Page 31 of The Fifth Heir

The bathing room was larger than the kitchen and divided into five recessed alcoves. Each contained a deep stone tub, a washstand, and a curtain that could be drawn across the opening.

Rafe tugged on one curtain. “At least the architects believed in some privacy.”

“Some?” I asked.

“The beds are in the same room.”

“You may sleep in the corridor.”

The wall runes turned gold.

I pretended not to notice.

Five wardrobes occupied a dressing room between the bathing chamber and the beds. Four were made from woods matching the men’s elemental colors. The fifth had clear crystal panels resembling the frame of my bed.

Torren opened the red wardrobe.

It contained a full set of clothing in his size: training trousers, shirts, formal uniforms, boots, and a heavy dark coat. He removed one shirt and held it across his chest.

“This wasn’t placed here today.”

“No one knew this room existed today,” Sebastian said.

“Then how does it fit him?” I asked.

Torren checked the stitching inside the collar. “There’s no marked size.”

Rafe opened his wardrobe and found silver-gray clothing cut to his measurements. Sebastian’s held black and deep violet. Leander’s contained dark blue, white, and silver.

I approached the crystal wardrobe.

My reflection appeared faintly in its transparent doors. My brown hair had loosened around my face during the ceremony, and a crease crossed one side of my gray robe where Camilla had held me. Without the keeper’s badge, I might have looked like someone who had wandered into the wrong part of the academy.

I opened the wardrobe.

The first garment was a dark gray training uniform with clear thread embroidered along the collar and cuffs. Behind it hung white shirts, black trousers, a formal coat, and several soft robes. None carried an elemental color.

A pair of boots rested on the lowest shelf.

I picked one up and checked the sole. “These cannot be mine.”

“Try it,” Rafe said.

“I’m not removing my shoe in front of four strangers.”

“We share a sleeping chamber.”

“That doesn’t make you less strange.”

He leaned against his silver wardrobe. “We can introduce ourselves again if it helps.”

“I know who you are.”

“That sounded almost threatening.”

“It was meant to be efficient.”

The walls warmed to gold again.