As the biting chill of winter left the air, I began to become antsy that Blake had not yet returned.
I kept myself busy. I trained, I meditated, I studied, and nothing was keeping my mind from the man who’d breathed life back into me.
Theater rehearsals continued but it was like torture being there without Blake. With Reece’s disappearance and no evidence of what happened to Isaac, I doubted the play would happen.
There was apprehension in the air. Even the Initiates were noticing it. The Aurkai were always busy, skipping private lessons. Malakai hadn’t been seen for weeks, and I’d never seen such a guard presence at Nightfall before. With them came a curfew.
To me, it was more of a suggestion.
It was in the early morning that I found myself slipping out right after curfew ended with one clear destination in mind—the portal.
“Anna.”
I paused.
I knew that voice.
I didn’t want to turn around.
“Anna, we know why you want to do this, but if you go to the Realm on your own, you will be banned by the Alliance and never be selected,” Caelan said.
My heart sank, but he was right. All the tension left my body as defeat set into my muscles.
“Why isn’t he back?” I asked, still staring into the swirling depths.
I saw Saryna at my side.
“Blake may not be coming back, Anna,” Saryna said. “In which case, you may only ever see him again if you are selected.”
I didn’t move. “You knew, didn’t you, Saryna?”
The pressure thickened in the room. It was Saryna’s everi flaring along with her shock, and guilt. I was right. She had known all along.
“Knew what?” she asked quietly.
“That Malakai was trying to become a blood mage,” I said. “You were trying to warn me.”
“Yeah,” she said. “It was my mission to get close to him and Caelan’s to get close to you.”
Hues of red burst across my vision as I sat in quiet fury. What did she say?
I turned, staring at him.
“What are you talking about? Who gave you a mission?”
They glanced at each other, and Caelan’s expression hardened. “There is something we have been keeping from you, Anna.”
Saryna’s expression twisted, guilt and pain warping her everi.
“We answer to a powerful mage. In our ranks, he goes by the name Veydanir—but you know him as Derrick.”
I paced backand forth across Caelan’s room.
My entire body was ticking like a bomb, my mind sifting through memories, trying to process everything they said.
Derrick. Mage. Mission. Clandestine organization. Powerful.
“He came to us after we graduated from the Arynthian battle mage program,” Caelan said. “Recruited us into a special program. Derrick has strong ties to the city and has for some time.”
