He offers me a condescending smile.
I’m grinding my teeth so hard they actually hurt.
But I don’t reply to him. I let him just keep on talking.
“Turns out the thing he needed most was one of the rarest objects in the realm. ALiminal,” he breathes, his eyes wide with excitement. “However, there’s not much information on how a Liminal comes to be. There are rumors of certain black magic that can assist, but that’s heresy and unpredictable. As most dark magic is,” he says with obvious distaste.
I shift my weight and rotate my wrists as discreetly as possible. The side effects of whatever they drugged me with is slowly leaving my limbs. The heavy weight is becoming lighter the longer Eryk drones on.
“How did he find out about me?” I ask, participating merely to keep the conversation going.
He nods once, like he’s impressed with my question. “He knew your father,” he says simply. “He had his own reasons for digging into your father’s past, and imagine his shock when hediscovered his prior lover was a Veil. And not just any Veil, but a very pregnant one.”
He claps his hands in front of him in glee.
I nod like I’m actively invested in his words. “And let me guess—He put two and two together, figured out I was that child, born from impossible odds, and the Liminal he needed?”
“Look, Frederick! She is sharper than a marble,” Eryk says in a delighted tone while looking over at the sulking wraith in the corner.
Frederick is the fucking wraith.
“Okay, so, why am I here with you and not in your friend’s cell?”
“Because he slipped up and mentioned you one night over drinks. How he was coming to the academy under false pretenses, but honestly just needed to collect one thing before he was on his way,” he says, pressing his face back into the bars. “You.”
I tilt my head and keep pushing. “Once again, why am I here and not in his possession? What could you possibly need with me?”
His mouth flattens like my question was dense. “I’m a Porter,” he answers, as if that’s the obvious answer. “Our desires always come first. As soon as my father found out about you through me, he agreed to put in the recommendation for you to be a lieutenant, in hopes you’d take care of the dirty work for us and succumb to the trials.”
I rotate my ankles and dig my fingers into the sand.
“Having so many cadets look to you for leadership always adds a layer of pressure that not many survive. It would save us from getting our hands dirty. Again.”
Again?
“What do you have against Liminals?”
He presses his face further into the bars, his cheeks appearing squished. “They can be our undoing,” he whispers, his eyes looking completely unhinged.
I move my fingers through the sand, never taking my eyes off him. “And the wraiths? How do they fit into all of this?”
“You mean our personal army? Honestly, I’m surprised your mother never joined their ranks.”
I sit forward, my fists now curling in my lap.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I ask, sweat beading over my lip.
He leans forward and lowers his voice, as if sharing a delicious secret. “They’reVeils, Norissa.”
The blood drains from my face.
I blink hard.
Once. Twice. Three times.
I shake my head in refusal.
“No,” I deny.
