Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
Lory
There was no party for the ashlings, but Tabi and Thal greeted her with a bottle of spiced wine when she arrived at her bedroom.
Anees was still out on the training parcours with Hadrian, the two of them working things out by jumping over obstacles rather than between the sheets, the way Lory had expected they’d do.
That left the bedroom a safe space to talk about everything she didn’t want the two phantoms knowing about, and with the Triad still busy assigning hands and phantoms to individual students, Lenya was bound to not have his attention anywhere near Lory for once.
It was a lightheaded sensation, a moment suspended in time, before the Triad would speak their verdict about her interference with Jarek’s fate, and her next mission, and Lory swore to herself to make the most of it while she could.
Cross-legged on Lory’s bed, Tabi was nursing her wine, chatting with Thal about the exciting combat moves they’d used to get out of the final part of the parcours, where Hand Sil had waited with a group of tested to check their fighting skills.
“The Knowledge test was nothing in comparison,” Thal groaned, rubbing his sore shoulder. One of the older students had landed a pretty hard blow with a not-so-dull blade, and Tabi kept repeating that he was lucky to be alive.
“If I never have to take another Knowledge test, that will be soon enough,” Lory agreed. “However, my interest in Brestolyan history has exponentially grown since the most recent execution.”
Tabi looked up from her glass, swirling the crimson contents with a slightly uncoordinated movement of her hand. Guardians, how much of that wine had they had before Lory arrived?
A sideways glance at the three bottles on the nightstand confirmed that one of them was already empty, and a second one almost.
“You mean Andromeda?” Tabi prompted.
Lory didn’t need to confirm; Thal was already jumping right into the topic. “I mean, what’s up with the breakfast kills? Ever since Narica’s verbal pamphlet, it seems the deaths are particularly well chosen. And by well chosen, I mean purely intentional.”
A slightly drunk giggle came out of Tabi. “You can’t say that out loud, or you’ll be next, Thal. You heard Ycken: Don’t repeat what Narica said.”
Thal emphatically shook his head, picking up the bottle from the nightstand and draining the rest of it before handing it to Lory, who merely placed it on the floor beside the bed and pulled her legs to her chin, where she sat next to Tabi.
“I never repeated what she said, just questioned whether the most recent executions have been more than just punishment for tardiness.” Thal wiggled a finger at Tabi as she opened her mouth to stop him.
“Let me finish, master of the flesh.” Pointedly ignoring Lory’s inquisitive glance, he rolled on, “I wonder how many of the ashlings executed this year shared Narica’s opinions. ”
In her chest, Lory’s heart was beating double-time. They couldn’t possibly know the truth, unless—
“Have you talked to Maes about it? She knew both Narica and Andromeda.”
“Of course not,” Thal objected. “We don’t want to be found guilty by association.”
Staring at her almost empty glass, Tabi nodded, though her features twisted into a sad mask. “All my life, I’ve thought Ashthorn was an honorable place. You know, cruel but fair. Harsh but advancing. A place where I could make a name for myself, like my father.”
“It’s still the king’s favorite part of the military we’re training for,” Thal offered, but Tabi shook her head even harder, pouting her lower lip like a little girl.
Her words were slurred as she told him, “This place isn’t honorable or reputable. It’s secretive for a reason, and that has little to do with the fact that Ulder pretends to hate magic wielders. Something more is going on here.”
They couldn’t find out the truth about the rebels and sympathizers being executed, or they’d be at risk of getting eliminated just like Narica and Andromeda.
Perhaps no longer at breakfast, but Lory was certain the Triad had ways of getting people killed in different ways that no one would ever get suspicious of.
She nudged her friend with her elbow, making the woman almost spill the rest of her wine on Lory’s bed. “You’re drunk, Tabi.”
“No.” Tabi held up one finger. “I’m seeing the world clearly for the first time in months. We are at the heart of a conspiracy.”
No-no-no.
“Maybe Narica didn’t like her training at Ashthorn and decided to call our exceptional program a lie,” Thal offered before Lory could jump in. “You know—” He hiccupped so loudly Lory and Tabi both broke out in a giggle.
“Not funny,” Thal complained with another hiccup, clutching his stomach with one hand and flapping the other over his mouth. “Not funny.” His words came out muffled this time, but he couldn’t stop hiccupping.
