Chapter 25 #2
“He set a trap for me out here. He was the one to rat me out and tell Ycken where to find me to begin with.” Lory blew out a breath because that wasn’t the only thing he’d done.
“He also saved me. Twice. When he convinced Brunn and Ycken to let me live and come to Ashthorn, and when I lost control and exposed my fire to the entire academy.” And he’d shared the one thing that might have branded him deeper than the torch-shaped scar on his shoulder—failing to save his sister.
It was the only reason she gave him the benefit of the doubt after vanishing from this room like a thief in the night.
Anees dipped her chin. “Glad you haven’t forgotten. And what he sacrificed to do so might kill him one day.” Turning on her heels, Anees started climbing out the window, but Lory caught her by the elbow.
“What did he do?” The phantom had hinted at it before but told her to ask Khayrivven about it. Lory shook her head. “What do you mean, it will kill him?”
Perhaps it was the desperation in Lory’s tone or the fear in her eyes as Anees assessed her like a piece of forgotten treasure.
“He vouched for you, Lory, because that’s the sort of man he is.
If he believes in something, he’ll gamble his life away in order to protect it.
” Her eyes turned the shade of dark only deepest unhappiness could bring forth.
“If you betray the Triad, if you as much as set a toe out of line, he’ll die. ”
Lory all but managed a shallow breath as the words registered. “Why? Why take the risk? Why would the Triad make such a deal when they could have easily killed me?”
“Again, not my story to tell.” Anees was already climbing, whispering for Lory to follow. “I shouldn’t have told you about his deal to begin with, but the Triad doesn’t like how powerful Khay is. He offered them a tool to control him in exchange for their promise that you’ll live, so they took it.”
Lory’s stomach tightened with dread. Whether the Triad knew about Elina, they didn’t trust Khayrivven, or they wouldn’t lunge for an opportunity to control him.
Anees was already halfway down the facade, her dark hair and clothes blending into the shadows as she dripped down the side of the building like an elegant drop of black ink.
“Are you coming, or do I need to get back up there and make you? Khay gave me permission to drag you across the city if I have to.” She gave Lory a half-humorous wink.
Mixed feelings whirling in her stomach, Lory gathered her skirts and scaled the rough limestone, the skin on her hands and knees tearing as she slid a few feet when she lost footing with her slippers.
By the time she landed on the packed earth ground, she was panting, and dark, wet blotches were spreading on the black silk of her skirt.
Anees looked her over, squatting in front of her, and tearing strips of fabric from the hem of her skirt, wrapping them around her knees and her palms. “He’ll also bite my head off if I bring you back injured, so we’ll need to make a side trip to the Medica quarters to procure some tonic.
” Her gaze fell to Lory’s stomach, where the tunic overlapped with the skirt.
“Maybe for more than the cuts and bruises.”
Lory didn’t even want to consider the meaning of her words, though there was nothing but truth to them.
When she’d been running the streets of Dunai, on the run from guards and always on the verge of starvation, she hadn’t worried about birth control, but now that she was eating properly and had a regular cycle, she should have thought of it herself.
She’d witnessed too many of the girls on the street ending up with a bundle of joy because they’d failed to educate themselves about how things worked with fertility.
So, she nodded and followed Anees into the moonlit streets, biting back the pain as the bandages on her knees slipped when they climbed onto the next building, disappearing into the night.
Anees was right—Khayrivven was in a shitty mood.
When they knocked on the blackened door at the end of the hallway Anees had explained was for hands and phantoms, Khayrivven opened, barking for them to come inside, before pacing the length of the two-room suite consisting of a living room and an adjacent bedroom where the foot of a wide, black-sheeted bed peeked through a gap in the wooden wall.
Lory barely dared take a look at the neat shelves along the stone wall enclosing the suite, or the worktable in the corner, where an empty teacup sat beside an open book.
This was Khayrivven’s bedroom—even without him crossing back and forth in front of her, she would have known. It was as unreadable as the captain, and with as many drawers and cupboards that could hold secrets she wasn’t ready for. And it smelled like him—sage and leather and embers.
Heat flared in her chest at the one secret Anees had shared with her.
If you as much as set a toe out of line, he’ll die.
