Chapter Twenty-Six
TWENTY-SIX
If there is one thing I have learned while training at Valmora Academy, it’s that the people who built the underground baths built them for a reason. What Malachite students get put through to hone their bodies into weapons is no joke and, in my opinion, is the equivalent to torture.
Since my outburst three days ago where I walked out of the Training Centre, Sebastian has now taken it upon himself to make my life a living hell every time I step foot within the ring.
Lillian has offered each night to help me up the stairs to my room, but each night I refuse.
The other students would only see it as a weakness, and I’m here to prove that Nocthare s belong at Valmora Academy.
So, I’ve been gritting my teeth and forcing myself up those damn steps, even though I often have to stop halfway to place my forehead against the wall until the waves of nausea dissipate enough to continue.
Have I been taking Tilly’s advice and eating double the amount I used to?
No. Lillian brings me dinner each night, which I haven’t asked for, but she does anyway.
And Tilly is somehow always waiting outside Malachite’s gate with breakfast for me.
I don’t eat during the day, which I know isn’t healthy, nor is it helping the constant fatigue I’m facing, but I refuse to walk inside that starsdamn dining hall until Nicks finds out who tried to poison me.
My legs shake as I carefully tread along the damp concrete floor of the tunnel that leads to the baths below the Training Centre.
With each step I take, I feel unsteady, like I might collapse to the floor at any moment.
My legs feel heavy and weightless all at once, and more sweat than I thought possible has made my skin sticky.
I managed to get Moira down on the mat earlier using the staves again, then we spent the next twenty minutes sparring with our fists.
The rest of our training session was spent outside, where Sebastian ran us into the ground as we traversed the thicket of trees along the forest edge, all the way to the cliffs and back.
When I asked how many laps we were doing, his answer was, ‘Until you can’t physically do it anymore’.
By the time I made it back inside the Training Centre, I swore I could taste blood coming up from my lungs and into the back of my mouth.
All I can think about now is the water within the baths that will heal my aches and wounds.
The tunnel is dark, damp and humid. At the sound of the door suddenly opening and closing behind me, a little alarm rings in my head to remind me I probably shouldn’t be down here by myself. Shit. I didn’t think this through very well.
My heart kicks up a notch, certain now that someone is following behind me. I quicken my pace, using the warm stone wall to hold me upright as I shuffle down the declining slope of the tunnel.
You’re overreacting, Aria. It’s just someone else heading to the baths after a gruelling training session.
I try to placate myself, even as I hear their hurried footsteps getting closer. Are they … running?
‘Nocthare …’ My name echoes down to me in a taunting sing-song tune. ‘I know you’re down here.’
Moira.
With my stomach plummeting and my heart racing I spin around, bracing my hands against the wall and squint to see through the shadows.
There are a handful of lanterns that have been put out, which makes it difficult to see anything past a certain point, but I hear it – the thudding of her training shoes. Advancing quickly.
I stay silent, continuing to edge along the path toward the door at the bottom.
I’m almost at the bend in the tunnel so I know I’m not far.
I’m not afraid of Moira. She’s a bully, that’s all.
She likes the sound of her own voice and likes to feel in charge of every situation and conversation she’s part of.
She likes attention, good attention, and she cannot stand it when she’s been made a fool.
Which is what happened today when Sebastian threw the wooden staves back into our hands.
Shaking my head, I berate myself for being so careless. For not keeping my wits about me. Starsdamn idiot!
I keep skirting along the wall, keeping my steps light. Finally, I see the door at the bottom. Soft light spills into the tunnel from the underside of the door illuminating the damp concrete patterned floor ahead.
I’m only ten or so feet away from it when I see an arc of orange coast along the stone wall and soar above my head. It illuminates the entire tunnel for a few seconds before it simmers out as the ball of flame hits the damp ground right in front of the door.
‘Found you,’ Moira’s snarl hits my ears seconds before I feel her slam into my back, knocking me forward.
My hands skid along the ground and the bumpy surface grates at my skin, tearing flesh from my palms. A sharp hiss escapes my mouth as I attempt to push myself to my feet, but a booted foot stomps down on my back. Once. Twice. Knocking the breath from my lungs.
‘What. The. Fuck!’ I gasp for breath and roll to my back.
I see her silhouette move above me and bring my legs up to my chest, then kick out.
My boots collide with some part of her body, but where I can’t tell in the shadows.
A scream rips from Moira’s throat. Raw and guttural.
She leaps on top of me. Her sharp nails dig into my arms before she pins them down with her knees, straddling my torso.
‘Stars, I’ve been waiting for this,’ she hisses, letting go of one hand to punch me right across the cheekbone.
My face snaps to the side from the force of the blow, but that’s not what worries me.
A punch I can handle. If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t last long in Malachite at all.
It’s the burst of orange flame that ignites as she pulls her fist back, ready to strike me again.
‘How dare you embarrass me in front of him!’ she snarls.
Thwack.
Scorching heat blisters across my face, right where her first punch landed. The smell of my own skin burning reaches my nose, making me gag and forcing hot tears to my eyes.
‘Get off me!’ I grunt through the white-hot pain lancing through me. I plant my feet on the ground and attempt to buck her off, but the sadistic bitch digs her claws into my skin, and squeezes her thighs, determined to keep me pinned.
We wrestle for a long minute: her, fighting to hold me down; me, squirming to set myself free. I manage to wriggle one hand out from beneath her and swing it upward. It connects with her jaw, forcing her head to snap back.
‘Have you lost your fucking mind?’ I hiss, barely scraping her jaw as I swing a second time.
