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Pedra made a disagreeable noise in the back of her throat. “They’re all someone’s friend, Honor.”
I stared down at the masses below. They were terrifying, the way they surged as one, the way they slept motionless across the rocky floor, waiting to be summoned by their king or driven by their hunger. But they also deserved life and healing. All of them.
“Look after them for me,” I said. “Until I come back with a cure.”
She let out another bitter laugh. She didn’t believe I’d come back or cure them. I didn’t waste time trying to convince her.
I stepped into the shadows.
When I arrived back in Rylow, it was midnight. I raised my hood and walked through the dark streets toward the academy. The city was always quiet at this time of night, and my footsteps seemed to ring out against the cobblestone. The clouds were shifting quickly across the moon, which hung low and full behind the spires of the academy.
I had almost always been miserable there—tired, aching, embarrassed, humiliated, bloodied—both as a maid and as a student. And yet now that I couldn’t go back, I missed it.
I could have shadow traveled deeper inside, but I wanted to see the academy. As I climbed the stairs, I couldn’t help replaying how Tal and I had walked up these steps together. He’d grinned down at me, his eyes bright, and I had been helpless to resist smiling at his sarcasm.
I braced myself as I pushed open the doors and entered the lobby, but it was empty now. When I was a maid, rushing inside in the morning, it had thronged with students, all taller and stronger than me; I had felt small and stupid here too often.
To either side stretched the hallways leading to the ballroom and the library. I climbed the stairs past the classrooms, past the shifters’ dorms, and up to the dragons’ wing. My fingers pressed the cool wooden face of the dragon carved into the doors.
How had this place come to feel like home?
The dragons’ hall was soulless without them here. I knew Branok and Lynx had gone already even before I walked inside. It didn’t feel right without them.
“Where are you?” I whispered, but no one answered.
I closed my eyes, thinking of him. His pride on the ship, the uncertainty that came into his gaze when I cared for his wounded hand.“Everything I do, I do for you, princess.”The way he swaggered while other girls looked at him longingly, and the jaded arrogance that was a guise distracting everyone from quick eyes that took in everything and the even quicker mind. He was arrogant and impossible, selfless and brave. The cool wood seemed to warm under my fingertips.
In my mind, I saw a campfire, and three tents clustered around it. Winter winds howled around the tent, and Branok sat in front of the fire, standing watch. He was playing with a deck of cards, his fingers quick and dexterous.
Lynx must be in one of those tents. Who was in the third? And what were my men hunting?
I closed my eyes and faded into the shadows, and I opened my eyes as cold air stung my cheeks.
* * *
Everythinginside me longed to go to Branok, but I didn’t want to argue with my men about what I needed to do next.
I rummaged through Lynx’s things, then moved on to Branok’s tent, searching for the statue the nobles had used to call on Ebba. I found it: a baby made of clay, emeralds staring eerily from its hardened face as eyes, a mouth made of a ruby. The thing made me shudder.
“What are you up to, Honor?”
It was Branok’s voice behind me. Any of the other guys would have been hurt to find me stealing from them in the shadows. But Branok was just amused.
“Is my sister all right?” I demanded. I’d heard about how the Scourge had besieged Rylow, and I trusted my men to protect her—even more than I trusted the Posselbaum Academy—but I had to know.
Branok’s brows curved upward. “I’m not exactly a nanny, Honor. You think my first priority would be checking in on your sister?”
“Yes.”
His lips tugged upward. “She’s fine.”
“Stop trying to fuck with me, Branok. I know you too well.”
His gaze fell to my lips. “But I’ve always loved fucking with you.” He suddenly moved quickly to capture my wrist, and the doll I’d just lifted from his pack. “You’re on your way to make a terrible decision, aren’t you?”
“I need to break Ebba’s curse.”
“We’ll deal with the assassin. You deal with the Scourge.”
