‘Well, make sure she eats something,’ Tilly orders as Lillian leads me away.
Twenty minutes later, I’m sitting on my bed crossed-legged, a plate resting on my lap. It’s almost licked clean as I dip a corner of bread through the leftover gravy and pop it into my mouth, savouring the rich flavour.
‘I’ve got to say,’ Lillian sighs against the bed roll Sebastian left behind, ‘you’ve really managed to cause a lot of chaos since you got here.’
‘I’ve quite literally done nothing,’ I retort. My stomach feels full – for the first time in a while. Lillian brought me the plate of food herself, everything hand-picked from the kitchens.Not the dining hall, she’d stressed. I reach over and place the empty dish on my nightstand, before leaning back against the metal headboard of my bed, my hands resting on my bloated stomach.
Lillian quirks a pierced brow. ‘That smart mouth of yours is just as much of a deathtrap as your last name.’
‘Thank you, for the lovely reminder of how loathed my family is,’ I mutter sarcastically, staring up at the ceiling. My father should be proud; I won a test today and wasn’t completely useless.
‘I won’t sugar-coat things for you, Nocthare. It’s not our way. But because we’re on the topic, we need to discuss what happened this morning.’ Lillian sits up and crosses her legs, turning to face me. ‘Jamie Fallow’s death won’t be like Harley’s. It won’t be hidden or covered up. Helena is already being questioned by Nicks for her possible involvement in Harley’s murder. She had unlimited access to the cells and had the magic to strangle him with her element without even needing to touch him.’
‘No.’ My head shakes. ‘It can’t be. She wouldn’t poison her own friend! Would she?’
Lillian’s shoulder lifts. ‘How could she have known that Jamie was going to steal your drink?’
‘She was right there! She saw him take it off my tray. She would have stopped him,’ I reason.
‘Look, all I’m saying is that people have done worse things, Nocthare.’ She looks at me, voice firm and full of caution. ‘You need to put your head down and keep your mouth shut, because you got lucky this morning. If anyone else finds out your name is attached to Harley’s sudden disappearanceas wellas Jamie Fallow’s death …’ Her lips tighten into a flat line. She doesn’t need to continue, I get the message. It’ll bemycold body taken to the bottom of the Opal tower next.
‘Nocthare, get in the ring with Davis,’ Sebastian orders as he walks to a rack of wooden training staves and pulls off two. ‘We’re weapons training today. I’ll be marking you on your offence and defence skills.’
‘Oh, this should be good.’ Moira chuckles while tying her thick red hair at the nape of her neck.
While it’s no secret my specialty isn’t in offence, which should instantly put me on edge, what Moira doesn’t know is that I amveryskilled with the long wooden weapon that is placed in my hand seconds later.
I hide the smug smile on my face. Sebastian knows how well I fight with this particular weapon. It’s strange that he’s chosen this for our first weapons training, but who am I to argue?
‘Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you,’ Moira taunts as she snatches her stave off Sebastian and bends her knees, lowering herself into a defensive position.
If it were hand-to-hand combat I know I wouldn’t be feeling this confident, so I thank the Stars it’s not. I’ve seen how Moira handles these staves; I watched her on that first day. Uncontrolled and over-performative. Sebastianalsoknows this; he was the one in the ring with her, after all.
My hands find familiar purchase around the smooth wood, gripping it tightly and then releasing. Testing out the weight of it. Lighter than the ones at home, which is good – it means I won’t tire as easily.
As soon as I’m in position, Moira lunges. Her stave slices through the air with a whistle then cracks loudly against mine as I block her attack above my head. I bring the top of my stave down, using it to push against hers until she’s forced to either dip low with the change in angle or release it.
She chooses the former, dipping low before quickly adjusting her grip and leaping away from me, only to jump forward again with a low swipe. Again, I block and shove her backward, to create some distance and wait for her to advance once more.
Moira’s fighting technique is one of brute force. She’s quick to attack and does so viciously. I used to do the same thing, which I think is why I can read her so well. Lukas beat the aggressiveness and recklessness out of me over the years, and instead taught me to fight powered by calm and precision. In fact, fighting seems to be theonlytime I work this way. For everything else, I revert to my reckless self.
I feel closer to Lukas than ever when I’m fighting. I feel like he’s here with me, beside me as I duck, dodge and block every move Moira throws my way for the next several minutes.
‘Nocthare, I said you were on offence – that usually means you have to strike your opponent at some stage!’ Sebastian chides from the side line.
‘Are you sure?’ I ask through heavy breaths as I dart to the right. ‘Moira looks like she’s having so much fun hitting the air.’
‘Bitch,’ she snarls and I swear I hear Sebastian’s soft chuckle as he walks around the mat.
Deciding to finally change tactics, I advance on Moira. It’s swift. In a few quick movements, I feint right, then sweep left, ducking low to crack my stave against hers and knock the bottom of it away from her legs. The force sends vibrations up my arms, but that doesn’t deter me. Instead, I use the opening I created and hook my stave behind her knee and tug, knocking her off balance. She falls to her ass with a curse right before the tip of my stave pushes at her chest, sending her sprawling flat on her back. I step over her, the wooden end of my stave pointed directly at her face, and glare down at her wide-eyed expression.
‘Thanks for going easy on me. It would have beenreallyembarrassing if you didn’t.’
My eyes lift from Moira, who looks ready to rip my face off with her sharp nails, to Sebastian. What I see in his gaze nearly knocks me off balance, because that could be a hint of pride in the subtle curve of his full lips. The second he notices me watching him though, it disappears and is replaced with a glower.
‘Get up, Davis!’ he commands. Stepping into the ring, he picks up Moira’s stave. ‘Take a breather,’ he tells her as she rises. ‘It sounds like Acolyte Nocthare is looking for a bit of a challenge, and I just so happen to have missed my workout this morning.’
I baulk. While the other combat leaders spend time in the ring with their first-years, Sebastian rarely ever steps inside the ring to spar,preferring to criticise and instruct from the outside. What game is he playing at?
