I crossed to it as they plummeted toward the ground, then found their wings. I returned to the hallway, curious to see if Maura had run or stayed. There was no trace of her. The remaining Obsidian shifters had been unable to walk out; one was crawling, and several were being thoughtfully assisted by Bismyth.
Maura had been in this room many times over many years, and she knew where I kept things. Had she extended me the courtesy of telling me what I owed Cara—or had she extended Obsidian the courtesy of a distraction and an unlocked door?
Rees appeared in the doorway, bloody around the mouth, looking profoundly pleased with himself. He stepped over a drawer, circled the room once, and sat down in the middle of the floor as if he had sorted all of this satisfactorily.
“Good dog,” I said.
You always did prefer long games, Maura had told me once. She’d sounded admiring then.
But I felt as if I were the one being played in the long game, because all of this had kept me from Cara.
Twenty-Four
Cara
Training with Kiegan was an exercise in being told, at length and with great specificity, everything I was doing wrong. It was the only time the half-orc was chatty.
“Again.” He frowned at me as he backed up.
I clapped my hands on my thighs as if that would remove not just the dust, but the callouses and pain. My arms were aching, but I managed to flash him a smile anyway.
“Yay!”
Sera slashed at my face. I ducked the blow and slipped inside her guard, but she was waiting. She never trapped me quite the same way twice in a row.
This time, she grabbed for the back of my neck, trying to drag my face down into intimate acquaintance with her knee. I blocked her, almost managing to knock her feet out from under her before she caught herself.
The two of us separated, space between us on the mat. I was breathing harder than she was, but it was still progress.
“Better,” Sera said.
Kiegan looked at me with the exhaustion of a man who has explained something many times and expects to explain it many more. “You almost had it. Which is somehow more pathetic than when we began.”
Sera was doing her best not to smile. “She’s better, Kiegan.”
“Better won’t keep her alive.” He gave me a look that suggested he was disappointed with everything about the way I had been formed. “Putting a kitten in armor doesn’t make it less soft and squishy.”
“If you call me a kitten one more time?—”
“Kiegan is only annoying out of love.” Sera took the training sword from me and hung both of ours on the wall again.
He scoffed. “Kiegan is onlycorrect.She keeps leaving you openings. She’s slow.”
“She’s new.”
“Oh, as long as she’s new. Surely her enemies will agree it would be unfair to eviscerate her.”
We walked back through the barracks together, the three of us in step. The comfort of our companionship settled over me. The emptiness in my muscles wasn’t pain yet. Some of the roiled emotions I’d felt after meeting Corbyn had faded, at least for now.
The antechamber was filled with shifters, their voices lost to the rush of the waterfall. Evening light fell through the open ceiling in long, amber slants, thin at the edges, the last of the day spending itself. I found a reason to slow down in it. To look at the stone work above the arches. To notice the way the light bathed everything in warmth.
It was strange to think that after tomorrow’s Hunt, the other clans would leave us behind. I hoped Bismyth would not despise me. I hoped Fear would not always be disappointed in me. What ahero.
Kiegan looked back at me, then up at the ceiling I was studying with great interest. Then back at me once more. “Whatever you’re not walking toward, it’s still there.”
“Thank you, Kiegan. Profoundly helpful.” I was annoyed to be caught stalling, but I was reluctant to face Fear.
“Cara!”
