AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wake up in a sweat with my heart racing. Pressing my arm to my forehead, I tip my head back against my pillow.
I can’t go on like this.I’mfraying at least as much as Ivy is.
An idea wavers up through my fatigue like a lantern in the fog.
Maybe there’s a way I can be sure of my choice. A way to test the control she claims will never falter.
If she’s going to unleash her magic, it’ll be better if it’s when I’m prepared for it than off in the woods in the middle of the night.
The test won’t even take that much.
* * *
The hardest part is deciding which of my students will shoulder the responsibility—far more responsibility than they even know.
In true fairness, I should take the risk… but if Ivy lashes out at me, I won’t be around to put her down. That would undermine all the reasons I’m carrying out the test at all.
I have to be alive to protect everyone else from her magic.
If it’s not me, it has to be a student. I can’t turn to my fellow staff or the guards of the Crown’s Watch. They’d ask too many questions—they’d talk with their colleagues.
The students know Ivy. They’re used to seeing me as a teacher, to participating in combat scenarios I set up purely so they can learn.
I stew on the question for most of the morning, the guilt that I have to ask it at all digging deeper into my gut with every passing hour.
Finally, at the end of my senior strategy class, I motion for Ivy to take her leave and gather a cluster of my most dedicated students. The ones I expect to recommend for positions as higher officers at the end of the school year.
“I may have a mission I need to send a few people on,” I tell them. “It’ll be dangerous—I can’t promise you’d come out of it safely or even alive—but it’d be for the protection of the country. I won’t order anyone to take it up while you’re still in the middle of your studies. But if any of you feel prepared to tackle that kind of task, I can accept potential volunteers.”
Bartos, the second son of one of the counts who rules not far from Florian, speaks up without hesitation. “I’ll go, if you need me. That’s what all this studying has been for.”
The others add their own voices in agreement. I’ve obviously judged their devotion to their country well.
Bartos wasn’t just the fastest to leap at the chance, he’s also the strongest physically. For my actual mission, I need someone who’ll pose an obvious threat.
As the others leave, I keep him back for a minute longer. “I appreciate your enthusiasm. There’s a smaller task I could use some help with right here at the school today, if you don’t mind lending a hand there as well.”
Bartos simply smiles. “I’d be honored to assist.”
“Good. Go get yourself some lunch and meet me by the storage rooms right after.”
I can’t tell him that the smaller task and the dangerous mission are one and the same. At least I’ve gotten my confirmation that he’s willing to put his life on the line for a cause like this.
By the time Bartos arrives at the building where the college keeps most of its military training equipment, I’ve already worked out the most viable strategy. I meet him with a length of sturdy rope in my hands, willing down my nausea at the hiss of its corded surface sliding against my metal prosthetic.
If Ivy really isn’t a threat to us, then I’m ensuring she never has to meet the fate I’m going to stage.
I’ve worked out my story as well. As I wave Bartos into the hall between the supply rooms, I keep my tone casual.
“I’ve been working with Ivy one on one to judge her aptitude for a promotion to an officer role or taking up teaching herself. I’d like to get a clear view of how she’ll respond to a perceived attack. You’ll need to be convincing, but I’ll step in as soon as I’m sure of her reaction—before you’d do any real damage, if she can’t fend you off.”
My guilt only digs in deeper at Bartos’s unquestioning nod. “I can do that.”
“She can’t realize you’re one of my students, or she’ll know it’s just a test,” I go on, handing him the rope. “You’ll need to come at her from behind and get this around her neck. Fast enough to startle her. She’ll be coming in to start setting up for our afternoon class at the second bell. You can wait here and catch her right after she arrives.”
I have him stand in the shadows just beyond the doorway Ivy will pass on her way to the leather figures she’s sometimes complained about hauling around. I position myself on the other side of the hallway, where I’ll be able to see the struggle without Ivy noticing my presence.
When the palace bell starts to peal, I draw my sword and hold it ready at my side.
