“I’m sure she’ll come around. What about yours?” I asked Lana.
Lana took a sip of her orange juice and opened her mouth to respond, but a tiny shape whizzed above her head, dropping toland before her plate. He was pure sunlight. Where Calendula was shadow and night, yolky light leaked from the sprite before me. He had a handsome face, his features sharp and pointed, his eyes a familiar gold. He wore a suit, the starched white shirt beneath his coat crisply pressed.
“This is Osmanthius,” Lana introduced.
Osmanthius gave a deep bow. “At your service.”
I blinked, but there was no animosity in Osmanthius’ eyes as he straightened. Was it just my sprite that hated my guts?
“Where’s yours?” Lana asked, her eyes tracking Osmanthius’ movements as he picked his way around her plate, inspecting the food on the table. He tugged at a piece of leftover toast, breaking off a breadcrumb and popping it into his mouth.
“I think I pissed her off,” I grumbled.
Anama winced. “Bad move. Aside from being extremely lethargic, sprites hold grudges for lifetimes.”
“Speak for the others, butI’mnot lethargic,” Osmanthius protested, his golden wings ruffling even as he yawned.
“Of course,” Anama hastened to assure him. Turning to me, she said, “You should give her a peace offering.”
“A peace offering? Like what?”
She shrugged. “Find out her favorite food. You’re going to need her for the rest of the Trials.”
I opened my mouth to ask her how I was supposed to find out Calendula’s favorite food when she had stalked off to the shadows, when the same trilling that had awoken me this morning echoed through the room. The plates, food, cutlery and condiments disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“I was still eating that,” Moric griped.
The elven who had been steadfastly ignoring us now stood, filing out of the mess hall in an orderly line. As they exited, a smaller group entered through the double doors to the right, led by Kilian Valhan.
He donned his usual armor, daggers glinting at his sides, jaw set in the same grim expression he seemed to wear each time I saw him. His dark hair was ruffled, soft curls spilling over his forehead like ink across parchment.
“Welcome to your first day in Valhan House,” Kilian said as he reached our table, but there was no warmth in his voice.“Assignments will be called out. Once you’ve been allocated an instructor, please join them in the center, where you will take the sacred oath.” He offered no further explanation before pulling out a roll of parchment.
“Rola Doul,” Kilian read from the sheet.
A woman from the first quartet nervously stood.
“You’ll be paired with Palisa.”
A stunning dark-skinned, silver-haired elven branched off from the elven group to meet Rola in the center of the room. Palisa whispered something inaudible to the mortal woman and they joined hands. And then it was done. I watched as the pair exited the room without a backward glance.
“Is that it?” Lana whispered. “Seems a bit anticlimactic.”
The assignments carried on like that for the next few minutes. Moric was called up, disturbing his sprite, much to her annoyance, and paired with an elven male with forest green eyes. Anama’s instructor was a willowy elven female with sun kissed skin and silky copper hair that ran down her back. She was easily the most beautiful female I had ever seen in my life.
“Rayna Forlun,” Kilian drawled in that bored voice that told me he had done this for far too many decades. “You’re with Echon.”
My heart shriveled in my chest as Scar Face – Echon – stepped to the center. I didn’t particularly like Rayna, but I wouldn’t wish that elven on my worst enemy.
Rayna seemed smaller, younger, beside Echon, his signature cruel smirk etched across his lips as they took the oath and he led her out the mess hall. I swallowed the hard lump in my throat and blinked against the hot tears pressing at the corners of my eyes as the memory of what he had done to Umma resurfaced.
I will not cry. Not in front of them.
Lana’s name was called next, and it distracted me enough for the fog of sorrow to clear momentarily. It did not come as much of a surprise when Lana was paired with Septimus. His golden eyes, so similar to Osmanthius’, skimmed the length of Lana’s body as she stood from her seat and made her way to the center. I knew that look on his face, the appreciation that gleamed in his eyes.
He murmured something to her, his lips nearly brushing her ear as he leaned down, and then she nodded. Their hands joined and it was done. Lana turned, giving me a watery smile as she was led out the door.
And then it was just Kilian and I. Alone. My heart gave a nervous contraction, all of yesterday’s adrenaline-fueled bravado vanished.
