His body tensed, and I wondered if I had offended him. He gripped the wooden spatula so tightly that it snapped in half.
He sighed, setting the broken kitchen utensil on the counter.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, shocked by his anger.
He turned to me with glowing yellow eyes, and I leaned back a little. “You shouldn’t still be full. You shouldn’t be so thin. Your people last night shouldn’t have cheered for hours in the streets over a loaf of bread!” he growled.
My mouth opened in shock. “And what, you think food should just be free? Because where you come from, they don’t use coin? Well, that’s not how the world works here, Kaelric! Things cost money, there is a hierarchy, and a class system. Poor people are… brace yourself: POOR!” I screamed. “So yes, free fresh bread excites us. Not having to work that third shift to keep the family fed is something to celebrate.”
Kaelric reached up and rubbed his temples as if I’d given him a headache. He lowered his hands and looked at me. His eyes were green again. Leaning across the kitchen island counter, he got right in my face. “I know how things work here. You don’t understand. I’m saying your system is broken. I’m saying I want to burn the entire class system to the ground!” Heshouted it, and I slapped my hand over his mouth, looking at the front door of our dorm.
My eyes were wide, my hand pressed tightly over his mouth. “You can’t talk like that,” I whispered. “It’s treason, punishable by death.”
I lowered my hand, expecting to see some sort of fear in his eyes, but instead, he looked excited. “Where I come from, you can say whatever you want. Let them try to kill me.” He gave me a half-cocked grin, and my throat went dry.
“Well, this isn’t Fenmyr. So play by the rules, or I won’t have a guardian for the trial.”
He pulled a hot piece of ham right off the skillet and popped it into his mouth, scarfing it down. “Playing by the rules isn’t really my thing.”
Good night, he was attractive. I wanted to hate him, or at least be annoyed by him, but I liked the things he was saying. I liked that he hated the class system and thought food should be free.
But the second I found myself liking him, I peered downward to the exposed skin of his chest and the X mark scar that lay there.
Traitor wolf.
No matter how much he might say he was here to help me win, he was here for the sword, and he was here for himself. He had his own motives and his own lands to get back to, so I needed to remember that.
I tucked into my food, forcing myself to eat as much as I could before feeling sick. What was left on my plate he finished, and nothing was wasted.
We made our way to the private training room that Cassian had readied for us, and I brought Valkaryn. On the way to the room, we turned a corner and ran right into Magistrate Corvessa.
I froze, the breath in my lungs hitching. Kaelric tensed beside me.
Corvessa seemed nonplussed about meeting us, her gaze narrowing slightly. It was at this moment that I realized I’d killed her heir.
“Hello, Brynn.” She didn’t move to the side, and her body was smack dab in the middle of the hallway, so it would be hard to try to pass by without bumping her.
“Hello, Magistrate.” I bowed slightly.
Her gaze flicked to the sword on my hip, and I found myself wanting to address the elephant in the room.
“I’m sorry about Mercy. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t even touch her.”
Corvessa sneered. “You weeded out the weak. Did me a favor, really. My niece never would have lasted in the Trials.”
I gasped. That was an awful way to speak about the dead. But I was grateful she didn’t seem too upset.
She then flicked her gaze to Kaelric, eyes narrowing. “Too bad you bonded a traitor, or you might have had a shot at surviving.”
Kaelric’s growl sent the hairs standing up on my arms.
The temperature in the hallway plummeted until I could see my own foggy breath before me.
“If you’ll excuse us, ma’am, we have to get to training,” I told her.
She stepped aside, keeping her eyes on Kaelric the entire time.
“Oh, Brynn?” She called out after me in a twinkling singsong voice.