When her gaze fell on Khayrivven again, he had stopped by the small sofa across the room, gesturing for them to take a seat.
Not a hint of fire glinted in his eyes as he assessed her, expression carefully empty as he marked the bandages around her hands while her fresh clothes hid the bandages on her knees.
Once more, he wore the mask of the captain who cared for nothing and no one—because that was the only way he wouldn’t get hurt.
But if she’d learned anything about Khayrivven, it was that a whole world of emotion and passion lived beneath that facade.
“You look refreshed, captain,” she said with a wink, running her gaze up and down his form, memorizing the lines of his body hidden behind the black uniform he’d donned.
A new hand pin sat at his breast, and on his shoulder, pieces of leather reinforced the sturdy material.
Together with the sabers crossed at his back and the sword at his hip—and an assortment of other blades she was certain lingered hidden in the leather on his forearms and in his boots—he seemed ready for battle. The flicker of heat in her chest died.
“What happened?” Lory didn’t care if Anees read anything into her reaction; the phantom had already guessed all the important pieces.
“They are moving faster than expected.” He waited for Lory to cross the room and sit on the brown leather couch, sinking onto it next to her, his leg close enough so his knee brushed hers.
The fire in her chest ignited in a heartbeat, and when she dared a look at him, his eyes were on her face, a flicker of the Khayrivven she’d witnessed behind closed doors at Lu’Shen’s simmering in them.
“Who is moving faster?” Naturally, Lory had no idea, but at least, it was Anees asking the question.
Khayrivven waited and gestured for her to sit down on the chair across from the sofa, but she was barely there when a knock sounded at the door, and she jumped up to open it.
Frost’s pale face appeared on the threshold, and when Anees returned to her chair, he prowled in like he’d done it a hundred times.
“Heard you’re back,” he said by way of greeting, dropping onto the chair by Khayrivven’s worktable.
With everything Lory had witnessed between Khayrivven, Anees, and Frost, she felt like she’d stepped into a portal to another world where hierarchies no longer applied.
“Took you long enough to return to the world of black-clad murderers.” He put his hand in front of his mouth as if catching himself saying something he shouldn’t, then smirked at Lory. “Was it at least worth it?”
Had she been sitting next to Aiden, she’d have rammed her elbow into his side to shut him up.
She’d expect Thal to be a complete child about everything, but not Aiden.
But with Khayrivven the only one within reach, she felt him tense beside her, his fingers flexing and a hint of a flame springing to life in his palm.
Across the table, Anees hid her gasp in a cough.
Lory threw Aiden a nasty look. “First, none of your business, and second, what by Eroth is going on?”
Khayrivven extinguished the flame with a flick of his fingers and rolled his shoulders as if hoping to shake off a burden. “They are moving up your trials, Lory.” He shifted back in his seat so he faced her, careful not to lean against his sabers.
The tension bracketing his mouth and the crease between his brows spoke volumes about how he thought she wasn’t ready. And right he was.
They’d said she’d have months to become proficient at all relevant disciplines, but it was barely two weeks after she’d traded her soul for her life, and there was no way she could excel in all of them.
“I haven’t even started fighting with larger weapons,” she almost stumbled over her own words. “I haven’t completed a dance without someone to copy the steps from; I haven’t even passed the basic Knowledge test. Not to speak of my magic. I still can’t summon at will.”
Heat flashed in Khayrivven’s eyes at the mention of her power.
At the worktable, Aiden stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles. “Is this why we were summoned to a crisis meeting? They want to use the trials to kill her off?”
Anees shook her head. “They can’t do that. She made a deal with the Triad.”
Beside Lory, Khayrivven rolled his eyes. “It’s not like they are known for keeping their word, are they?”
“At least, not all of them,” Anees grumbled, her gaze darting to Frost as if worried about his reaction.
Aiden merely played with the knife on his belt.
“It’s not the trials we expected.” Khayrivven’s tone made the blood freeze in Lory’s veins. This was the captain who seemed steadfast in the face of killing. How could he lose his calm?
“What are they planning to do?” The suspicion in Anees’s question nearly made Lory’s stomach turn. “And why is he here?”
Khayrivven turned to Aiden, silent understanding passing between them. “They are sending her on a mission.”