They just stared at him fearfully.
As we left, we passed a few other wolfkin guardians. They nodded ever so slightly, bowing their heads to Kaelric as we passed.
Interesting, but I didn’t have much time to care. I’d just seen a woman die.
By my hand.
When we got outside, my breathing came out ragged; black dots danced at the edges of my vision. Kaelric looked at me like I’d grown a second head.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s dead,” I mumbled.
I’d seen death all my life, but never bymyhand.
Kaelric frowned. “It wasn’t you. It was her.” He pointed to the sword. “But soon it will be you, and you need to prepare for that.”
He walked away, leaving me scrambling to follow.
“Where are you going!” I asked him. He was leading me away from Aerlyn Academy.
“To the Dregs. If everyone there is as skinny as you, they need this more than the Elites.” He said it so casually, like he could just do whatever he wanted.
What an arrogant idiot I’d bonded.
“You can’t just take food there. It’s illegal.” Not to mention rude to keep talking about how skinny I was.
He spun on me with venom in his gaze. “Illegalto feed the poor? Oh, show me the man who made that law. I’ll tear out his throat right where he stands.” I noticed that his eyes had gone from green to yellow.
Was he serious? “You don’t know how things work here, do you?” Smuggling anything from the city to the Dregs without permission was a punishable offense. It was like they wanted to keep us poor and hungry.
His face faltered. “My people have their own issues. I’ve been focusing on that.”
I sighed, taking the plate of chicken from him, and the chocolate truffles and nuts.
“There is a way to get to the Dregs without passing the Elite Watchers, but I don’t trust a traitor with that knowledge, so go back to the dormitory and I’ll see you in an hour.”
He looked like I’d slapped him.
“I’m a bad guy? The one who wants to bring freefood to your community?” He laughed, a biting sound. “You’re mental.”
Mental!
I set the chicken plate on top of the truffle plate, juggling both, and then reached out and touched the X scar mark on his chest. “That right there means something in my world. It means you left someone for dead in the middle of the trial. Why would I trust you with knowing where my family lives?Thatwould be mental.”
He began to breathe deeply through his nose, slowly, as if trying to calm down, but pelts of fur rippled down his arms.
I took two steps back, balancing the plates in my hand while putting my other free hand on the hilt of my weapon.
He’d already broken my arm. What else would he do?
“Stupid woman, you don’t know anything.” He stormed off, back towards Aerlyn Academy.
Me, stupid? I peered down at the sword in my hand as if expecting a response from her. I mean, she had spoken before.
He bears a traitor mark! He broke my arm. He doesn’t expect me to lead him right to my little brothers’ and sisters’ front door, does he?
She said nothing in return, and so I started for theopening in the gate. Kaelric was right about one thing: the people in the Dregs deserved this food more than the Elite did.
