Chapter 25 #2
So early death it is. I just hope that whatever this is between us, it’ll be enough for him to feel a desire to look after Kay if anything happens to me.
‘They told me to warn you! They told me to make you see!’
My thoughts are severed by a commotion over on the other side of the dining hall. Seiren is wildly waving her hands around as she races between the tables, shouting at the top of her lungs, ‘Why won’t you see?’
‘Fuck, here it comes,’ Loch mutters.
‘Brace yourself.’ Benny grimaces.
‘Maybe Kestria will manage to stop her before she—’ I don’t get to the end of my sentence before the entire dining room is swallowed in darkness.
Seiren’s illusion magic is something else. The walls are instantly replaced with towering trees, the tiled floor now grassy undergrowth, complete with scuttling rodents. But it’s the shift in the air that’s most astonishing – the cold chill and crisp sweetness that can come only from the forest.
The first time it happened, it showed which of the Rettlings were able to keep their cool. I, like most of the others, went straight for a weapon. But there were several – including Elenor – who began shaking with fear.
Shrieks of ‘It’s the first trial. It’s the first trial!’ rang out.
‘It’s not the first trial!’ Kestria yelled in response, trying but failing to make herself heard above the chaos. ‘It is not the trial! It’s Seiren.’
Only when the old woman calmed down did the illusion finally drop and the dining hall return to its previous state, albeit with more than one upturned chair and several spilt jugs of water.
‘How long do you think this one’s going to last?’ Jonas asks as he sidles up beside me. A corkscrew twists my insides as I consider the conversation we were having just before Seiren’s latest episode.
‘Where did you come from?’ I ask.
‘I was just over there talking to a couple of knights. Apparently, they think the first trial will be within the next three days.’
‘I’m pretty sure someone said that three days ago,’ I remind him.
‘Maybe, but it pays to be alert.’
I can’t help but scoff a little. Alert has been my constant state of mind since I arrived here. So much so that I even considered taking some of the paparvy seeds from Dinah to relax. But that’s not a route I want to go down.
‘Probably best to get an early night then,’ I say, finding his gaze through the darkness and making my intention perfectly clear. Or at least I thought so.
‘That’s probably best,’ he replies without a hint of hesitation. ‘The better rested you are, the better you’ll be able to fight.’
I’m still not sure if it was a brush-off or complete obliviousness on his part as I climb the stairs to my room a short while later. He’s right about one thing though – I do need sleep. I pull off my boots, strip down to my underwear, and drop down onto the bed.
My eyes jolt open as I bolt upright.
‘What the hell?’
My body feels like I’m in the centre of a bell as a thunderous peal sounds, loud enough to shake the metal bed frame. I clamp my hands around my ears, unable to see the source.
Magic, I realise groggily. Magic is waking me up when it’s still pitch-black outside, and I know there’s only one reason that can be: the first trial. An uneasy sensation rolls through as knots clamp around my insides.
It’s started.
As lucidity takes hold, the sound softens but doesn’t stop.
I hastily pull on the clothes I dropped by the bed before I fell asleep, only to remember I need my furs for this. Not to mention my sigils.
The ruckus is muddying my thoughts and there’s no way I’ll do a good job of painting my sigils in here, so when my boots are on, I sheath my daggers, grab the tin of blue paint and a brush, and head downstairs.
I swear the metal staircase creaks more every time I go up and down, and I can’t help but wonder if Zara’s loosened the screws so that I’ll tumble to my death.
I dismiss the thought quite quickly as that’s not her style. She’ll want to look into the whites of my eyes as she kills me.
I’ve just reached the bottom step when Jonas appears next to me. He’s got a bag with weapons on his back, and despite not being fully dressed, he has already painted his sigils.
How the hell have I not seen him topless before now?
I try not to gawp, but it’s damn hard. Of course, I knew he was toned – I’ve seen his bare arms often enough – but his chest?
His shoulder blades? His tattoos? Not just Wrohelm rings but the lines of Galreck, too – probably for his time spent training there when he was eighteen – and a sweeping letter U for Una, his mother, who passed away when he was only a toddler.
A small line of hair runs from his belly button down, and it’s only when he clears his throat that I realise I was looking in entirely the wrong direction.
A rush of embarrassment floods me, and when I lift my eyes, the slightest hint of a grin flutters on his lips, though it almost immediately turns into a frown.
‘You were still upstairs,’ he says. ‘Why’ve you not moved in with Llinos? She asked you again yesterday, didn’t she?’
‘She did,’ I start, only to stop. ‘How do you know that?’
‘Because I asked her to. Just like I asked her after the vows.’
‘You did what?’
Each of those beds belonged to a person. A friend. A friend who was now gone. That’s why I haven’t accepted any of Llinos’s previous offers to take one, and that’s why I’m more than a little pissed that Jonas has done this.
‘If I want to move into her dorm, I’m perfectly capable of asking her myself,’ I snap. ‘And if you thought it was a good idea, why didn’t you say so?’
‘I don’t know,’ he admits. ‘I guess I didn’t want you to feel like I was coddling you.’
‘Like when we fight, you mean?’ I grit my teeth. ‘Jonas, Etta accepted me, and no one has tried to kill me for weeks. I’m fine, okay?’
Whether I will be after the first trial is another matter, though.
Thankfully, Llinos appears before Jonas can continue. Trailing behind her is a tired-looking Caroline. From the way both of them are rubbing their eyes, they didn’t get much sleep either.
Jonas’s eyes widen. ‘She’s not a Rettling. Why is she here?’
Caz’s lips purse slightly, but Llinos doesn’t miss a beat.
‘Library delivery service,’ she says. ‘Now, shall we get going? This damn ringing is driving me insane. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a trial to survive.’