Chapter 10 #4
She’d known Khayrivven hated Ulder for what he’d done to his family.
For holding Elina hostage. But he’d also abided by any rule the Triad had set for him, had done every cruel deed.
Had brought her to Ashthorn after hunting her down.
He’d done everything to keep his sister safe.
This was the first time he revealed that he’d been working against the King of Brestolya, and Lory didn’t mean the personal protection of the secret of her Flame heritage, but the systemic sort of resistance that could bring down kingdoms.
The rough walls stored the warmth like the limestone of the pyramid and the sun, and Lory was vividly reminded of what was causing the suffocating heat. Ashlings. Dead ashlings. One of them a rebel.
“Where are we going?” Lory shoved down the sense of doubt creeping up on her.
Hadn’t he said she hadn’t chosen? Whatever that meant.
The leonthor had wanted her to choose so it may begin.
Whatever it was… And now Khayrivven was dragging her through a secret underground crematorium, his iron hold on her hand suddenly more concerning than comforting.
He didn’t slow his pace as they rounded the room. “It’s best I show you.”
In the shadows between the torches brightening the space, all the way behind the cremator, Khayrivven stopped, dropping Lory’s hand as he opened a hidden stone door.
Behind it, a dark tunnel gaped, ready to devour them both if they dared set foot into it.
“I’ve had enough of lightless pathways for a lifetime, thank you very much,” Lory whispered, her doubts a sour taste on her tongue, but Khayrivven wrapped his hand around hers once more, conjuring a palm-sized flame with the other before she could pull away.
“There is no way back, Elory Vednis. You’ve guessed my truth, and now you need to know all of it.”
When he guided her into the tunnel, the smell of mold and decay hit her nose, her stomach ready to turn, but her determination to see this through was so much stronger as she reminded herself of what she’d reminded him not five minutes earlier.
He’d vouched for her with his life. He’d saved her.
He wouldn’t have done all of that had he planned to hurt her after all. He was finally letting her in.
The thought of becoming part of Khayrivven’s inner circle drove the ice out of her system, bringing back the heat, as they walked for minutes, Khayrivven a steady presence at her side, never letting go of her hand as if anxious she might bolt if he let her out of his sight for a heartbeat.
From time to time, his gaze flicked to her, and he studied her for a few breaths, his mouth opening and closing with words he wasn’t ready to share. After what felt like hours rather than the short minutes it took them to get to the end of the tunnel, Khayrivven opened another hidden stone door.
This time, daylight greeted them. Daylight, and cascades of caramel-colored sand shifting on ever-changing dunes.
Khayrivven pulled her over the threshold, out into the baking heat of the desert sun, squinting as he gestured at the walls towering behind them like a mountain cliff.
They were so high, Lory couldn’t even make out the top of the pyramids from where they stood at the base of the hill where Dunai’s palace had been built thousands of years ago.
Lory’s eyes adjusted to the brightness faster than she was used to, and when she listened hard, she could make out the sounds of steel clashing behind the monstrous barriers separating the hidden academy from the rest of the world.
She spun around to find the elegant limestone buildings defining the noble quarters at the foot of Dunai’s fortress, but wherever she looked, the desert spread like an endless, sandy blanket.
“This is the only way out of Ashthorn that the Triad doesn’t know about.
It isn’t on any map of the academy. Knowledge about it probably got lost over the many centuries of this place’s existence before Ashthorn Ward was ever founded.
” He pulled Lory closer, measuring her expression as if waiting for her to scold him, to yell at him, to tear away from him.
“One day, I’ll leave Ashthorn Ward behind, and this is the path I’ll take to vanish in the night. ”
There was no emotion in his voice, only fact. A determination so solid it was made of the same stone that fortified him when he needed to play the part of the ruthless captain.
Oh, he was ruthless, make no mistake. He’d survived because of it, and so had his sister.
But there was more to it now than Lory had noticed before.
Between the horrors he’d been limited to with the leverage both Ulder and the Triad held over him, Khayrivven was following a vision.
It was shining bright in his eyes as they looked upon hers.
“Free Criulias,” he whispered. “Ashthorn is a lie. And those ashlings killed every morning aren’t usually late because they dawdle.
Most of them are suspected of being involved with the rebel movement threatening to break Ulder’s rule.
Even if no one will call it that, they are executed for treason. ”