Chapter 12
NIKIAS
Nikias only half listened to the commander on his right briefing him about the entrance exams. It wasn’t particularly crucial information at this stage. Everything was ready.
He stood by the entrance to the side of the stadium that led to the private boxes, watching Runai and wealthy Solitus walk to the other side of the stadium to be let in to sit among the regular stands.
When he spotted the red braided crown, he held his hand up to silence the commander and shooed him off.
Nikias glanced down, taking a second to adjust his bag, brush off his cloak and chiton, and ensure he was perfectly presentable.
But even that didn’t still his racing heart as she approached. Why did she have to be so breathtaking?
And so brutal?
He could do this. He had to. There was no other choice.
Her gaze narrowed at him as her expression soured the closer she got. “Dare I ask why you’re lurking out here?”
“I’d hardly call it lurking.” Nikias cleared his throat, resisting the urge to reach up and touch it as a dull ache flared. “I’m here to ensure all the judges make it to their proper places before it’s time to start.”
“Let me guess, I’m the only judge whose first time it is doing this, so you’re here for me?” Aimilia put her hands on her hips.
With her commander’s cloak, always in pristine condition, resting on her shoulders and an elegant peplos belted at her waist, she looked radiant.
“Would you rather not know where to go?” Nikias asked.
“We have over an hour before the opening ceremony. I’m quite confident I can find my box and meet my judging partner within that timeframe.”
Fine. If she wanted to do this the hard way… Nikias stepped to the side and gestured for her to go in. Aimilia’s eyes widened, but she started for the entrance regardless. He turned his head to hide his small, sly grin.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see as she paused in the doorway. She looked down, brow furrowed, and then she whipped around. “You’re not serious, are you?”
Nikias turned back. “I’m a little disappointed it took you this long to figure it out.”
“You could have just told me from the beginning. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out how this is a punishment, but now I see,” Aimilia said, crossing her arms.
Nikias came to a stop in front of her, cornering her in the entryway. He leaned in slightly, lowering his head. “I’m not punishing you.”
She scoffed. “Forcing me to be stuck with you for a week to judge the brats is a punishment.”
These barbs should have long since lost any effect on him, but it seemed they only grew more pointed over time.
“I’m truly sorry you feel that way.”
Even just the way she rolled her eyes, disregarding his sincerity, dug under his skin. “You still could have told me.”
“It’s more interesting this way.” He held his arm out. The only direction to go was up. “Now, shall we go to our box?”
She turned her nose up at it and spun on her heel, heading into the stadium interior. One of the Runai guards tried and failed to hide a snicker, and Nikias just held his own head higher.
Let them laugh at him for now. He’d gladly be their source of amusement and let himself be humiliated again and again if that’s what it took to win.
They wouldn’t be laughing when his name was finally wrapped around her wrist.
Especially not the Desero demon.
He followed her down the dimly lit hallway, calling out after her, “You still don’t know what box we’re in!”
She looked over her shoulder. “There are only so many of them in the first place. Also, nowhere does it say the judges scoring the same students have to sit together and discuss it.”
He hurried after her, cloak whipping through the air as he called out, “We have to agree on the placements! I can hardly agree with you if I’m three boxes away.”
“You won’t agree with me whether you’re three inches away or three thousand,” Aimilia huffed, but she had come to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.
“You could give me a little more credit. Working with me won’t kill you. Come on,” Nikias said as he took the lead now.
Aimilia followed after him, muttering, “Oh, it just might.”
When he looked back at her for an explanation, she just asked, “Will Gavril and Marcella be joining us? I know they’re preparing to leave right after the exams, but surely they can watch with us.”
“I have everything in place for their departure, but they will not be watching with us. They will be wrangling the brats. Pax Marcella seems to have something of a gift for them, and Gavril isn’t half bad either.”
All true.
But he could still feel Aimilia’s hazel eyes boring into his back, blaming him.
When they continued to go up, her glare intensified and he refused to look back. They passed landing after landing that led to box after box.
“Nikias.”
She caught him. He paused and looked over his shoulder. She held onto the railing with one hand, peplos in the other, lifting the hem just enough to climb. “We better not be going where it looks like we’re going.”
“Don’t worry, my parents aren’t coming today. It will be just us.”
“If anything, that’s worse!” Aimilia took a few more steps until she was right behind him. “The two of us alone in the royal box?”
“With my parents deciding to stay back today, I have to be in the royal box,” Nikias said, pushing down his own frustration. It certainly wasn’t what he wanted either. “One of us must be seen.”
Nikias resisted the urge to rub his sore neck. His father had overexerted himself recently and if the king wanted to be able to make a public appearance at the end of the exams, he would have to rest for today.
Nikias didn’t know if he should be grateful his father’s overexertion spared him from his presence today or concerned about the fact that he was going to have to worry about the illusion on his neck while he was watched by a crowd of thousands.
He was leaning toward grateful because it meant Aimilia wouldn’t be anywhere near his parents.
“Yes.” Aimilia gripped the railing. “You’re about to be seen with me and only me in a box where we’re about to be watched by thousands of people who by now will have heard everything.”
Nikias stopped on the last landing before their box. “You know the royal box has the best view.”
Aimilia didn’t stop moving, glancing down at her feet as she said, “I think you mean the best view for everyone else.”
“I promise you, after the first five minutes we’re in there, no one will be looking at us.” Nikias waved at the empty arena floor below. “They’ll be too busy watching the twelve-year-olds shoot vitae at each other.”
Aimilia just pushed past him and kept climbing up without a word. Nikias followed after her, reaching up and brushing his fingers over his neck to ensure the illusion was still in place.
