Chapter 11 #2
After the meal, Vareena had to report to Warding. Emrin and Dax split for Verdant drills. Raiden vanished with a promise to “drag Lidia out of trouble before dinner.”
Alone again, I let my feet take me nowhere in particular—across a bridge that overlooked the Aurora Circle where light wielders practiced refracting beams on mirrored columns; along a colonnade that faced obsidian tiles and mist where shadows moved like they had minds; past a courtyard where the stone was ridged and rooted and shallow pools reflected a pale sky.
The Sanctum breathed in parts. Arcs and rings and angles.
I did my best to tuck them into a map inside my head and got lost anyway.
I cut across an upper balcony to save time and nearly froze.
Kieran leaned against the railing, arms folded, staring past the training rings as if he could see through stone.
The light sharpened the edges of him until he looked harder than the column at his back.
Near him stood a girl I’d never seen before—dark hair curled into glossy waves that fell down her back, posture so precise it felt like a threat.
She didn’t need to move to command the space.
Too beautiful in a way that set warning bells ringing in my chest—like the kind of beauty sailors in old tales mistook for salvation before the sea swallowed them whole.
She noticed me first. Her gaze skimmed from my boots to my face—measuring, unimpressed. “So this is her,” she said, her voice silk edged in steel. She tilted her head just enough to send the words toward Kieran.
He didn’t answer.
Her mouth curved, not quite a smile. She stepped close enough to brush her fingers down the sleeve of his coat, casual and deliberate all at once. Possessive.
The movement sent heat up my neck. I hated that it did. Hated that my pulse tripped at the idea she might know him in ways I didn’t—and never would.
I forced myself forward, refusing to give either of them the satisfaction of seeing me hesitate.
Kieran’s eyes shifted, catching mine. No flicker of surprise, no acknowledgment. Just that cold, assessing stare, the one he’d leveled at me after the Crucible before carving me open with a single insult.
“You’re in my way.”
The girl’s violet-rimmed eyes sharpened, as though she’d been waiting for me to speak, waiting for me to confirm whatever picture she’d already painted of me. Her hand lingered on Kieran’s sleeve before falling away.
“Interesting,” she murmured, almost to herself.
Kieran’s mouth twitched, not quite a smirk. He didn’t move aside.
The air between us thickened, too heavy, too loud with the things none of us were saying.
I should have turned. Should have walked the long way down. Instead, I held his stare until his jaw shifted—like I’d forced him to blink first, even if only by a fraction.
Then I brushed past, close enough that the edge of his coat grazed my arm, refusing to let either of them see how unsteady my chest felt as I walked away.
I didn’t breathe again until I reached the stairwell at the end of the balcony. My palms were damp, my chest tight, every step away from them like shaking free of a net I hadn’t realized I’d stepped into.
By the time I crossed the main courtyard, the sound of the training rings had swelled—metal striking, fire crackling, earth groaning as it shifted beneath combatants’ feet.
I still didn’t know the paths well enough to walk them without second-guessing every turn, but I kept moving until I spotted Vareena’s dark hair among the crowd gathered near the posting boards.
She caught my arm the moment I reached her, her sharp eyes narrowing. “You look like you saw a ghost.”
I almost laughed. Worse.
Instead, I shook my head, letting her tug me closer to the others.
Emrin and Dax were already there, Emrin’s braid fraying from sparring, Dax elbowing Raiden while the taller boy shoved him back with a grin.
Lidia leaned lazily against the post, a flame dancing across her knuckles in idle defiance of the Overseer scowling her way.
For half a heartbeat, the sight of them grounded me.
Then the board beside us shifted, runes glowing faintly as fresh pairings scrolled into place. The crowd pressed forward.
“Let’s see what unlucky fools get thrown together this week,” Dax said, loud enough to earn a swat from Emrin.
Names appeared in tight columns, one after another, until Emrin nudged me. “There,” she whispered, pointing at a row halfway down.
I scanned until I found it.
Lyra Alerain — Initiate Tier vs. Neseryn Vexoria— Advanced Candidate
The name meant nothing to me. My stomach still dipped.
Vareena’s lips parted, her gaze darting toward me, then the board again. “Oh.”
“What?” My voice came out too thin.
Lidia leaned over my shoulder, her flame snuffing out as her eyes traced the line. “That’s… not a fair match.”
Raiden whistled low. “Guess someone’s eager to see blood in the Crucible. You better find a way to pull some copper out your ass, Dax, because I don’t think you’ll have until Solstice.”
I stared at the unfamiliar name like it might rearrange itself into a person I could place. “Who is she?”
Vareena hesitated, “Advanced shadow wielder.”
“She’s not usually paired with initiates,” Emrin murmured, brows drawn.
“She’s terrifying,” Raiden added, a little too brightly. “In a really attractive, probably-going-to-ruin-you kind of way.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Lidia muttered, arms crossed now.
Dax leaned in, scanning the board as if he needed to see it for himself. “Gods,” he breathed, and then let out a low, appreciative whistle. “I’d take your place if I could.”
I blinked. “What?”
He shot me a crooked grin, one brow raised. “I mean, I’d get my ass handed to me, obviously. But to be in a ring with her? Worth the bruises.”
Emrin smacked him hard in the chest. “You’re impossible.”
Dax only laughed at his sister’s scowl, rubbing his chest where she’d hit him. “What? You all saw her at the Trials last season. Dangerous and beautiful. She could kill me but I’d damn enjoy her pressing a knife to my throat, might even thank her for it.”
Raiden snorted. “You’ve got problems.”
Vareena’s hand brushed mine, grounding. “Don’t let them rattle you. She’s strong, but she bleeds like anyone else.”
I wasn’t sure I believed her.
Strong, beautiful, lethal. The way they spoke of her, the way her name alone seemed to command attention—she didn’t sound like an ordinary Candidate. She sounded untouchable.
And in less than a week, I’d be expected to face her.
The others peeled away in knots of conversation, their voices trailing sharp edges of disbelief and speculation. Raiden already placing bets he claimed weren’t serious, Lidia muttering about unfair pairings, Dax still grinning as though the thought of bloodshed was entertainment.
I tried to match their pace, to pretend I didn’t feel the weight of the board’s glowing letters pressing between my shoulder blades as we left the courtyard behind.
But Vareena didn’t let go of my arm. Her grip was steady, grounding, the way her presence always was. “Don’t waste your strength on fear,” she murmured. “You have the rest of the week to prove—to yourself, if no one else—that you can stand in that ring.”
The rest of the week.
Seven days.
It sounded like nothing at all.