I had not made one step toward him before I found my body locked in place. A rush of swirling cold blanketed my skin, pulling my hair loose from its braid. I could not move, aside from the smallest twitch of my fingers.
“I think I’d like to change the terms of our wager. You see, I have no desire to hurt you, but I have you in a rather compromising position.” Harkin reached out with steady fingers. He tucked the loose strands of hair behind my ear. I tried to jerk away from the contact but found that I could not. “Use your mágik to free yourself, and I’ll honor it as your win. You don’t need to beat me into submission. You just need to move. It’s an excellent deal. Rather generous of me to offer, really.”
“And if Iwantto beat you into submission?”
Harkin hummed a pleased sound, low in this throat. “Move.”
His final word was a command that I could not obey. I thrashed to no avail. My fear was an anvil in my gut, and the training field was truly empty now. There would be no one to save me. I closed my eyes, trying desperately to think this through. I sagged, hoping he believed me compliant. “I’ll show you my mágik if you release me.”
“Socute. I appreciate the attempt. Although, it wounds me that you would undermine my intelligence when I have thought so highly of you.” Harkin shook his head in feigned upset, but it faded just as fast. “I will release you, though. I have one more trick up my sleeve… but I’d rather enjoy an audience for that.” With a smile that was all sharp teeth, Harkin turned and strode away. He sent one quick glance over his shoulder. “Good luck at your ceremony tonight.”
As he disappeared into the distance, I felt the restraints slip away. I stumbled, landing on my hands and knees as I attempted to steady my ragged breathing. Humid air filled my lungs, dreadfully wrong. My heart squeezed, and a rising feeling of incompetence threatened to choke me.
Chapter eleven
Seren
The day was wasted glancing around corners, daggers gripped so tightly in each hand that my knuckles turned white with strain. I could feel his presence in every room, lurking at the end of every dark corridor. He lingered in the dining hall and haunted the barracks. I searched the faces of every Guardian I passed, hoping and dreading to find him in equal measure.
Logically, I knew I should report the incident to my superiors. I should let them handle the threat and focus on my promotion ceremony. But as much as I tried to convince myself to do so, I could not dispel the heavy stone weighing down my stomach. My gut issued a dire warning of wrongness that spread through me like acid. My chest burned and the blood that pumped through my veins was scalding.
I sank into an unhinged level of paranoia that I had never experienced. I floated through the day in a haze, finally pulled out of my own mind by a Guardian of the Third Order.
My promotion ceremony was moments from beginning.
The outdoor amphitheater was awash in hazy blue light. Bright golden lanterns and the final rays of the setting sun mixed with the heavy clouds above to cast an eerie mood over the proceedings. I wasshoved to the stage, knees wobbling. I still gripped my daggers tightly in each hand.
He was here. Iknewhe was here like I knew my own hand. His presence was akin to the scar on my thumb—undeniable.
“Welcome, fellow Guardians, to the promotion ceremony of our esteemed Second Order. It is my great honor to bestow upon them the pin of the Guardians of the Third Order. To greet them no longer as students, but as peers.” Guardian Horvat led the ceremony, directing the proceedings with practiced efficiency, but I could hardly hear a word.
I could not see the members of my cohort around me, my vision blurring.
“The five Guardians you see before you have proven themselves to be of exceptional calibre. They have fought for their rank, as they have fought to protect the great kingdom of Ordelés. Honor them with me now, as they graduate to the Third Order.” Guardian Horvat stepped to the center of the stage.
Terror gripped me, squeezing at me like a vise. I had not felt fear this sharp since the day my brother died—since the last time I had felt truly defenseless.
The skin on my forehead prickled. Unseen eyes taunted me, and the hairs on my neck stood on end. My gaze roved over the crowd until I finally found Harkin.
His shoulder rested on a column along the outer edge of the amphitheater as he leaned casually against it. He lifted his hand, saluting me with a mocking wave.
“Guardian Seren Corso,” Horvat called. He raised my pin in his outstretched hand.
Bile rose in my throat, threatening to spill the meager contents of my stomach.
“Seren?” Lili Barta whispered from her place behind me.
“I can’t…” I whined, pressing my fingers hard against my eyes. Maybe if I covered them, I could convince myself that Harkin was not truly there.
A hand gripped my shoulder—Guardian Horvat.
I was dragged sideways, to the center of the stage. It was my turn to receive my new rank, but his fingers squeezed into my flesh too tightly. Fear rushed through me in ceaseless waves.
My breaths were ragged, shallow and unsustaining. “Let… go of me.”
“Why must you always be so difficult, Corso? Just do as I fucking ask, and be done with it!” He growled, yanking me harder.
Like a switch being flipped, my fear morphed into white hot anger—mad desperation.
