You’re overreacting, Aria. It’s just someone else heading to the baths after a gruelling training session.
I try to placate myself, even as I hear their hurried footsteps getting closer.Are they … running?
‘Nocthare …’ My name echoes down to me in a taunting sing-song tune. ‘I know you’re down here.’
Moira.
With my stomach plummeting and my heart racing I spin around, bracing my hands against the wall and squint to see through the shadows. There are a handful of lanterns that have been put out, which makes it difficult to see anything past a certain point, but I hear it – the thudding of her training shoes. Advancing quickly.
I stay silent, continuing to edge along the path toward the door at the bottom. I’m almost at the bend in the tunnel so I know I’m not far. I’m not afraid of Moira. She’s a bully, that’s all. She likes the sound of her own voice and likes to feel in charge of every situation and conversation she’s part of. She likes attention,goodattention, and she cannot stand it when she’s been made a fool. Which is what happened today when Sebastian threw the wooden staves back into our hands.
Shaking my head, I berate myself for being so careless. For not keeping my wits about me. Starsdamn idiot!
I keep skirting along the wall, keeping my steps light. Finally, I see the door at the bottom. Soft light spills into the tunnel from the underside of the door illuminating the damp concrete patterned floor ahead.
I’m only ten or so feet away from it when I see an arc of orange coast along the stone wall and soar above my head. It illuminates the entire tunnel for a few seconds before it simmers out as the ball of flame hits the damp ground right in front of the door.
‘Found you,’ Moira’s snarl hits my ears seconds before I feel her slam into my back, knocking me forward.
My hands skid along the ground and the bumpy surface grates at my skin, tearing flesh from my palms. A sharp hiss escapes my mouth as I attempt to push myself to my feet, but a booted foot stomps down on my back. Once. Twice. Knocking the breath from my lungs.
‘What. The. Fuck!’ I gasp for breath and roll to my back. I see her silhouette move above me and bring my legs up to my chest, then kick out. My boots collide with some part of her body, but where I can’t tell in the shadows. A scream rips from Moira’s throat. Raw and guttural. She leaps on top of me. Her sharp nails dig into my arms before she pins them down with her knees, straddling my torso.
‘Stars, I’ve been waiting for this,’ she hisses, letting go of one hand to punch me right across the cheekbone. My face snaps to the side from the force of the blow, but that’s not what worries me. A punch I can handle. If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t last long in Malachite at all. It’sthe burst of orange flame that ignites as she pulls her fist back, ready to strike me again.
‘How dare you embarrass me in front ofhim!’ she snarls.
Thwack.
Scorching heat blisters across my face, right where her first punch landed. The smell of my own skin burning reaches my nose, making me gag and forcing hot tears to my eyes.
‘Get off me!’ I grunt through the white-hot pain lancing through me. I plant my feet on the ground and attempt to buck her off, but the sadistic bitch digs her claws into my skin, and squeezes her thighs, determined to keep me pinned.
We wrestle for a long minute: her, fighting to hold me down; me, squirming to set myself free. I manage to wriggle one hand out from beneath her and swing it upward. It connects with her jaw, forcing her head to snap back.
‘Have you lost your fucking mind?’ I hiss, barely scraping her jaw as I swing a second time.
She spits blood on the floor beside my head. ‘I’ve sat back for too long, Nocthare. It’s not fair that he’s payingyouspecial attention when I’m the one who deserves it.Me!’ she shouts. Her fist ignites once more, illuminating the wild and frenzied look in her blue eyes.
‘You want his attention? Take it, Moira. I don’t want it,’ I snap.
For some reason that makes her laugh. ‘You’re so full of shit!’ Her hand lowers right above my face. I wince as the heat of the flames threaten to lick at my already burnt skin.
‘It’s true.’ I keep my words low and controlled, attempting to appease her, knowing I clearly don’t have the upper hand here. She has her element. I have nothing. ‘He’s not favouring me. He’spunishingme. If I could be paired with another trainer, I would! Why do you even care?’ I ask, out of breath. Out of energy too.
‘Because I want those weapons! I’m a Davis, and I deserve them.’
Weapons? Is she talking about the ones Nicks told us we can earn? My mind races back to the clipboard he carries around with him, to thenames he has written down and the figures beside them. I’d stolen a peek at it the other day when he was talking to Jed outside his office. The names were facing out as he held the clipboard down at his side. Cillian and Aiden were at the top of the list. I couldn’t see mine nor Moira’s name s, which I assumed meant they were hidden behind his arm at the lower end.
If Moira’s failing, it has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with her belief that her surname serves as a free pass to do whatever the hell she wants. I guess she’s finally received the reality check : shit doesn’t work like that around here.
‘Nicks said we need to earn those weapons!’ I grit through my teeth, attempting to push her flame-engulfed hand away from my face. But she snarls and uses all her upper body weight to push it back down. My weakened arms are no match. I just can’t … I’m too tired. Too fatigued from not eating enough. Too tender from the training.
‘Ihaveearned them!’ Her fist connects with my cheek again, but this time she holds it there. Her knuckles dig into the apple of my cheek, burning the skin.
I scream.
Moira cackles above me. ‘Look at you! You’re pathetic. Are you going to cry over a little burn?’ She lets her flames die out and grabs a fistful of hair from the top of my head. She yanks my head forward then slams it back down against the stone floor. Spots burst behind my eyes.
