Page 100 of The Heart Trials

“It’s true.”

“I know. Just doesn’t feel that way.”

I let the silence linger a moment again, hoping it gives him room to breathe. “That was nice of your mother to bring that here, and of Ronan’s friend to draw it.” I start again toward my room farther down the hall.

He smiles after me, slow and a little crooked. “You’re alright for a Saltblood. I’ve seen how you are compared to the others.”

“You’ve been watching us?” I ask, half teasing.

“I’m quiet. All the quiet ones are watchers.” He tucks his hands casually into his pockets. He’s easy to talk to. His hair is tidied, and he rests back against the wall more at ease than I’ve ever seen him.

“You seem different or something,” I say.

He shrugs. “I feel different.” He scrubs a palm behind his head, sheepish. “Eh, I’ve always been better with one-on-one, I guess. I get tripped up with my words when people look at me or talk to me usually. But after Finn, I just…seeing that monster come out of me broke something I can’t fix. And it’s hard to feel much these days. Even nerves. Except with Lira. She started coming around after Finn, you know, telling me things about myself. And I guess I’m trying to believe her.”

“What kinds of things?” I ask.

As I head down the hall, he follows me. “That nobody sees me as competition, so that makes me more safe,” he says. “That I am a good listener and that’s a good thing. She says I should talk more because the longer I do, the more the nerves go away. She says I need to start using what I know about people from watching them to get ahead. She thinks I’m being too nice, minding my business.”

Lira is right about a lot of it. And yet, she could still be planning to betray him for the alliance. But I swallow the truth. Lira’s made him more comfortable in his own skin. He deserves that. We all deserve that.

“We could win this, I think,” he says as we pass a door that’s slightly ajar. “Everybody thinks it’s going to be Dorian and Mae. But I don’t know. I love that girl. I love who she makes me feel like I could be.”

My heart turns in my chest. “Orrick…”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful.”

Harsh voices spill out from the propped door into the corridor. Kade’s is sharp and mocking, Rhythe’s is low and cold. Orrick and I share bewildered looks. I press my ear to the frame, listening. Orrick does too.

“I told you to behave yourself,” Rhythe chides. “You need to be focused, not underneath some Skyborn’s skirts.”

“I’ve done everything you asked,” Kade fires back. “Keep my Mercyenforcer buddy in my pocket, keep an eye on Axira.”

Goose bumps race up my spine. Rhythe asked Kade to spy on me? Orrick’s brows draw up, and I can feel the question he’s holding in—did you know? I shake my head.

“I’ve kept all your secrets! You said to get rid of the contestants.” Kade exhales. “All of it, I’m doing it.”

“Dorian’s still here,” Rhythe says flatly.

“I followed the plan at the tea shop. Axira screwed that up. It’d be easier if I went after Mae.”

“Mae is not physically strong,” Rhythe goes on. “She’ll crumble in the third trial without Dorian next to her. If you get rid of him, you get rid of both of them. He’s the efficient choice. But you haven’t even done that. I told you who I want gone before the final trial.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, still raw from before. They’ve been planning this. Calculating who lives, who breaks.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kade says. “I’m doing the best I can, alright? Did you even make up your mind about the prince’s girl? I don’t see how you haven’t slit her throat yourself.”

“Don’t call her that. And leave Axira. I’ll deal with her myself.”

My breath catches. What does that mean?

“And the prince?”

“As if you even could,” Rhythe snaps.

“Insult me again—”