10. Annalise
Chapter ten
Annalise
“Tyr, can you hum or something while you hunt?”
“Excuse me?”
“Until Matt gets here, I'm out of homework to do to distract me. My phone is dead, so I can't ask him to hurry up, I have no idea how to work this stupid music system Korr has, and I’m about three minutes away from admitting myself into a mental hospital to get a break from this obnoxious silence.”
A strange, uneven grumble flows down the bond, and I immediately regret ever asking him to do that.
“If you think that was bad, you should have heard the horde's thoughts when they heard it down the horde bond, too.”
I snort, envisioning the flickers of confusion and horror they fought to conceal, unwilling to risk the wrath of the moody departing alpha.
“Did the fact that I’m a dragon who, shockingly, does not listen to music, escape you?” Tyr teases, feeling my amusement, but not knowing what caused it.
“One hundred percent my bad,” I laugh.
“It is. Now read one of your books or something, Little Faren. You have to be ready for your tests next week since you've pushed so hard to go back.”
“I hate when you’re right.”
“Really? I thought you’d be used to it by now.”
Rolling my eyes, I send a teasing middle finger down the bond before mentally ending the conversation between us.
The quiet's easier to sink into now that I have a purpose.
I should be working through the worksheets on border villages, studying the photos from recent attacks, and memorizing damage patterns before the test Major Calderon is requiring Korr to proctor in two days.
Instead, those papers sit untouched on the coffee table as I curl into the corner of Hunter's oversized couch, my legs tucked beneath me and a blanket draped across my lap more out of habit than necessity.
Quickly, I lose myself in one of the history books Matt brought over.
Page after page pulls me deeper into the past, each account more captivating than the last. Forgotten Kings rise and fall beneath my fingertips.
Alliances are forged, broken, and reforged by political marriages.
Wars are won by strategy as often as steel.
Hours seem to slip away unnoticed as I absorb every word, hungry for answers I hadn't even realized I was searching for.
A low click pulls my attention toward the front door.
It's too early for Matt to be here for lunch, and Korr won’t be home for at least another hour.
A terrifying realization hits me all at once:
I should be asleep right now.
This is the same time I’ve been sleeping every day thanks to my meds kicking in like clockwork—my body demanding more rest than I want to give it.
Which means someone could have been watching me. Learning my patterns. Waiting.
That thought flickers through my mind right as a creak echoes into the living room—
The sound is faint, easily dismissible as a natural house settling noise if I hadn’t heard the front door—if I hadn’t memorized every floorboard groan, committing each one to memory for a moment exactly like this.
Whoever it is doesn't know that I decided to stop taking the pills so that my mind wouldn't feel so foggy, which gives me an advantage I'm sure I'll need.
Slowly, carefully, I lower the book into my lap. My breathing stays even, measured, but every muscle in my body tightens beneath the blanket.
Bile creeps up my throat, and I know in my gut that I’m not alone.
My gaze flicks toward the hallway at the same time as I soundlessly slink off the couch, bare feet carrying me toward the kitchen in practiced silence. Every step is placed with deliberate precision, avoiding the boards I know will betray me.
I’ve practiced for this very thing every day after Korr has left, since the day I woke up.
At the counter, my hand closes around the handle of a knife, the weight of it is grounding and familiar. I don’t miss the irony that this is exactly how I got to Scion, but this time, I won’t miss.
Silently, I rush back into the living room—but not to my spot in the chair. Instead, I angle myself in the shadowed blind spot that my would-be attacker will have to walk past to get to my room.
I settle into position, knees slightly bent, knife held close to my healing thigh, as I mentally prepare myself to fight someone for the first time in the last month.
Whoever is here moves again, and another board complains beneath their weight.
They pause, as realization strikes: they don’t know the house.
They don’t know which boards to avoid or which ones will give them away, which means they haven’t been inside before. Or—not enough to learn it.
My eyes narrow, tracking the faint shift of shadow spilling into the room.
I wait—
For them to take one more step.
Into the light. Into my line. Into my reach.
And as they do, I pounce.
The knife is pressed tightly into their throat, my left hand pulling their hooded head back to give me full exposure to their artery.
Their hands shoot into the air in submission, but I’m not that gullible.
“Who the fuck are you and why are you sneaking in here?”
“Can you loosen that a bit?” a scratchy but familiar female voice asks.
“Oh shit. Sorry, ma’am.”
I drop the knife to my side as Captain Lin turns toward me, her hands still in the air, her movements still slow.
“Impressive,” she admits, a smile on her face as a trickle of blood slips down her throat.
“Captain, I’m so sorry. I didn’t—”
“No. This is on me. Korr said you usually sleep at this time, so I planned to drop something by for you to find when you woke up. I guess he got his times wrong.”
How does he know when I sleep? He’s always at class when I take a nap, and I’m back up and moving before he gets home.
“He didn’t, I am. Well, I used to be. I stopped taking those medications today, so I didn’t get the usual drowsiness.”
“All of your meds?” she asks, brows raised in confusion since every one of my instructors was given a generalized copy of my healing plan when they were asked to put together my out-of-class lesson plans.
“All but my antibiotic.”
“From what I hear, those were prescribed by some of the best healers in the Kingdom. So…why are you going against their medical advice?” Her voice isn’t harsh, just…curious.
“I’ve never liked taking medicine, and addiction runs in my family, ma’am. I took them as long as I needed to, but now I’m ready to get back into my routine so I can get back to classes.”
The edge of her lips lift, and I can feel her pride from here.
“Guess I got here at the right time then, because I brought you something—” she lowers, pulling a standard-issue pistol from her ankle strap and handing it to me.
“I was worried you might get bored—or rusty— with all this downtime. Glad to see I was wrong,” she says, her hand now carelessly rubbing the drying blood from her throat.
The weight of the gun in my hand feels natural, the years of shooting back in South Hollow and the months of doing it here in Vanguard and Ghost Walking making me feel like an appendage I didn’t know was missing has finally been returned.
I pop out the full magazine and rack the slide back, a single bullet already in place.
“Thank you,” I say, a grin breaking across my face like a kid on Solstice morning.
“You’ll also be needing these—” she says, pulling four neon-orange pucks from her hoodie pocket. “Set them up in a rectangle around where you want to be target shooting. They will keep the noise contained so you don’t raise any suspicion.
“Hunter, I mean, Captain Korr has assured me he has plenty of ammo and targets for you, but if you need more, tell Reyes, and I’ll give him more during class.”
A flicker of irritation stirs in my chest at the way she says his name. Who hasn't he flirted with behind his girlfriend's back? Judging by the quick correction, I doubt Lin even knows she exists.
“I will, thank you.”
She gives a slight nod before turning to leave. I watch as she crosses the room with effortless grace, already avoiding the creaking floorboards that had alerted me to her presence minutes ago.
Her hand wraps around the handle, but she pauses before pulling it open.
“No matter what happened, it wasn’t your fault; I hope you know that. You aren’t alone in what you went through…” her voice trails off, and I fight for what to say in response.
Before words find me, she continues, her voice rough and shaky in a way I’ve never heard, “Don't let what they did become the cage you live in. I made that mistake for far too long, and I nearly lost myself because of it.”
She takes a deep breath and straightens her shoulders.
Even with her back to me, I can hear the smile in her voice when she speaks again.
“They took a moment, Annalise. Not your future.
So burn so fucking bright they'll never get close enough to touch you again…
Well, I guess that's more so no one else can.”
For a moment, confusion leaves me speechless. Then a small smile tugs at my lips, and I'm wiping away tears I hadn't even realized were falling.
The door is almost shut behind her before I shout, “Thank you…again!”