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“Yes, she did.” Nitsa slipped her hand under mine. “Now she’ll try to ruin yours, because whenever your back is turned, Alexander looks at you. Not her.”
Warmth stained my cheeks for no good reason. “No, he doesn’t— I mean, not in a romantic way. Alexander hates me and the feeling is mutual.
“Eliana and Alexander didn’t have feelings for each other either. I told you how that worked out.”
I sighed, sinking into the pillows. “Probably wasn’t a good idea to taunt her about ‘cheating boyfriends’ and their fixation on me.”
She choked. “You said that? Now I understand why you’re bleeding from the head.”
I almost chuckled, but the thought of it rippled torture through my forehead. “I’ll be smarter from now on. Watch my back around her.”
“Iwill watch your back from now on,” she corrected. “And Tycho. And Theron. And Ionna and Daciana. Sirena is used to everyone skirting her in the halls, keeping their heads down. Sadly for her, we’re not in the imperial palace anymore. They may favor Titans, but a novice is still a novice. With a class fatality rate of forty-seven percent, no one expects us to get out of this place unscathed.”
I studied the deep lines around her eyes, and the hand tightening on mine. “You really hate her, don’t you? Were you and Eliana close?”
“I was close with her brother. He and I...” She ducked her head, flush creeping up her neck. “When she was imprisoned, the entire family was cast from the palace. I haven’t seen Nikolas since.”
“Didn’t he report to the academy?”
If possible, her flush deepened. “No, he... He already did his time in the academy. He was— Heisa bit older than me.”
My brows climbed up my forehead, and it did not feel great. Didn’t stop them. “How much is a bit?”
“Not that much. Just six years.”
“He’s twenty-four.” I cried.
“Shh!” Nitsa flapped her hands—head whipping around, scanning the empty room. “It sounds more scandalous than it was. He was a soldier stationed at the palace. That’s how Eliana got the job. At first, all we did was talk about the books I’d catch him sneaking out of the library.
“He was such a gentleman, he refused to act on the feelings growing between us until I was out of the academy. I was the one who snuck into his room the night of my seventeenth birthday and...” Her blush was in full force. “You know.”
“Uhh, no I do not know. Spill it, young lady. I want every sordid detail.”
Nitsa burst out giggling. It made me feel better just for making her do so. “Surely not every detail.”
“Don’t worry. You can rest safe knowing I won’t have a clue what you’re talking about. My knowledge of sex amounts to the pair of dogs I saw rutting by the pier when I was nine.”
She scoffed. “I don’t believe it. You’re so beautiful it makes my eyes hurt. Men must carve your name on their chests for want of seducing you.”
“They do, as it happens. It’s revolting. Explains why I’m still in maidenhood.”That and the twelve-foot monster that brought lots of things to the cave, but suitors were not among them.
We both cracked up.
“—owl?” Voices came down the hall. “How did such a thing get in here?”
“You’ll have to hear my sordid past some other time.”
Nitsa moved away as Healer Helena bustled in. The woman took one look at me and cringed. “Gods above, child. Be brave just a moment longer. I’ll get something for that right away.”
Maybe it was a good thing no one would let me look.
