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Nothing more than a good citizen of Garial.
In the corner of my eye, I saw her catch up to me. I made a note to give her some lessons in stealth later. No wonder the uprising against Harel failed. They needed better sneaking skills.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"North," I said. I stepped around a pair of children who sat on the side of the street, rolling marbles back and forth between them.
"No shit. Where specifically?" She glanced over at me without breaking her stride.
"Specifically north a couple of blocks from here," I said. "That's all I'm saying. If you don't want to come, then don't."
"You don't trust me," she accused.
"We don't trust each other," I agreed. "But I let you live and I'm letting you come with me. If you keep arguing, it's going to start looking suspicious."
She made a sound of annoyance, but fell quiet after that.
That left me to my thoughts, and the job of scanning the street in front of us. I saw no sign of Ryze and the others, but they couldn't be too far away. I hoped. I'd catch up with them sooner or later, but I hated the idea no one had their backs.
Yes, they could look after themselves, but it was easier this way. Easier if I could neutralise any threats before they caught up to them.
Easier if I wasn't…
I looked over to Illaria at the same time I had that thought. I saw it on her face that she knew the realisation I'd come to.
"What did you fucking do?" I hissed.
"Only what I was told to do," she said with no hint of apology. "Distract you for a while."
"Fuck." If the street wasn't so busy, I would have slid a knife between her ribs and kept going. That wouldn't go unnoticed and I had no time to waste. No time to be stealthy.
I started down the road at the fastest trot I could manage, dodging the crowds and darting in front of carriages. One almost hit me, but I managed to duck aside in time.
I was almost to the barracks when the air filled with thick, acrid smoke. Ash started to drop from the sky. When a dusting landed on my sleeve, I realised it wasn't ash.
It was snow.
9
Khala
Iexpected to see Cavan at some point. When he finally sauntered into the atrium, everyone scattered. All of the omegas suddenly found somewhere else to be.
Dalyth ended another frustrating lesson and ushered Hycanthe and Jezalyn away.
They both gave me sympathetic looks, but neither hesitated to leave. The gods only knew where Dalyth was taking them, but right now there was nothing I could do to stop her. When I started to follow, she waved at me to stay.
The place was cleared in about a minute, apart from Cavan and me. He stood near the door, appraising me with his gaze. He didn't look at me like a man would look at a woman, not exactly. This was more like the way a man might look at a newly forged sword. Or the perfect bow. Appreciative but like I was a tool he owned and planned to use.
"I trust you're settling in all right." His tone was smooth like silk. He circled around me slowly, his eyes on me at every step.
"It's fine," I said simply, not moving a hair.
"Only fine?" He stopped to tilt his head. "That sounds inadequate."
I shrugged. "A girl can only see so much of the same four walls."
I wasn't necessarily trying to antagonise him, my answers were honest. I discovered the older omegas were allowed to leave the atrium. Presumably they'd proved their loyalty somehow. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what that took. Maybe they’d kept their thoughts to themselves better than I was.