Tabi was now lying on her side, laughing, her wineglass slipping from her hand. In the last second, Lory caught it and placed it on the nightstand beside the second bottle, while Tabi sighed a laugh.
“We no longer need to worry about breakfast executions,” she said with a blissful smile.
“No more getting up an hour before the bell, just in case we’ll miss the first ring.
No more rushing through the hallways. No more fearing the mess hall doors.
No more…” A soft snore replaced the rest of her sentence, and Thal giggled with a hiccup.
“Heehee, I’ve never seen her drunk.”
“You’re drunk yourself, Thal,” Lory pointed out as Thal swayed, sitting up.
Thal gave her a childlike glance. “No, you’re drunk.”
Lory stifled a chuckle, getting to her feet and pulling Tabi’s boots off her feet, which were dangling off the side of the bed, and lifting her feet back onto the mattress before draping the covers over her sleeping form.
When she turned around to tell Thal to go back to his room and sleep it off, Thal lay curled up at the foot end of her bed, folded hands tucked under his cheek, and black curls dangling onto his brow.
An innocent smile lifted the corner of his mouth.
“I love you, Ariel.” He murmured to himself, eyes already closed.
“Who’s Ariel?” Lory had heard that name before, but she couldn’t quite remember where.
Slow, deep breathing was all she got from Thal, the young man already deep in his dreams.
With a smile of her own, she tiptoed to the dresser, pulled a blanket from the drawer, and draped it over Thal’s huddled form. Then she picked up the full bottle and headed for the door.
“Khayrivven?” She didn’t expect him to hear her. After all, he was probably still meeting with leadership about the new schedules and assigned tutors, but it was worth a try. “Can you hear me?”
Not a single word echoed in her mind.
Maybe he could hear her but not respond the same way.
Bottle in hand, Lory made her way down the empty hallway, along the corridor, and down the stairs, eyes on the shadowy corners out of habit more than out of fear.
In her veins, her fire magic always paid attention, listening like a creature of its own for danger.
This was the one day she didn’t even know she’d been waiting for.
A giddy sort of energy seemed to fill the air whenever students crossed the hallways, slipping from room to room, some of them with bottles, like her, others in pairs, looking for privacy as they celebrated their graduation from ashling rank, and for a moment, Lory hoped that things would be all right if she believed it hard enough.
“Khayrivven Falcrest, where are you?” She tried again, her mental voice shaking as she used his full name.
In all this time, since she’d come to Ashthorn Ward, Lory had only once been to Khayrivven’s room, and when she made her way through the pyramid, she was only half surprised when her feet carried her right back to the level where Anees’s room was located—past all the other doors lining the torch-lit limestone hallway.
Lory hadn’t given the blackened door at the end of the hallway much thought since she’d moved to Anees’s room, but she remembered very well who lived in the two-room suite behind it.
A gentle knock was all she allowed herself, anxious she would alert people to her presence in front of his door, but a glance over her shoulder confirmed she was alone.
Since this was the part of the building dedicated to the accommodation of hands and phantoms, Lory at least didn’t need to fear encountering many other students up there.
In her head, Lory counted down from twenty, giving Khayrivven enough time to answer the door if he was there, but nothing seemed to move behind the wood.
When she reached three, she suppressed the anxiety rising in her stomach—an anxiety, she told herself, had nothing to do with his absence but, in reality, had everything to do with it.
Two.
Lory took a casual step back from the door, calming her thundering heart. It was all right. They weren’t supposed to be seen together anyway. Visiting his room was reckless, foolish. And he’d certainly turn her away, even if it was purely to keep up the facade crafted for the rest of the world.
One.
Lory inhaled a steadying breath, savoring the hint of sage lingering in the air like a taunt.
She was about to turn around when Khayrivven’s voice sounded close to her ear. “I should scold you for showing up at my door like this, but all I really want to do is invite you inside and fuck you until you scream my name.”
The fight-or-flight tension building in Lory’s body instantly melted into scorching heat, her pulse picking up and her need pooling in her core.
“Just open the Guardians-damned door, Khayrivven,” she whispered with a glance past his shoulder, into the empty hallway, not trusting her voice.
Khayrivven reached past her, skimming her side with his fingers as he placed his palm on the doorknob, and Lory held so still, inhaling his scent was the only movement she allowed herself.