Chapter Twenty-Eight
TWENTY-EIGHT
The next week passes slowly and tortuously.
Not being able to train in my CNM classes has made my days feel a lot less fulfilling, but one good thing is Moira’s been taken out of my Sympathetic Magic class and put into another.
Though tomorrow will be the first time I’m allowed back into the Training Centre, which means so will she.
I’ve barely seen Sebastian. He’s stopped by my room to speak with Lillian, whose been sleeping there each night this week, but she comes in late.
So, I don’t get to speak with her much either, other than in the morning when we both wake at the same time.
Jed is also often close by. Usually waiting outside my room, allegedly waiting for Lillian, though I feel sure Sebastian is making him watch me or watch out for me.
Either way I feel like I’ve barely had a moment’s peace.
Xavier and Tilly, naturally, have also been hovering, and between the two of them, I’m always walked to and from classes and the door to my tower.
I can tell they’re worried – this is three attacks now, and I’ve only been here a few weeks.
I also finally told them about Harley and the situation with Lillian sleeping in my room, grateful that I don’t have to mention Sebastian, since he’s been too busy with Nicks to return as my roommate.
Tilly was a little upset that I’d kept the truth from them, but her worry for me outgrew any hurt feelings.
Xavier said he understood why I’d kept it to myself.
I feel like everyone is on edge and I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for something to happen again.
To say I’m dreading seeing Moira at combat class tomorrow is an understatement.
Sebastian swore that I won’t have to train with her again and that she’s been swapped out for one of Lillian’s students.
I’m just reaching that point of boredom where I feel like pulling my hair out, when none other than Tilly opens the door to my room, rushing inside in a hurry and shutting it behind her like there’s a damn fire chasing her.
‘Oh good, you’re still up. Come on, we need to go.
Now! And bring a jacket.’ She’s speaking so fast it’s a miracle I understand her; she flaps her hands at me to hurry just as the dagger of Lillian’s that I found in her bag and have been practising targets with falls loudly to the floor right beside her.
Tilly looks down at her feet, then quirks a questioning brow at me as I quickly rush over and snatch it up then stuff it back into Lillian’s bag.
‘How the heck did you get in my unit? And why are you whisper-yelling at me?’
‘Questions later. Jacket, now. Come onnnn!’ She starts dancing on her feet.
‘Okay, okay.’ I chuckle, walking over to the hook near my bathroom and grabbing the thick navy jacket hanging there.
Tilly opens the door with a crack, peeking her head out first before ushering me through with a wave. Most students are getting tucked up in bed around now, so whatever her plan is has nervous excitement curling in my stomach.
We creep silently down the stairs and make it out of my tower unseen. I half expected Xavier to be waiting for us outside the Agate Unit, but it seems it’s just us tonight. When she leads me outside, I start to get antsy.
‘So, now am I allowed to ask why you’re dragging me outside at this hour?’
Tilly pulls the hood of her deep purple jacket over her head and shoots me a mischievous grin. ‘No. It’s a surprise. But if anyone catches us, we’re dead. So, move that perfect ass of yours and keep up.’
I jog quietly behind her as we pass the building where most of our classes are held and then the Training Centre. It isn’t until we hit the first crop of trees that lead to the forest that Tilly slows to a walk.
‘Keep an eye out,’ she warns.
‘For what?’ I hiss, scanning the dense thicket of tall tree trunks clustered together.
The only light out here spills down from the moon above.
It casts pockets of light on the ground, though not much.
I find myself squinting at the branches, roots and leaves that blanket the grass.
Face planting from tripping over a root is the last thing I need right now. My body has only just recovered.
‘When you see it, you’ll know,’ is all the information she’s willing to give me.
For all the times where Tilly has tended to overshare, this is not the time for her to stop.
But, I trust her, so I follow along quietly as we weave between trees and dodge roots in the dark.
The only sound between us is our breathing and the crunch and crack of leaves and branches snapping beneath our feet.
