She wasn’t particularly proud of the pleasure she took in Brycon’s misery as he searched for words to spit in Thal’s and Tabi’s faces, but this was the man who’d taken Ricca’s words as a dogma, and she couldn’t get herself to regret what she’d started.
All around the room, ashlings were now turning their heads to observe the spectacle, their attention a heavy weight Lory would have loved to shed, but this wasn’t about her. This was about the small pieces of information she’d learned with her improving reading, and Lord Niely’s words that wouldn’t leave her head: The Pervaille family was responsible for the attacks in the city. She needed any help she could get,and Tabi, Thal, and Jarek’s aid had run out, with none of them having extensively studied the history books the way Brycon could. Not even Anees and Hadrian could have absorbed the contents of those books like that.
Hatred shimmering in Brycon’s eyes, he braced his hands on the edge of the table, about to shove away and leave, when Lory felt the timing was right. She’d lain awake all night after an extensive read of Aiden’s history book and running into dead ends with those little notes.The Great Purge is a great lie. Conquest of the South. Criu borders.And so many more that she couldn’t remember all of them.
“Why don’t you give us a little demonstration then?” Lory prompted, hoping he wouldn’t see right through her. “Tell us about all the books you’veread. Anything interesting in there?”
Like a bird, Brycon puffed up his chest, swiping his long, black braid over his shoulder, and cocked his head at her. “Anything in particular you need, Vednis?”
Doing her best to sound nonchalant, Lory shrugged. “ Just a sample of your abilities so I’ll know for the future if I should bother to rescue you on the parcours when you get stuck again.”
Behind her, someone giggled, and when Lory glanced over her shoulder, Maes was standing there, hiding her grin behind her fist.
Brycon’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Say whatever you want, Vednis. I won’t tell you a thing. You’re nothing but illiterate, lazy scum, and your abomination of a magic will be the end of us all one day.”
Lory hadn’t seen the attack coming, one of words rather than of steel or magic, and for all it was worth, it hurt more than a punch to the gut. All she could do was stare as he got to his feet and left the room, ignoring the claps of approval some of the ashlings placed on his shoulder as he passed by, or the shouts of objection coming from Lory’s friends—and some of the ashlings she’d never talked to but felt she needed to get to know after showing her such support; be it out of fear of her magic or because they genuinely felt Brycon was in the wrong, she didn’t care. Anyone who didn’t wish for her death these days was a win.
When Lory madeher way down to the training yard, her stomach was queasy, and her heart was racing as if she were about to enter the final trials herself. While she’d been practicing Steel with Anees and Gilded with Hadrian, magic and Veiled with both, over the past weeks, her friends had been writing tests on Knowledge, Elixir, and Medica, and they had performed trials in Steel, Gilded, and Veiled. But this was a trial combining all three disciplines, she’d learned from Hadrian not an hour ago, where the ashlings’ skills would be tested.
About a third wouldn’t make it, if General Ycken was to be believed, who had announced that particular detail at breakfast, right after the splendid news that no one would be executed that day.
Halfway down the stairs, Lory’s heart stuttered, as if an external force had forced it to slow down. A moment later, Khayrivven prowled around the corner, his arms swinging casually at his sides and his face unreadable—until his gaze met hers, and a universe of thought and emotions poured from those gray irises.
Thanks to the trials, the corridors were empty, with everyone already assembled by the training parcours, and Lory slowed her pace, allowing her lips to twitch into a smile.
Welcome back,she thought at him, willing her feet to keep their course straight past him.
Like a ray of light in the darkness, Khayrivven’s face lit up, and his hand flashed to the side, capturing Lory’s and spinning her around midstep. Lory would have yelped had she not been gasping for air as the Veiled Hand pulled her along to the small plateau at the bottom of the stairs and into an alcove Lory hadn’t noticed before. There, he turned around so his back was against the wall and tugged her against his chest so they were both engulfed by shadows, the flickering light of the torch above the stairs unable to reach them.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispered, his mouth an inch from hers and his hands on her hips.
Lory wanted nothing more than to melt against him and forget the world existed, but it was the middle of the day, and Lenya could have his spies positioned anywhere. “I thought we weren’t allowed to do this here at Ashthorn,” she whispered back, restraining her fingers from wandering up his neck and into his hair.
The outline of his features was the only thing she could see in the near-darkness, which brought all her other senses to life even more, and with every ragged breath, she smelled sage and leather and a hint of embers—and forest, a hint of flowers.
“In case you haven’t noticed, the whole academy is assembled in the courtyard at the moment. Lenya is about to give a speech, and his spies are busy trying to figure out who fraternizes with whom among the students. It might be the one day we don’t need to worry about being discovered in the hallways.”
His tone was so light, so uncharacteristically cheerful, that Lory wondered if something had happened.
“Did you just return?” she asked instead of what she really wanted to know.
The rough leather of his weapons belt and harness and the shoulder pieces of his armor suggested he might, but no trace of sweat and dust touched her tongue when his lips found hers, responding to her question with a long, deep kiss that made Lory’s knees go weak.
“I’ve been back since last night.” He brushed his mouth over her jaw, pulling back just enough to get the words out, before he kissed his way down the side of her neck.
Lory arched into his touch, savoring the strength of his arms as he wrapped them around her waist.
A part of her wanted to be upset with him for not letting her know sooner he’d returned safely, or for not having visited her dreams once while on his mission. The rest of her was grateful for this rare moment when they didn’t need to keep checking over their shoulders.
“I missed you every minute.” Khayrivven’s words rumbled in his chest as Lory rested her hand above his heart, and his breath heated her skin. “We have about five minutes before I need to go out there and oversee part of the parcours. We should make the best of it.”
Lory didn’t think as she kissed him, nipping at his lower lip, and a small, needy sound came out of her as he rolled his hips against hers, his erection making itself known.
“I know we should use the time to discuss all those things we never get to talk about,” he huffed between kisses, “but when it comes to you, I’m too selfish to care.”
Lory shuddered as he slid his hand over her ass, securing her in place as he ground into her.
“When I’m with you, I don’t care about this academy or the Flame-born in the dungeons. I don’t care about Brestolya or the people suffering under her king’s rule.”
