A professor just saw me hit someone. A unit leader, no less. My mouth goes dry.
‘What’s going on here, Zain?’ Nicks asks Sebastian.
‘I was just giving Acolyte Nocthare an extra lesson in combat. She was too scared to join in this morning.’
I fight the urge to roll my eyes.
‘Nocthare?’ Nicks’s brows rise in surprise. His head turns my way again, affording me the chance to make out the finer details of his face. Like the thin white scars peppered over his cheeks and jaw and the slight curve of his nose, which suggests a break or two over the years.
‘Hmm.’ He lets out a small, indifferent grunt. ‘Interesting.’ He turns back to Sebastian. ‘Well, whatever you were doing out here, it’s over. Let’s go, I need your help in my office.’
‘Now?’ Sebastian questions.
‘Yes. Now!’
There’s no room for argument in Nicks’s tone and, unlike the way Sebastian seemed to grind his jaw when Headmaster Zain gave him an order, he nods to the professor.
‘Get back to your room, Miss Nocthare. It’s getting dark,’ Nicks instructs me, a puzzling warning lacing his voice.
I fight back a shiver and watch as the two of them turn and walk away. It doesn’t take long to decide that I’ll be following them instead of returning to my room. I wait until they’re small figures in the distance before I head their way.
ELEVEN
This is stupid! Stars, this issoincredibly stupid.
‘What am Idoing?’ I scold myself beneath my breath as my fingernails wedge between the slit of the double doors to pry them open. I’ve been here barely a day and already I’m sneaking through the shadows and no doubt risking my ass. Corvin would be shaking his head at me and calling me a damn idiot right now if he could see me.
But what would a professor want with a student at this hour? In his office, no less. There was an underlying message hidden within the words he spoke to Sebastian; I could feel it. Which is why I’m out here trying to get into the Training Centre, while frantically looking over my shoulder at the darkening landscape behind me to ensure no one else is coming. I’d watched from behind a tree as Sebastian and Professor Nicks went inside, then waited for a handful of minutes before I crept out and followed their path.
My breath hitches in my throat as the door opens slightly, and I pray they’re not right on the other side of it. I press the side of my head to it and listen, just in case.
Silence.
Perfect.I open the door just wide enough to slip in through the gap, using my back foot to stop the door from slamming closed behind me. I slowly ease the door shut. Only a whisper of a click permeates the air.
My breath expels from me in a quiet huff and I wipe at the sweat that’s started to gather on my forehead, then pause to take in the large, empty space. Fortunately there’s no alarm or person waiting to catch me. It’s dark, but I can still make out most of the shadows of the equipment. The room seems bigger now that it’s not filled with a few dozen students grappling with each other on mats, their faces all looking like they want to bury my body out near the cliffs. Or maybe just throw me right off. Whichever method works.
I stick to the shadows as much as I can as I tentatively pad further into the room.
Where could they have gone?
I squint through the darkness, silently cursing when I almost trip over a lone iron weight that’s been left discarded on the mat, unlike the other weights stacked over to my right on a rack. I step over it and keep walking until I notice that one of the doors at the far end of the room has soft yellow light spilling from beneath it.
There.
I head toward it, only pausing when I make out two hushed voices coming from within. I recognise Sebastian’s voice immediately, and he sounds outraged.
Rather than standing directly against the door where my shadow might be spotted in the gap beneath it, I position myself just beyond the door’s reach, craning my head to listen.
‘This is bullshit, Nicks!’
My eyes widen.
‘You think I don’t know that? It’s out of my hands.’
The next response is muffled as someone moves about within the room.
‘So, there’s no way to know for sure?’ Sebastian asks.
