“Precisely,” said Hokda—and Kade knew what was coming. “del Torau, the last.”
It was lucky Kade knew this. “Ensure your working area is as clean as possible. Cleanse your hands, tools, and patient with a potion if possible, but water will do if nothing else is available.”
Hokda said nothing, simply turned on his heel to face the other side of the room, the gold in his ears jingling.
That meant Kade was right. He shared a knowing look with Porthos and rolled his eyes.
“You will treat this specimen as if it is your patient, so once you have gone through the three motions on the list and prepared your patient, you may make your first cut.” Hokda detailed out exactly how and where to cut first on an elven patient, and then adjusted it for their pig.
Only after the other apprentices were off did Hokda drift over to Kade. “Ah, del Torau, my deepest apologies,” said Hokda flatly. “You must understand. When I put in this order, I still only hadsevenapprentices.”
“Of course.”
“Sir,” said Porthos, “He can share mine—”
“No.” Hokda cut Porthos a deathly glare. “Each apprentice must have their own specimen to learn adequately.” He looked at Kade. “Go catch a frog to use. There are plenty out front by the lakes.”
Blood boiling, Kade grit out, “…A frog?”
“Yes. A frog. Problem?”
Kade came back with the biggest frog he could catch, a fat, green little thing. Its body roughly the size of his palm. It would do.
There were laughs disguised as stifled coughs around the room at the mud stuck to the knees of Kade’s trousers and smeared on his face and in his hair.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE DAYS BLED together, and soon Kade found himself at the end of his first month as an apprentice. It felt like a year had passed. It was long nights and early mornings, days spent hunched over a cauldron or a text or on his hands and knees in the greenhouses.
The work itself wasn’t bad. He enjoyed the work.
That was the easy part.
Porthos had been kind enough to lend him his notes spanning the last six months, and Kade dove into them every night after lessons to catch up on what he’d missed. It was fascinating. The notes were clear and precise and detailed. Hokda truly was a master in his field.
But Hokda was exactly the problem.
The healer hadn’t let up on his mission to make Kade’s life hell for even a moment. His foot on Kade’s neck every second he was in the healer’s presence. His grudge well nurtured and fiercely protected.
Every lesson, there wassomethingKade did wrong, or messed up, or didn’t get right so he would stay after and redo it until Hokda was satisfied.
It was exhausting.
Hokda hated him, the other apprentices shunned him. Worst of all, it felt like ages since Kade had crossed paths with Killi. Not even a glimpse of him in the halls.
And why would he? Killi’s duties lay on the opposite side of the palace, with his Guard and his lieutenant andthe king.
It was late when Kade found himself trudging down the halls towards the kitchens. All he wanted to do was eat and then crawl into bed and sleep. It was how Kade planned to spend the one day of rest he got in the week, sleeping the day away. It wouldn’t help his studies, but it was what he needed.
Soft light from the ovens and the oil lamps flickered into the hallway from the servants kitchen, it was smaller than the main kitchen that was used to prepare feasts for the king and the court. Half of the wide open space was rock chimneys and open flames with boiling kettles and large soup pots bubbling away. A large wooden island stretched parallel to the ovens, wiped down and clean at the end of the night, but usually covered in fresh ingredients and half-prepared meals.
The other half of the space was filled with scattered tables and chairs, common ground for those who worked around the palace to meet, apprentices and guards and servants all gathered there to eat and relax, to fill each other in on the daily goings on in other areas of the palace.
Kade was never welcomed in those conversations, having been all but shunned by the other apprentices, but his ears still worked.
The kitchen was nearly empty, only the kind, plump elf in charge of the kitchen, and five healer’s apprentices shared the space.
Porthos’ golden halo was instantly recognizable, as was TaigaToran’s raven mane. The two were nearly inseparable, always together except for the time Porthos spent helping Kade. Taiga kept his distance then. On more than one occasion, Kade had caught the sharp green eyes of Taiga Toran following him around their lesson room.
