Those two objectives might easily overlap, but they are my goals. Then I can work on escaping and getting back to Kirrasia.
Back to Ten.
Ten.
My mind conjures a picture of him in my head—the first time we met, as I stormed past him in the Great Hall. The images shift into the time we watched the stars, the waterfall, training… so many small pieces of time since that first moment, all building, growing like the sands collecting in an hourglass, running down the seconds until I fell. Untilhefell.
Thinking of him brings a heat to my body, like the memory is a living thing under my skin, beating inside my chest. And for the longest second, I could be tricked into thinking he was here. With me. The essence of him feels… stronger.
“What’s got you looking like that?”
“None of your business. I thought you said we’d have food?” I cross my arms, wrenched from my reprieve.
He pauses as if making a decision. “Come on.” He leads us away, past the area where we sat and spoke with the Usher. A path emerges, worn and trodden, until a couple of trees grow so close together, their limbs intertwine, forming a canopy of sorts over canvas swathes, draped together in a tented area, a small fire smouldering outside, the faint smoky scent hovering around as if it’s too lazy to leave on the breeze.
There’s a table and supplies undercover beyond the fire, but Fenix pulls back one of the falls of fabric, offering me a look farther inside his tent. My curiosity piques, and I step forward.
A woven rug and animal skins litter the floor before I see a wooden cot and a mattress in the corner. A small cast-iron burner sits in the middle with a tall chimney leading outside, and forms the centrepiece of the space, even when not lit.
It’s rustic. Modest. And makes me wonder how long he’s been here. If this is what he describes as home—living on his own in here.
A table opposite the bed has parchments and books, and a jug and cups. None of what I saw on the ship. That made me think of him as a Captain. Here…
Fenix picks up the jug and cups and then turns me towards the exit and the log that serves as a bench near the fire.
He pours a cup and offers it to me.
“Thank you.” I take it and sit down. He fetches food and offers me a plate of bread, an apple, and slices of cold meat from his supplies.
We both eat in an awkward silence. The snipes and comments are on pause for a moment, at least.
He wants me to ask questions—questions that will bind us as sibling—so I ask the biggest one first. “Do you know where they are? Our parents?” I take a bite of the meat and rush the rest ofthe food while Fenix picks at his morsels and takes his time to answer.
“Yes.”
My eyes close at the word, and relief floods me. I keep chewing and think over all the questions I want to rush ahead with now that I know this. But I swallow them down with my bread and think about my objective.
“Are you a Fifth? Like me?” I don’t look at Fenix and keep eating.
“I don’t know. I haven’t had a Transference ceremony. That’s what they call it, right? I might have been born Kirrian, but it’s the Usher and Novandia who have ensured my power. Nothing more.”
“But you said our parents are Fifths,” I check. “Did Kalan tell you that?”
“Yes.”
It hurts to think about all the times he came to visit Lyle. All the times he came into our house and he could have told me, yet he didn’t. Why did he share with Fenix and not me?
“We’ve had very different upbringings.” He sniggers and rubs his chin. “If your little attempts so far are anything to go by, you are lacking in any guidance as to how to use your gift. You should be a match for me by now, but you’re like a child. Will you let the Usher train you? Workwithus?”
He might have shared a few details with me, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to work with them. “No.” I hold fast.
Fenix goes silent, and I can sense the glare he’s offering me. “And here I was thinking we were finally getting along.”
“We’ve had one pleasant conversation, where you chose to tell me the truth. I’m not going to just do whatever you demand.” I put my now-empty plate on the ground and turn towards him.
“Final answer?” He’s back to threats already.
“You can’t make me. I’ve told you this already.”