She spits blood on the floor beside my head. ‘I’ve sat back for too long, Nocthare. It’s not fair that he’s paying you special attention when I’m the one who deserves it. Me!’ she shouts. Her fist ignites once more, illuminating the wild and frenzied look in her blue eyes.
‘You want his attention? Take it, Moira. I don’t want it,’ I snap.
For some reason that makes her laugh. ‘You’re so full of shit!’ Her hand lowers right above my face. I wince as the heat of the flames threaten to lick at my already burnt skin.
‘It’s true.’ I keep my words low and controlled, attempting to appease her, knowing I clearly don’t have the upper hand here.
She has her element. I have nothing. ‘He’s not favouring me.
He’s punishing me. If I could be paired with another trainer, I would!
Why do you even care?’ I ask, out of breath. Out of energy too.
‘Because I want those weapons! I’m a Davis, and I deserve them.’
Weapons? Is she talking about the ones Nicks told us we can earn?
My mind races back to the clipboard he carries around with him, to the names he has written down and the figures beside them.
I’d stolen a peek at it the other day when he was talking to Jed outside his office.
The names were facing out as he held the clipboard down at his side.
Cillian and Aiden were at the top of the list. I couldn’t see mine nor Moira’s name s, which I assumed meant they were hidden behind his arm at the lower end.
If Moira’s failing, it has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with her belief that her surname serves as a free pass to do whatever the hell she wants. I guess she’s finally received the reality check : shit doesn’t work like that around here.
‘Nicks said we need to earn those weapons!’ I grit through my teeth, attempting to push her flame-engulfed hand away from my face.
But she snarls and uses all her upper body weight to push it back down.
My weakened arms are no match. I just can’t …
I’m too tired. Too fatigued from not eating enough. Too tender from the training.
‘I have earned them!’ Her fist connects with my cheek again, but this time she holds it there. Her knuckles dig into the apple of my cheek, burning the skin.
I scream.
Moira cackles above me. ‘Look at you! You’re pathetic. Are you going to cry over a little burn?’ She lets her flames die out and grabs a fistful of hair from the top of my head. She yanks my head forward then slams it back down against the stone floor. Spots burst behind my eyes.
‘Moira,’ I slur. My head is spinning. ‘Stop! This is insane.’ I start to squirm, using every last bit of strength I have to buck wildly beneath her.
My hands reach up and take hold of her wrists, one in each hand.
I attempt to push her off me one more time, but all I can manage is to hold her arms at bay.
‘Let me go,’ she growls between her teeth, then yelps out in pain when I bend her left wrist backward at an unnatural angle, hoping that’ll distract her enough that I can kick her off me.
But suddenly, the door not far from my head slams against the wall as it bursts open. Bright light spills into the tunnel as someone storms in. Moira is ripped off of me and thrown up against the wall by Sebastian.
Sebastian?
She immediately starts to fight against his hold, but it’s fruitless. Even from my position on the ground I can tell the hold he has on her is immovable.
Jed rushes in behind him, followed by Lillian who curses loudly when she stops to bend down and try to help me up. But I can barely lift my own head, let alone get my feet under me.
‘What the fuck were you doing using your element on a fellow student?’ Sebastian bellows.
‘She attacked me!’ I hear the wobble in Moira’s voice, as fictitious as her humility. ‘It was self-defence.’
Liar!
‘She attacked you from the floor? Bullshit,’ he snarls. ‘If you want to play with fire, Davis, all you have to do is ask!’ Flames ignite around his forearms, licking their way down toward his fists where he has hold of her collar.
Her eyes flare wide. She starts to scream; it is piercing and grates at my ears.
‘Shit, Silver.’ Jed crouches down near my head, blocking my view of Sebastian and Moira.
But I see Lillian rush toward them. Jed’s concerned eyes roam over my face.
One of his big hands reaches to push away the hair that’s strewn across my forehead.
Without thinking, I flinch. A flicker of hurt flashes in his eyes for a moment, before he blinks it away.
I’d feel bad but black spots start to darken my vision, causing his face to blur.
‘Jed! Get Davis out of here. Now!’ Lillian orders. ‘Before Seb loses it.’
Jed curses and jumps to his feet. I hear him start to argue with Sebastian. ‘You need to take Nocthare to the infirmary. She won’t let me touch her and if we wait any longer it’ll scar.’
Infirmary?
Scar?
I will my hand to reach up and feel for the wound that’s sending searing pain across my cheek, but between the spotty vision and my fading adrenaline, my arm doesn’t seem able to cooperate. It lays limp at my side, as if it’s boneless.
Whatever else the two men say is muffled and doesn’t quite reach my ears. The next thing I know, Sebastian is crouching beside me.
His warm hands cradle my head; fingers gently prodding around, searching for something in my hair. When he touches a particularly tender spot, a pained groan slips out.
Sebastian’s eyes darken. I’m scooped up from the ground and curled into his chest, which is damp and smells of the oils in the bathing rooms and his familiar smoky, warm scent. I focus on that as my head spins viciously.
The stubborn urge to tell him I can walk myself rises faintly at the back of my mind and as if he can sense what I’m thinking he grits out, ‘Just be quiet and let me help you.’
That gives me pause, because those are the last words I ever expected to hear fall from his lips.
Let me help you.
Maybe I imagined them? I must have hit my head. That’s why I’m bleeding. It’s clearly affecting my hearing.
Yes, that’s the only conclusion that makes sense right now, and I hold onto it as my body gently rocks to each of his measured steps and my vision goes completely black.