The Academy of Arcanum rested halfway between the docks and Crown Quarter; a carriage ride would cut her time in half.
“Done.” Damien leaned in closer, sipping the warm beverage.
Erinna let out a soft laugh. “That easy? No questions asked?”
He shrugged and nudged her foot playfully beneath the table.
“How often does Erinna Yarrow ever ask for help?”
She shrugged. He had a point. “Will you help me withanything?” She pursed her lip and cocked her head to the side.
“Anything.”
It was in the moments of unabashed support that she caught herself slipping. The urge to share her secrets pressed against her heart. Erinna lost count of the times she wished for his help when they struggled to protect young aberrants and their families. But fangs were easy to hide and far too lethal to chance.Damien could never know; it was far too great a risk to get him involved.
Her attention fell on his academy robes and the small stitching above his heart that marked him as an abjuror. “Um, do you have class or something? I don’t want to take you away from your studies.” She needed to change the subject, needed to distract herself from the gnawing of self-inflicted loneliness.
“There are very few classes in fourth year, but most of them are elective. I’m actually expected at Major Apprentice Haru’s office. Preparing for my initiation rite.”
Erinna blinked in shock. “I thought that was in winter?”
“They’re trying to move it up for as many as they can.”
“Oh,” was all she managed to say in response.
Another gong sounded.
Erinna busied herself with her bag, collecting the copied notes about her parents’ past voyage around the Tempest’s Ring and the brief encounters on northern waters. He had asked for those specifically once. Anything about the northern continent or as close as one could get to the veil that surrounded it. She figured he had grown too familiar with the other tales.
Damien let out a small sigh of relief as he took the papers. Erinna eyed her friend more closely, the weariness in his features growing apparent. The robes he usually wore pressed to perfection bore a few wrinkles around the sleeves. The set in his jaw, a tight-lipped smile, dark rings beneath his eyes from lack of sleep.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
Damien’s responses to their sending box letters had become less frequent. Erinna figured he had exams, but intuition told her otherwise. This was a different sort of stress. Damien’s mask of normalcy faltered; his smile grew tighter.
“Minor Apprentice Afton has been”—he paused for a moment, as if searching for the right word—“distracted, soMajor Apprentice Haru started screening early. Avoiding a backlog. You understand.” He scratched the back of his neck, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
Erinna knew his tells; he was keeping something from her. “Distracted?” She raised an eyebrow in question and took another sip of her drink.
Damien’s shoulders sagged as he considered his options. Would he tell her the truth or wave it away as a mage problem? He tossed his head over his shoulder, as if to ensure there were no prying ears, before turning back to Erinna.
“Minor Apprentice Afton’s been kidnapped by that pirate, and we’ve lost a few fourth-year mages to burnout.”
Erinna took in a breath, mind racing to comprehend the news. The Yarrows were well known in Tarth for their craft, but preferred to stay away from the dealings of the crown and the academy. Still, it was a surprise that she hadn’t heard rumors nor rumblings of a kidnapping.
They were keeping it under the radar, it seemed. If the populace knew that the Minor Apprentice had been kidnapped while the Chancellor was breaths away from death, it would cause nothing but chaos.
That would explain why they were keeping Captain Kane Atwater alive. He’d been caught two months ago, with no clear intent to send him to the gallows—at least not yet.
“What does this mean for you? Is there anything I can do?” Erinna placed a comforting hand on his forearm. She could spare no sympathy for the apprentice, but it twisted her heart to see the worry lines etched into her best friend’s face.
Damien offered a weak smile. “Unless you have some trick up your sleeve that can get the pirate to talk, or find a way to cure burnout, we’re all just taking it a day at a time.”
Everyone was worried, whether they showed it or not. A missing apprentice was one thing for the academy, but dealingwith the increasing magical affliction on top of everything else—Erinna couldn’t imagine the pressure.
Every year, there were more students who suffered burnout. Four in the past week was unprecedented. For the first time in a while, Erinna found herself wishing she had some way to help. If not for the academy, then at least for Damien. Unless they needed a ship repaired, she’d be of no use to the academy.
A muffled gong echoed through the din.