That is until I hear what sounds like shouting … or, cheering?
‘There!’ Tilly whispers, pointing ahead of us. She reaches for my hand as I squint to see what she’s pointing at, but all I see is darkness.
‘Tilly, I don’t—’
A burst of orange flashes in the distance so quick that for a second, I think I imagined it. But then it happens again. I gasp. ‘What is that?’
Tilly lets out an excited squeal. ‘Let’s go!’ She squeezes my hand and pulls me after her, almost making me trip over my own feet in the process.
The closer we get, the louder the cheering is. Until it’s all I can hear. Flashes of orange burst between tree trunks, and it isn’t until Tilly drops behind a large boulder, pulling me down with her, that we are close enough to see what lies beyond.
My eyes flare as I spot just over a dozen students standing in a clearing.
They’re scattered about, some with their backs to Tilly and me, but there is no doubt in my mind they are all third -years.
Some of them I recognise from my own unit – in fact most of them seem to be from Malachite.
Only a handful do I recognise as Opal. There’s not a single Agate student in sight, from what I can see.
There are lanterns strewn around, some sitting on top of tree stumps, others hanging from branches, filling the clearing with warm flickering light.
Students stand around a large circle carved into the dirt, creating a makeshift fighting ring, and in the middle of it is the reason they’re all cheering and gathered around.
Jed stands bare chested, sweat glistening on his muscular torso, travelling down to the black training pants he wears.
He moves around the ring like a predator.
The smirk I’ve grown familiar with is etched across his face.
He lifts both his hands, making a ‘come here’ motion to the dark-skinned Opal student in the ring with him.
‘Holy shit. Tilly, did you bring me to a secret fight club?’ I ask with my heart hammering.
Shock and adrenaline pump through my veins as I look back to where Jed dodges what looks like an ice pick being thrown at him.
It shatters into pieces as it hits the ground behind him, turning to dozens of wet puddles that seep into the dirt.
I gasp. They’re using their elements on each other!
‘Welcome to the Noctis Ring,’ Tilly says. ‘Or in other words: the Ring of Night.’
‘This is insane! How is this allowed?’
‘It’s been going on for years, it’s basically a tradition at this point.
You remember the girl Tanya I told you about?
’ I nod. Tanya worked with Tilly on her first shift at the infirmary.
‘She’s right over there, the one in the middle.
’ Tilly points toward the far end of the clearing where a trio of third-year girls sit on a thick log with glass bottles dangling from their fingertips.
The one in the middle with hair almost as black as the shadows between the trees, Tanya, brings hers to her lips before fisting her hand in the air and cheering at the two fighters.
‘She accidentally let it slip this morning, and I may have convinced her to tell me about it in exchange for covering for her and letting her go spend the evening with her boyfriend the next time we have night duty.’
‘You’re a sneaky little shit, and I love it.
’ The smile on my face hurts my cheeks, but I can’t help it.
Especially when I look back to find Jed laughing as the Opal student lands a swift kick to his ribs.
Only he would laugh at that. Bloody idiot.
He recovers quickly, returning with his own combination of impeccably fast strikes with his fist, backing his opponent closer and closer to the line of the circle.
When he’s only a mere foot away from stepping out, Jed throws a burst of fire into the guy’s chest, knocking him on his ass and over the line.
Cheers erupt around them. Malachite students jump up and down, taking swigs from their glass bottles as Jed takes a bow.
‘Now that is a man that I wouldn’t mind taking a bite from,’ Tilly whispers beside me.
I gape at her.
‘What?’ She holds back a laugh. ‘Look at him! I’d lick the sweat from those abs like candy.’
‘You did not just say that!’
‘Sorry, I forgot you’re more into the brooding dark-haired types. Oh look, here comes one now.’
‘What are you—’ My words are stolen from me as my gaze falls on my unit leader walking toward the circle with a shit-eating grin on his face.