He followed her up the stairs and into the royal box.
She ignored him as she went about pulling out her sheets already prepared to take notes on the students she was assigned to score, and ignoring the reactions of the crowd below her that had spotted the Mitis mage sitting in the royal family’s box.
Nikias did the same, letting her have her silence as he also gathered his materials for judging.
Although he did take the seat right beside hers, both of them leaving the king’s and queen’s seats, marked by their opulence, alone.
They sat up against the railing, ready to watch the first event after the opening remarks.
All the novices would be run through a serious of practical tests so the judges could get a feel for their skill in all areas to start with and prove their competency in advancing to being full time students at the Academy.
That would be the main event for the day and then they would break until the next, when they would divide the novices based off of the track of their preference.
While there were no strict limits to number of mages on the academic, combat, or healing track, it was important to have a balanced number between them, so should too many desire one track, it would be up to the judges to place them according to their strengths in order to balance it out.
Then there would be the command track, which only accepted thirty students, so for those that didn’t make it, it would be up to the judges to place them as well.
They were shaping the futures of over two hundred students. Permanently charting their course. Their decisions determined everything and were unchanging.
Nikias did not take this responsibility lightly, and from the hard set to Aimilia’s jaw and eyes, neither did she.
Nikias bit the inside of his cheek and stared down at his notes, trying to push down the overwhelming rush of affection.
It would do him no good at this stage for Aimilia to see it written all over his face.
As the crowd settled in and Commander Livus stepped out onto the stadium floor to give opening remarks, Nikias refocused on his mission. He shifted closer as Commander Livus reached the halfway point in his speech. His leg brushed Aimilia’s.
She startled in her seat, turning to glare at him. He murmured, “My apologies.”
She shook her head and turned back to watch Commander Livus.
The time came for the first round of the novices for the day.
It was fairly straightforward—he and Aimilia had thirty novices they would be scoring, ten of which would later compete for a spot on the command track.
They would be assigning point totals in each category, and that would determine if they made it in, depending on how the other judges also scored their novices.
They were halfway through the first round of novices being run through the practical tests, two of their novices in this batch, when Nikias leaned over and murmured, “Novice Ursus clearly has a large vitae reservoir.”
Aimilia kept her gaze on the novices, but she also didn’t pull away. Nikias’ shoulder brushed against hers; a soft warmth seeped through their cloaks at the contact. She said, “I don’t deny that, but his form is sloppy.”
“He’s young. It could improve with the rigor of being at the Academy year-round.”
“If it’s sloppy now on these simpler runes, he’s going to struggle with complex ones.”
“You don’t think his natural power will make up for it?”
“Being a commander is about more than raw vitae. We’ll see how he does in the command track portion, but I see potential as a combat mage.”
“I concur.” But Nikias didn’t move back fully to his seat. He stayed, leaning over her shoulder as they watched.
She hadn’t reacted; he also wasn’t sure if she’d noticed. He wasn’t sure which was worse.
They exchanged a few more murmured comments about their other mages as the first round finished.
While the first round of mages left and the next was brought in, Aimilia shifted in her seat, turning to face him. “You know I can hear you even if you’re not practically climbing on top of me.” She gestured at the lack of space between them. “This isn’t necessary.”
She had noticed.
Nikias grinned, his knee bumping into hers again. “Maybe I can’t hear you.”
“Then see a healer.” Aimilia narrowed her eyes. “We can’t have you losing your hearing on us.”
“I’m touched. I would have thought you’d want anything that would make my life harder.”
She rolled her eyes and turned back to look down at the arena. “Just focus on what we’re here to do so once they’re done we don’t have to waste any more time deciding on points.”
But he could see the slight pink dusting to her cheeks.
Just a little bit of hope.
Round after round went until they finally finished all of the novices and Nikias and Aimilia exchanged their thoughts, disagreeing until they reached a consensus. Often, they agreed without much back and forth. Aimilia had a sharp eye, so Nikias didn’t usually take issue with her observations.
Sometimes he did push back in order to get her to expand on her reasoning so he could lean in ever closer until his arm was around the back of her chair and his cheek almost brushed the top of her head.
Her hair was pulled back so tightly that even as the day wore on not a single strand had escaped its confines. Annoyingly so. She was always beautiful, but he much preferred her hair looser, or at least not so perfectly put up.
Maybe it was for the best. If her hair was even slightly disheveled, he would be driven further to distraction by his desire to finally sink his hands into it.
As the last of the mages were herded away to the crowd’s cheering, Aimilia turned to him, tapping her notes.
“Well, I think we have an accurate idea of where our novices stand. Is there anything else? Or are you going to continue hovering over me and ensure you wake up with a sore back tomorrow from this awkward position?”
Nikias reluctantly pulled back, immediately feeling the tight soreness Aimilia had predicted from how long he’d held the position.
“Our duties regarding the entrance exams are concluded for the day,” Nikias said, pushing himself to his feet, stretching out his back.
He lifted a hand as he stood at the railing, acknowledging the crowd whose attention had started to shift back to his box now that there were no mages to occupy them below.
Right before he was about add “after they hand in their notes,” Aimilia pushed out of her seat, stretching her arms as well before gathering up her notes. “Great, maybe I can catch—”
Nikias moved faster, blocking her exit.
She huffed. “What do you want now? Why are you acting so strange?”
The question that had been plaguing Nikias since that night by the fountain kept clawing back up his throat, and finally he was going to let it out.
“I just have one question.”
Aimilia gestured for him to go on.
He took a deep breath. This was probably going to hurt. Still, if he was going to have a hope of changing his fate, it needed to be done.
“What will it take?”