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“What do you know?” I asked.
Matthyw looked away, ticking his jaw. “They’re going to make a point with you, Adrya,” he said. “You will be one of the first to be married under the new Marriage Law. Unless your father arranges for you to marry someone quickly to keep that from happening.”
My eyes widened. “To whom?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “But we have a chance to prevent that from happening. The only thing you need to do is trust me.”
Before I could respond, the door opened and Rianne walked in. Her eyes focused on me — I didn’t even think she noticed Matthyw at all — and said, “I need to talk to you.”
Embyrlyn
“Oh, Embyrlyn, okay, I give, jeez!” Felix tapped the ground as I straddled his hips, pumping a victory punch into the air. It was later that evening, after training with Rainey, and I was ready to push even harder. Training with Adrya was nice, but I needed more of a challenge if I was going to prove Kazu wrong, and the only one I trusted to help was Felix.
“Yes!” I said, springing off of him before offering my hand. “I got you! Everyone says you’re so tough, but all I have to do is get you to the ground, and whatever power you might have had disappears!”
Felix turned a bright shade of red. “Uh, yeah, you know, Embyrlyn, I think I’m going to call it a night,” he said. “I’m hungry —“
“We ate a half hour ago!” I pointed out.
“Yeah, well, I never grabbed dessert,” he said quickly, angling his body away from me to put more space between us. “I have no idea why you’re so gung-ho about training all of a sudden, and it’s great, but I —“
“Embyrlyn.” Kazu’s voice filled the training pit.
I stopped immediately and looked over my shoulder. Surely, I had to be hearing things. There was no way Kazu-sensei would bother to grace us with his presence during a training session he, himself, hadn’t called. And yet, there he was, standing in that aloof posture, arms crossed casually over his chest, eyes already dismissive of my victory over Felix.
“We need to speak,” he continued.
“What’s this about Kazu-sensei?” Felix asked, giving our captain a wary look.
Kazu never took his eyes off of me. Somehow, I couldn’t move under his penetrating stare. If anything, I was rooted in place, and I didn’t even think he realized what he was capable of. I barely knew until it began to play out.
“This doesn’t concern you, Felix,” he said shortly. “Why don’t you go get that dessert you’ve been pining for.”
Felix looked over at me, almost asking for permission to leave. My chest flooded with warmth at the fact that my friend was willing to do that for me, even going against his sensei he respected and trusted. I nodded once, hoping the expression on my face was enough encouragement.
He beamed. “Great,” he said. “I’ll bring you something, kay? If they have the lemon cakes, I’ll get you two. I know they’re your favorite. See ya!”
He left without looking back at us, which maybe was a good thing, because Kazu didn’t look happy with me and I doubted if Felix recognized the look on our sensei’s face, he wouldn’t have been so quick to leave. Then again, Felix and food was something almost impossible to separate. How he was in the shape he was in after what he consumed, I didn’t know. And, in fact, I hated him a bit for it.
I said nothing, not even when we were alone. Kazu continued to stare at me, and I tried to pretend it didn’t get to me the way it seemed to be getting to me. I couldn’t move, and yet, I couldn’t stop myself from squirming either. I wished he would stop staring and do something. I didn’t want to stand around and wait here forever, especially now that he knew what Master Grey assigned me to.
“Apparently,” he began, shifting his weight. “Master Grey has assigned me as your handler.”
“You?” The word came out of my mouth before I could stop it, and I clamped a hand over my mouth to keep myself from saying anything else that might have offended him or embarrassed myself.
“Me,” he said with a curt nod. “And it’s my duty to tell you what’s to be expected on this mission –”
“Master Grey already told me,” I insisted. I didn’t want to be here, probably any more than he did. Maybe if I could just spare the both of us, I could go grab something to eat before retiring to the bathing house. I doubted anyone would be around and I could relax with just my thoughts for the moment.
“Master Grey told you the basics,” Kazu said. “He didn’t tell you everything. Unfortunately, that now falls to me. I won’t have you going into this mission completely blind.”
Blind? What was he talking about?
“As I’m sure you’re well-aware, you’ll be expected to get into a nest of Light Bringers,” Kazu began.
I nodded quickly. If there was any way I could hurry this up, I would. “Yes, yes,” I said dismissively. “I know. They’re-they’re going to have to feed on me. I get it. I –”
“You don’t,” Kazu said curtly. “You don’tget it, Embyrlyn. And you never will until you have to endure a Scarlet mission for yourself. And since Grey chose to withhold things and you act rashly without stopping to think of the consequences –”
