Or maybe I can’t go to Castletree because it still feels like something is tethering me here, and if I leave, it will snap entirely.
Idiot.I sit up and put my head in my hands. There’s nothing binding me to Dayton.
My stomach rumbles, and I realize I haven’t eaten anything all afternoon. A pang goes through me as I think of warm tea and cakes on a platter, of Astrid and Marigold’s company.
But I still can’t make myself leave.
Heaving in a breath, I quickly don my siren disguise and walk to the dining hall. It’s mostly empty besides a few legionnaires sitting on long benches. Barley cakes and a pot of oatmeal are offered. I grab a tray and a large glass of water.
A few people nod hello to me, but I sit by myself, slowly nibbling at the bland food, knowing it’ll sink like a rock in my gut.
“Wafer of the Above? It’ll bring grand fortune in the battles ahead.” A soft voice filters through the dining hall. The back of my neck prickles as Wrenley comes into view, holding a tray of wafers. This must be how she’s allowed to come down to the barracks.
Come down and see Dayton.
Her acolyte robes are pristine, and her hair looks perfectly curled, bobbing just past her ears. There’s makeup on her face, accenting her sapphire eyes, and rouge lining her lips. She looks stunning.
I can’t be here, can’t talk to her before she goes to see Dayton. Quickly, I stand, discard my tray, and head out the opposite end of the kitchen and into a narrow hall. I take a random corner, not caring where I’m going, just needing to get away.
There’s a clatter as I smack hard into someone. A tray smashes to the ground, star-shaped wafers falling down like rain.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” I say, bending down to pick them up.Shit, shit, shit.
“It’s okay, Madison,” Wrenley says, straightening the tray. But then she stills, her blue eyes wide. “What are you wearing?”
My hand unconsciously goes to my neck, where the seashell necklace hangs. The necklace isn’t just made of shells Fare picked up. One of them was a gift from Wrenley.
“Dayton said I should wear it during the match tomorrow for luck,” I say.
“He gave his necklace to a siren hejustmet?” Her eyes are fixated on me.
We both stand, the wafers discarded on the floor.
“I’m his partner.”
“Of course,” she says, and a bright smile appears on her face. “It’s just, it’s very delicate. I could hold on to it for you until after the fight, to make sure it’s safe.”
I touch it protectively. She already gets Dayton. She can’t have this too. “I’ll be careful. You gave Day one of these shells, didn’t you?” Dayton had explained it was a gift from her father, but Wrenley had told me the truth. She never knew her father. So, what’s the real story behind the shell?
Or maybe there’s no story at all.
My fingers move across until I find it, the golden nautilus shell.
“A very special one,” she says.
I tilt my chin down. My heart begins to hammer.
It’s important, Rosie.
Images flash through my mind: lines of gold through the forest, grass staining my knees as I fall before a patch of flowers. The will-o’-wisp leading me. The light shining at Caspian’s chest last night. The Friar’s Lantern flower that Farron sent. Sent from the Nightingale’s collection of potions.
I look from Wrenley’s familiar sapphire-blue gaze then down to the nautilus shell. Squinting, I peer into the tiny hole at the top of the shell. It would be so easy to miss, but I know what I’m looking for. There, within the shell, is a faint blue glow.
“You’re the Nightingale,” I breathe.
She tilts her head, hair falling across her brow, and laughs. A laugh I’ve never heard from the acolyte. “Here I was thinking you were as dimwitted as your Summer Prince.” A cruel smile plays across her lips. “Rosalina.”
Prismatic thorns break through the ground and swallow me whole.
