Something in Lory’s chest ached. “And will you?”
A sigh ran through him. “It doesn’t matter what I will do. Fact remains that you need to succeed in these trials on your own, or it won’t be considered a success at all.”
“Then at least tell me what I’ll face so I can prepare myself.” If nothing else, he could give her that, couldn’t he? Did he care so little for her that he’d let her blindly run into danger?
“You’ll face this year’s elite. No weapons, no rules. In the Amrin Mountains, it’s open season on anyone Ashthorn considers a liability—and you’ve gathered quite a list of enemies.”
Lory’s stomach bottomed out. All those ugly glares she’d earned after displaying her fire to the world, but before that, the hatred in Ricca’s eyes as Lory had saved Aiden—“They are bringing other students to the mountains?”
“Everyone who wants will get a shot at killing you in those mountains, Lory.” His voice was steady, but his heart picked up pace as he explained to her in detail that this mission was a real trial—one she supposedly wasn’t the first one to go through. Aiden had been sent to the mountains.
“I thought I was being sent there because I’m dispensable to the Triad.” Was that a flicker of foolish hope in her voice? “I thought they wanted me to fight the rebels so they could save their precious troops for other missions?—”
“That’s what they want you to believe. And it’s not entirely a lie. The rebels are holding the mountain passes, and you might get attacked out there and kill a few of them on your mission, but the real danger isn’t the Criu fighting for their province’s freedom. It’s the Ashthorn students who will be lying in wait with their magic and whatever weapons they were able to build from what the mountains provide.”
A shiver raked through Lory’s body as his words settled. “How long have you known this was what would happen?” She pulled her arms back from Khayrivven’s stomach, and the deep ache of betrayal stung her chest.
“No one can know I’ve told you. You’re supposed to walk into this unprepared.” He paused, glancing at her over his shoulder with the assessing eyes of the captain. “Brunn informed me when I got back from Lu’Shen’s that you were to go to the Amrin Mountains. Ulder’s orders.”
Trying not to panic, Lory studied the mountains ahead. “And what’s his interest in me? Why is one fire-wielding ashling from the streets of Dunai of such interest to the King of Brestolya?”
In front of her, Khayrivven’s spine stiffened, Caramel whipping his head up and down in response.
“Tell me, Khayrivven, or I swear by Eroth, I will use those sabers to stab you in the back.” Words of anger andbetrayal, but in that moment, she meant them, and Khayrivven, the Guardians bless him, realized that.
“Because you’re the first Flame that fits the prophecy my father was executed for nineteen years ago.” He went so still in front of her as he waited for her reaction, Lory forgot they were still sitting on a horse.
“What prophecy?” The words came out between gritted teeth. Hot and cold chased each other through her veins as she tried to wrap her mind around Khayrivven’s revelation.
“About the Flame that will take down Ulder’s rule.”
Twenty-Seven
Lory didn’t knowwhat to react to first: that she was supposedly part of a prophecy or that Khayrivven’s father had made it and been killed for it. Khayrivven had more reasons to hate her than anyone else at Ashthorn.
For a long while, she let his words swirl in her mind, none of them making any sense, especially considering that she was still breathing.
“Why hasn’t the Triad killed me, then? If I’m such a huge threat to the King of Brestolya, why keep me alive?”
True to himself, Khayrivven said nothing, his silence more profound than anythinghe might have spoken.
“Did they know what I was? Did they know it was fire magic Evven used that night he was killed, or was that just a wild guess?”
Caramel huffed into the silence, earning a small whine from Princess, who kept trotting behind them like a very pretty, very bad-tempered mule.
“Speak to me, Khayrivven.” Lory gathered all her courage to draw from the man an answer that might destroy her.
Slowly, he shook his head. “The Triad has no idea about the prophecy. All they know is that Flame-born are to be executed, unless they prove useful to the academy. They didn’t know what sort of magic. Not until you burst into flames during the Veiled trial.” A cool breeze caught in his hair, making the wavy strands dance and shift in a shimmer of black and bronze. “Ycken chalked the spark of Evven’s power up to the reflection of torchlight. He believes—or at least believed,” he corrected, “that your brother had the gift of matter manipulation, specifically for metal, because of the way the dagger flew and hit its mark the day he saved you in the streets, and Ycken really wants that sort of magic in his ranks.”
Lory’s stomach filled with lead as Khayrivven continued, “But I knew better.” His eyes flashed a dangerous shade of gray in a glimpse over his shoulder. “I recognized that first, rogue spark of fire—more gold than orange, cooler than the full inferno of Flame-born magic, yet familiar enough.”
The silence blanketing him as he stopped speaking nearly made Lory want to reach out and comfort him. Had he been alone when he found out what he was? Had he had anyfriends to help him through it? Another Flame-born, perhaps? Or had he been rejected by the people he trusted and attacked in his sleep?
Swallowing the words of consolation gathering on her tongue, she reminded herself of all the secrets Khayrivven had been keeping from her.
He’d been there when Evven died?—
And his father had been killed because of a prophecy he’d made. About her. No wonder he didn’t trust her. If Elina wasn’t a lie, and he truly hated Ulder, then Lory might have been his path to taking down the man who is holding his sister captive.
