“Stefano. You’re my guard, and your job is to protect me, right? Helping me train even more is helping me to protect myself better. Hence, you’d be doingyour jobeven better. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Unease morphed into consideration on his boyish face, followed by reluctant agreement. “What if I hurt you?”
“I’m more durable than I look,” I replied, reaching for patience.
“Fine,” he said on a sigh as we passed an unfamiliar staircase. “But don’t blame me if…”
His words faded into background noise as I stared at the stone stairs, my feet having stopped of their own accord.
I didn’t know where they led to, this section of the Citadel completely unfamiliar to me.
There was a…a tugging within me, as if my bones and organs wished to move, but my skin prevented them from doing so. The sensation was like that of a faint itch, one that softly requested attention and would worsen if not scratched.
Ever since I decided I would willingly help Harthon enter Centralis two mornings ago, I’d felt nothing strange. While I may not have the soul-consuming desire to enter the Domus, I certainlywantedto do it now, but there’d been no sign—not even a hint—of the knowledge that was buried within me. As it was, I could hardly recall those spindly fingers of light that’d flashed before my eyes when themagvisgrabbed me.
This was the first unusual thing to occur, so I had to pursue it. I had to go up the steps.
I was five steps in when Stefano realized I was no longer following him. “Hey, the room’s down the hall. Not up the stairs,” he called up to me.
I ignored him, too drawn to climb the stairs to care that I was taking us in the wrong direction.
Stefano muttered something under his breath and jogged until he caught up with me. “Etarla, we’re going to be late.”
It would only be a short detour. I just needed to reach the top to relieve the itch that’d taken residence in my muscles, and then we could turn and go back down. There was no need for him to be so stressed.
“There’s nothing up here. It’s just a lookout post. We can check it out after the meeting,” he tried, still trailing behind me as we climbed.
“How close are we to the top?”
“Far enough away to turn back around,” came his stubborn reply.
“How close?” I asked again. My lungs were beginning to burn from the steep incline. With a surge of energy, I pushed my legs to move faster, not that they had much more speed to give. It was a grueling climb.
“At this insane pace, just a minute away,” he answered, not out ofbreath despite his grumbling.
I’d be at the top in a minute.
Just a minute.
Some of my agitation eased, and I forced my limbs to keep pushing until I was standing on the landing platform, surrounded by wide openings in the walls that offered unobstructed views of the Citadel. This high up, I could even see past the Citadel walls to the city center, and even the valley and small hills beyond that.
I pivoted in the cool air, stepping to the opening that faced the south.
The itch pervading my muscles instantly vanished. I hadn’t realized the stiffness in my shoulders until they fell from my ears as I took in the view.
There were only grass and imposing hills in the distance, shadowed by the sooty sky. I imagined the Domus might be behind those hills. But there was no highlighted path, no landmark that stood out in importance to me. Just dull land.
There was nothing of significance here. Had my body merely wanted to see the view?
“Not to be too nosy, but why are we up here?” Stefano asked behind me.
I squinted at the shadowed hills one last time, confirming that there was nothing to note, before turning to face him. Stefano was too sweet to ever scowl, but the expression on his face was probably as close as he came to it.
“I’m not really sure,” I answered.
His lips parted in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”
I briefly thought back to the skittish, flustered boy he’d been back when I’d first come to the Citadel. That version of him was gone. Apparently, he’d grown more comfortable with me.