The crowd’s cheers grow louder, to the point where I don’t understand how we didn’t hear them all the way back at the academy.
They part for him to stride on through, as if he’s their god and they’re his loyal followers.
‘Now we’re talking!’ I hear Jed yell as he smacks his own chest with his fist. ‘Bring it on, Zainey baby!’
Sebastian’s head tips back in a laugh, and the sound cuts through the air like a knife, aiming right for my chest. It’s loud and boyish, carefree in a way that I haven’t witnessed from him in such a long time.
It throws me off balance, literally. I end up having to dig my nails into a crack in the boulder to stop from swaying on my feet where I’m crouched.
I press them in harder for good measure, until it feels like my nails are about to split, just so I can get the picture of his sharp jawline and the veins in his neck out of my head.
Stars, what is wrong with me? I shouldn’t care about the sound of his laugh, or how it’s the first time since I arrived that I’ve seen him look genuinely happy, free from the dark cloud that seems to follow him around everywhere he goes.
He steps into the ring and, in a one-handed move that shoots a pulsing heat right between my thighs, grabs the back of his shirt to tug it over his head then tosses it to the side. Students whistle and cheer.
I tell myself to look away. Look away, right now. But I don’t. Instead, my eyes trail from his pecs to the defined ridges of his abs and all the way to the low-slung pants that hang just beneath the tapered V at his waist. I may hate this man, but there is no denying, he’s nice to look at.
‘Careful, Aria. It looks like you’re drooling over your unit leader.’ Tilly’s teasing tone pulls me from my thoughts like a bucket of ice water being tipped on my head.
I scoff. ‘All right, Miss I’d Lick His Sweat Like Candy.’
She sighs wistfully. ‘I would, I really would.’
A loud gasp from the crowd has both our heads snapping to the ring. Sebastian has Jed on the ground with his hands behind his back. He’s got one knee pushing right between Jed’s shoulder blades as his face is pressed against the dirt.
Damn, that was quick. How did he get him to the ground so fast?
Just as I think Jed is about to tap out, Sebastian leaps off his back, shaking his hands out.
Flames engulf Jed’s hands, right where Sebastian was holding them prisoner.
He flips over easily and leaps to his feet, not giving his friend a second to react before he’s throwing one burst of fire after another at him.
I wince, barely stopping myself from covering my eyes as Sebastian ducks and spins out of the way of the fiery onslaught, occasionally throwing his own back at Jed. They dance around each other, hissing out laughter each time one of them almost loses the hair on their heads to a high arcing flame.
‘Come on, Zain!’ I hear someone shout. ‘Take him down already!’
Cheers rise up, thrown in with a few people backing Jed over Sebastian.
‘You hear that, Zainey? The people want a show.’ Jed winks at his friend. ‘Maybe you’ve lost your touch. Looks to me like you’re going soft.’ He’s goading him, I realise, trying to push him to let loose. That’s when I drag my eyes from the ring and turn my attention to the people outside of it.
They’re all watching with rapt attention; their wide eyes lit by the lanterns are brimming with excitement and anticipation.
Girls are sitting together, pointing between the two fighters with flirty smiles and flushed cheeks.
I watch the way they all watch them, realising that this isn’t a demonstration of power or a fight to prove who is better than the other.
This is purely entertainment. A way for the students of ValAc to unwind, to let go.
To break the rules before they wake up tomorrow and go back to their regular schedules.
This is the last year they’ll have together before they’re forced into the real world.
When they leave the academy, many of them will be separated, some being sent to camps all over Valmora.
Some will even be sent to The Veil where they might not make it out alive.
A sad smile tugs at my mouth. Sympathy. That’s what I feel for them.
And while I may not know the people behind the faces I look out at, and while I know many of them would love nothing more than to seek their revenge out on me …
I still feel sorry for them. Because war is war, and in less than a year, they’ll all be thrust into it.