A nod of approval.
While Tabi knelt on Anees’s other side, Lory and Hadrian pressed into a corner to stay out of the two healers’ way. Guardians, she was exhausted, hollowed out to her bones, and every breath hurt.
You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, fire spitter.
The guard’s words didn’t leave her head, and as she listened to them like an echo of an echo, the image of the man’s blood splattering from his throat blended into them.
He’d slit his own throat, for Eroth’s sake. Rather than risking spilling secrets under torture that Lory could never have delivered, he’d opted to take his own life. What sorts of secrets he’d protected, only the Guardians knew.
In front of her, Anees’s toes moved, followed by a groan and a cough.
“There you go, Phantom Frier,” Nahrit said with the compassion of a grandfather rather than an Ashthorn instructor. “You’ll be fine soon enough. A few days of bed rest—or at least enough time until Thornling Ngala has regained her full powers and can finish the healing process for you,” he amended in a voice much quieter.
He glanced over his shoulder, pinning Lory with a concerned look. “Do I want to know what happened?”
“Probably not.” Lory mustered a half-smile. “But I think you should. We’ll need all the help we can get.”
And with a nod from Tabi and Hadrian, Lory told Princeton Nahrit everything—from what had happened to the Flames in the dungeons to their friend who’d chosen to leave Ashthorn to save a Flame-born refugee. Healready knew everything about Lenya’s attempts at eliminating Lory, but she added Brunn’s warning, and that she had no idea how to protect Maes from Lenya’s attention after Jarek’s disappearance.
Nahrit listened in silence, nodding every now and then, his tan skin wrinkling on his forehead, and the sleeves of his black robes swaying as he ran his fingers through his grizzled hair at the revelation of what the city guards had said about being tipped off.
When Lory was done, he got to his feet, reaching for the doorknob. “I will think on what you’ve told me,” he said. “But rest assured that you’re not alone in this war. You’ll need to watch your backs at every step from now on. Lenya will be even more suspicious once he learns of your friend’s unexplained absence. We won’t inform him of it until later today, though, since after a night-watch, he’s supposed to be resting until noon. No one will notice until he doesn’t show up for the next training. The rest of you will need to lie low for a while.” Before he left, he pointed to the wall on his right. “There’s a washroom down the hall. Clean up and change back into black before you head upstairs. If anyone asks, you came down to see me because you all had a horrible stomachache. I will back up your story. A few other thornlings had stomach issues after eating last night’s meatballs anyway. It will be a credible excuse.” He turned to Tabi. “Thornling Ngala, you know where to find spare clothes.”
He left as fast as he’d shown up, and even though the closet had been overcrowded with him in here before, it now seemed surprisingly empty.
They encounteredno one on their way to the washroom and back, and by the time they made it back to Lory’s and Anees’s room, Ashthorn was already bustling with its daily routine. Once inside, they shut and locked the door; then Tabi and Lory sat on Lory’s bed, and Anees and Hadrian on Anees’s, none of them in the mood or condition to say a word. For long minutes, they stared at nothing, processing what had happened, until Hadrian rolled his shoulders.
“I need to head out to train a group of Thornlings in Gilded soon.” Three nods. “I have no idea if I can make even one elegant move.”
A slight chuckle from Anees. “Put on your real face for once and show them your grumpy side. If you put the fear of the gods in them, perhaps you won’t need to show them a step. The Triad will approve if you use the methods of a drill sergeant rather than a courtier.”
Even Lory had to agree. “Lenya would love that. And so would Ycken, I’m sure.”
“What about Brunn?” Tabi wanted to know. “Does she know our loyalties have shifted?”
Shifted…Perhaps not the right word when Lory’s loyalties had never truly been with Ashthorn or the king.
“Have they?” A careful question from Anees, whose color had returned to her cheeks after drinking some water in the washroom and, of course, the aftereffects of Nahrit’s magic.
All eyes turned on Tabi, who absently twisted a few of her braids together. “My father has been serving the crown for over thirty years, and his father before that. My entire family has for generations.”
Lory’s stomach sank as she exchanged a glance with Anees and Hadrian—one that spoke all too clearly that they’d need to do something about it if Tabi became a liability.
“But”—Lory’s heart skipped a beat—“I can’t stand by and watch the injustice. Not anymore. After what happened to Narica and then Andromeda… After learning how Ashthorn is eliminating potential rebels under the guise of reprimand for lack of punctuality. After seeing what happened to the Flame-born woman. After encountering the city guards tonight—” Tabi leaned back against the wall, pulling her feet onto the bed and wrapping her arms around her knees. “My family has been serving a lie. Something is wrong in this kingdom—something way bigger than a few magic wielders rebelling against the king. Something more than a group of Criu rebels fighting for freedom. I don’t know yet what it is, but I will find out.” The determination on her fierce, umber face might have been the most beautiful thing Lory had ever seen.
“Then we’ll find out together.” She placed her hand on Tabi’s arm, and in that moment, they weren’t alone.
Thirty-Seven
Aiden
The Tearsof the Gods had washed away the blood and grime from Aiden’s clothes. His hair, grown out half an inch since he’d last shorn it, glowed silvery in the moonlight; he’d noticed as he took a look at his reflection in the puddle he’d used to shave, with the knife the Flames had given him, the beard that had formed since he’d left Ashthorn for Lory’s trials.
He still couldn’t believe he’d found a whole community of Flame-born in the mountain caves Falcrest had warned him of so many times. Perhaps because of Hodurac, the grumpy leonthor who’d bitten offheads of rebels and Ashthorn students to protect Lory during her trials, if he was to be believed.
With a glance at the cave mouth behind him, he reassured himself the creature wasn’t lurking, waiting to tear off his head for his questionable past, his blood and heritage, or the magic ofunmakingthat he’d referred to before. Aiden still couldn’t believe he had that sort of power. He didn’t even understand what itmeant, but that didn’t change the bargain he’d made with the leonthor.
At least the Flame-born had welcomed him after their initial skepticism. They’d told him stories of their history over a meal by the fire, had given him a place to sleep in one of the empty alcoves where the Flames slaughtered by the General of the King’s army and the brutal captain who’d killed his own men before, as the leonthor had phrased it, had slept before.
