soul for her life, and there was no way she could excel in all of them.
“I haven’t even started fighting with larger weapons,” she almost stumbled over her own words. “I haven’t completed a dance without someone to copy the steps from; I haven’t even passed the basic Knowledge test. Not to speak of my magic. I still can’t summon at will.”
Heat flashed in Khayrivven’s eyes at the mention of her power.
At the worktable, Aiden stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles. “Is this why we were summoned to a crisis meeting? They want to use the trials to kill her off?”
Anees shook her head. “They can’t do that. She made a deal with the Triad.”
Beside Lory, Khayrivven rolled his eyes. “It’s not like they are known for keeping their word, are they?”
“At least, not all of them,” Anees grumbled, her gaze darting to Frost as if worried about his reaction.
Aiden merely played with the knife on his belt.
“It’s not the trials we expected.” Khayrivven’s tone made the blood freeze in Lory’s veins. This was the captain who seemed steadfast in the face of killing. How could he lose his calm?
“What are they planning to do?” The suspicion in Anees’s question nearly made Lory’s stomach turn. “And why ishehere?”
Khayrivven turned to Aiden, silent understanding passing between them. “They are sending her on a mission.”
If the way Anees’s face turned sallow was anything to go by, this wasn’t a mission like the one to Lu’Shen’s where the art of seduction was the worst thing expected of her.
“Where?” Lory’s heart pounded in her chest.
“The Amrin Mountains.”
Lory’s breath caught. When Evven was still alive, he’d mentioned that the Amrin Mountains would make for an excellent hiding place if they ever managed to get out of the city. No one would search for them in a place people avoided for all sorts of superstitions.
“The Amrin Mountains?” Anees was on her feet, nearly shouting at Khayrivven as if it were his fault. “Are they insane?”
Lory had heard about the mountains separating Sen Dunai and Criulias, and reaching all the way into the third province, Naolapia.
“They can’t send her into the Amrin Mountains; she’s an ashling,” Aiden prompted from his chair, all casual playfulness gone, replaced by the icy expression Lory was so used to.
Khayrivven shot him a sharp glance. “Just like you, Frost, and they sent you anyway.”
