“Why are you being so nice to me?” I ask and quickly wipe at another tear before it falls.
Venna and Izabel sign to each other quickly, and I internally vow to learn this language fast, so that they can’t leave me out. “We’re confused,” Venna finally says aloud.
I sniff and clutch the silk in my hand, crumpling it. “I’m obviously a weak link. I’m a commoner, and I don’t even want to be here. What are you getting out of this?”
Izabel scoffs and shakes her head. She settles back on one hand, propping herself up. “It’s not like that.”
“Then what?”
She watches me for a long moment. I think she’s deciding whether to be honest with me. Her eyes dart to her sister and back to me. Then finally, she takes a deep breath and says, “No one believed the two of us could survive a Bonding Trial.”
“What?” I blurt. “Why?”
Venna sighs. “Because of my disability. My hearing… I’ve been hard of hearing since childhood. I’m usually okay in one-on-one or small groups, but when groups get bigger and noisier…”
“And because of my commitment to her,” Izabel adds. “I’d never leave her behind, and everyone thought…” She shakes her head. “They thought Venna would drag us down. When that’s the opposite of the truth, obviously.”
Venna grins and scoots her foot out to nudge Izabel’s leg with her boot. Izabel rests her hand on Venna’s ankle and looks at me. “Our parents were our only champions. They taught us that we had to be twice as good as anyone else in order to survive and prove the rest of them wrong.”
My mind flashes to Igor, his faith in me. The way he helped me survive against the odds, despite having lost my father and essentially lost my mother, too.
I guess I know a little of what they mean.
“We became fighters because we had to. And like recognizes like, I guess,” Venna says with a gesture towards me. My lips part, and I stare at her. She looks amused by my surprise. “Meryn, why do you think we fought through the Ascent with you? You have that strength, too—the same drive to prove everyone else wrong. Maybe you’re a commoner. Maybe you’re stuck. But who cares? Fight harder.”
My breath is uneven. For the first time since arriving at the castle, something in my chest wants to reach out and take hold of the world around me. Venna nudges my elbow gently. She’s smiling at me.
“Plus, if anyone took Ven from me, or me from her…” Izabel adds. Her expression darkens. Venna immediately shuffles closer to her and leans against her side. Izabel sighs and meets my gaze. “We get it, Meryn.”
I lift my chin and wipe my cheeks with my fist. And I look at the two of them and think that maybe they do get it.
It tastes almost bitter, realizing these Bonded-born women and I are so alike. I already respected them, of course, their strength in the face of the horrors of the Ascent, the way they worked together—worked withme—to make it through that hellish climb.
But even so, it’s a strange, new feeling, knowing that I have something in common with them. That I… maybe can understand them.
“For Saela’s sake, I could do anything,” I say, and my voice doesn’t shake. “Even if that means making this damned bond work, somehow winning over that bitch Anassa so that she carries me to Saela herself.” Something whispers against the bond in my head, as if Anassa’s heard me, but I ignore it.
Venna signs something to Izabel, and Izabel laughs. “Good,” she says. “Then first things first, Venna and I agree that you need to take a bath because you stink. Tonight is Presentation.”
Venna makes a show of pinching her nose and smirking at me. I snort, amused until I register what Izabel just said.
What the fuck is Presentation? Another Trial? And why do I need to smell nice for it?
We make it back to the dorms in much less time than my bid for freedom took, since we don’t have to avoid main hallways or being seen. Venna splits off when we reach the common room, heading toward the Kryptos quarters.
By the time we reach the Strategos bunk room again, the other Rawbonds are all inside, a flurry of motion and clothing. I squint at them as I stride past beds to reach mine and Izabel’s. But I stop dead when I see one of the other Rawbonds wearing acravataround his neck. And a suit jacket. And shiny shoes.
Wait, they’realldressing up, unpacking fancy clothing and meticulously arranging their hair.
“Hurry up,” Izabel hisses, gesturing toward the washroom door. “You need to go take a bath, right now, and then get ready.”
“So I’ve been told,” I grumble.
“No, you don’t understand. You have to look nice. It’s like I told you earlier. Appearances matter here. You’ll be expected to look like a Rawbond, not just be one,” she says urgently.
She tries to shove me towards the washrooms, but I resist. “Izabel, what the fuck is going on?”
“Presentation, I told you,” she replies, agitated. Then she double takes and her eyes widen. “Right. You don’t know what that is. It’s where we’re all put in front of the royals to show off the new class of recruits. Nobles from across the seven fiefdoms come to see it, too.”
