I hadn’t been able to sleep at all after Elex passed out. I was bothered, hot and bothered, and discontent.
Before we’d had a chance to talk the next morning, he’d gone sprinting from the temple grounds with a messenger.
I guessed we weren’t going to talk about the night before. He was exhausted every night of the week, crawling into bed and falling asleep. I wondered what they were doing at the university that was running Elex so ragged.
I was feeling a little sexually frustrated if I were honest.
Masters Bebbenel and Argo showed up at the door to my apartments the first morning and nearly dragged me down to the practice room. Master Bebbenel threw spells at me while I chased Master Argo around the space.
Despite my complaints, no one seemed to believe me that Ihadto have Master Dorian as my teacher. There was no one in the temple good enough with the sword and who used magic the way I was being taught except him.
I didn’t want to fight Master Dorian. I didn’t want to learn from him. The man considered me a stain on his shoe. The ridiculousness of what happened in the training room was a perfect example of that.
I’d spent the entire time beating back Master Argo and dodging Master Bebbenel’s magic. It was ridiculous. There were some feints and parries that Master Argo could barely counter—as if he hadn’t used a sword in years.
Decades.
Maybe even a century or two.
He’d eventually worn down, and the two masters dismissed me as if I had learned something from the lesson.
A lesson. They were probably going for something more but they sucked with swords, and I still wasn’t good with my magic.
Elex still wasn’t back for the night. It was past dinner, past sunset, and I was sitting in the garden.
My only comfort was the cocoa at that point.
It was about to be literally a cold comfort. Too much time thinking.
“Kimber.”
I jerked around. Someone had called my name, but there was no one in the garden.
“Kimber!” The voice was a stage whisper and had come from stage left.
Carrying my mug of cocoa with me, I walked to the heavy wrought iron gate that locked the garden from the rest of the lawns.
Just in the shadow of the giant tree there, I could make out someone in a cloak. They stepped forward—
“Jallina?” I whispered back.
She tipped back the hood of the cloak. “Hi.”
“What in the name of seven hells are you doing here?”
“There’s a meeting tonight, of your group of informants.” She grinned. “Come with me. Meet them.”
“Now?”
“Now.” She looked around and held out a cloak.
It felt wrong to sneak away. There were duties I had to attend to in the morning before practice. I needed to take care of some judgments that were sent to me—one of my new duties, though they were low level, and…
Well, why not? Everyone else around the temple shirked their responsibilities as they saw fit, and I refused to lose contact with the people outside the walls.
In a small victory for myself, my attempt to unlock the gate with magic was completely successful.
Spoiled only by the loud creak as it swung open.
