Panic grips tight, squeezing my heart until it feels like it’s going to burst. It’s that voice, the same one I heard while I was trapped in the silver, the one that spoke to me from the faces of strangers on the road to the Tower.
I thought I had left that voice behind out east, and it’s jarring to be proven so wrong.
I surge back to scramble out of the pool, sloshing a wave of water over the floor. Yet when my eyes snap back to the water, the shadow is gone.
I blink hard, trying to will myself awake, and it’s an uncomfortable feeling to realize Iamawake. I pinch myself just to make sure, but the shock of pain isn’t comforting. I fall to sit on the wet stone, my heart racing as my eyes chase every rippling shadow in the baths.
But I’m alone. I’vebeenalone.
It strikes me all at once that... maybe I shouldn’t be.
Dread has tied my gut in a knot, and I silently snatch my clothes up. I drenched them in my hurry to get out of the pool, but I don’t care as I throw them back on and scurry out of the baths like something is chasing me.
I’m dancing on the edge of a full panic attack, and I don’t know what else to do but head to Olbric’s casting room at the base of the evocation tower. The door is closed, and I hesitate for only a second before I lift a shaking hand and gently knock.
There’s muttering behind it, and my stomach drops even further when I realize that him and Cancassi must be right in the middle of something. When the door finally opens, Olbric’s hair is down and mussed, a robe clutched around his shoulders. Yet the second he sees me, concern replaces his annoyance.
“Dom? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you with Arlon?”
I open my mouth to speak, but the words die in my throat. What can I tell him? That I got spooked by shadows in the baths? That it feels like I’m losing my godsdamned mind? Tears well to my eyes as the weight of all I haven’t said suddenly feels like it’s crushing me.
“Arlon dismissed me early,” I choke out. “I-I’m sorry, I just... don’t want to be alone tonight.”
Olbric tsks before his arms surround me. I bury my face against his neck as I let out a shuddering breath. He strokes my back, and my pulse slowly starts to return to normal. Yet as I look over his shoulder, I meet Cancassi’s concerned face as they watch us.
I swear quietly, and Olbric releases me as I pull back. “I’m sorry,” I say again, wiping my eyes.
“There’s no need to apologize,” Cancassi says gently. “We were just about to take a break for dinner.”
I nod, but I can’t quite meet their eye. Something... changed between the two of them while I was gone. Now that I’m back,Olbric’s been giving me a lot of his time, and it’s impossible not to feel like I’m intruding on the one night Cancassi and him have together.
Another source of guilt to add on top of my growing pile.
I wait awkwardly by the door as they both get dressed before we head to dinner as a small group. It’s nearing the end of dinnertime, so the mess hall is relatively quiet as we take a seat at one of the tables with a bowl of pottage.
“Why did Arlon release you early?” Olbric asks.
I poke at my bowl, my appetite nonexistent. “Some important missive came in that he had to deal with. I’m not sure what it was.”
Silence follows that statement, but the unease that settles over the table is familiar. The feeling has hung around the Crux ever since the Tower fell.
Cancassi tsks. “Did he at least give you relief after that sending spell?”
I don’t want to mention that I failed to do my part there, too. I force a smile and say, “‘Course he did. He wouldn’t leave me like that.”
“Hmm, lucky you had such a responsible key holder,” Cancassi says slyly. “Olbric made me choke on him before he freed me.”
I can’t stop a quiet huff of a laugh. “That’s rude.”
Olbric’s grin is full of fire. “I had to muffle themsomehow. All that wanton begging gets old after a while.”
“Ass!” Cancassi laughs, but I smile as I listen to their bickering. Their good mood helps raise my own, and by the time we’re done with dinner, I can almost forget about the baths.
That is, until Olbric asks, “Do you want to sleep inmy room tonight?”
All the reasons why I don’t want to be alone come flooding back, yet it feels like there’s no winning. If I say yes, I’m bound to ruin Olbric’s sleep with my own restlessness. I’m about to say as much, but Olbric seems to read my mind.
“You know, Cass was going to keep me up all night anyway,” he says.
