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He could think whatever he wanted. As long as he knew I was no longer his friend.
The rest of the day went by as torturously slow as possible. My muscles ached as I sat in the cold, hard chair of the study room. I fidgeted and shifted, trying to get even a moment of relief from my burning body, but it was no use.
And of course, Wolf was steady as a rock beside me, as if he were perfectly comfortable and content to sit in the study room for the rest of his life.
I all but jumped from my seat the second the final clock chime rang, bolting through the halls and collapsing atop my bed before Wolf could even make it through the door.
“Can I ask you something?” He made his way to his own bed.
I grunted, barely finding the energy to speak.
“Who taught you how to fight?”
A dreadful silence filled the air. In all honesty, it was a surprise this question hadn’t come up before. Wolf knew I was an assassin. He knew I was trained to kill, lethal to any vampyres who may have entered Midgrave.
But I didn’t become an assassin on my own.
“Someone back home,” I replied quietly.
“Your parents? A friend?” His voice sounded genuinely curious, but my heart had already sped up. I didn’t like these questions. They felt too real, too close to the truth.
“My parents are dead.”
Another silence.
“I’m sorry,” Wolf replied. I heard him shifting, moving to sit on his mattress.
I turned to face him, finally opening my eyes against the lingering exhaustion threatening to take me under. “Someone found me as a baby and raised me as his own. He’s the one who taught me to fight.”
“To protect yourself from vampyres?”
“Mostly, yes.”
“And you enjoyed it? Spending your life killing them?”
Enjoyed it?I hadn’t enjoyed most things in my life. Aside from sitting on the rooftop with Rummy, everything else was borderline manageable.
I never thought aboutenjoyingmy training with Lord. I certainly didn’t enjoy the punishments, the dozens and dozens of lashes on my back. I didn’t enjoy the shame and guilt of losing any fights, either.
But those few seconds of pure bliss each time Lord smiled at me, each time he approved of my fights, each time he told me he was proud of me.
That made it all worth it.
“There wasn’t much to enjoy in Midgrave,” I answered. “We all struggled. I did what I had to do to stay alive.”
Wolf nodded as if he somehow understood what I was trying to say. “And the one who saved you, is he an assassin as well? Is he the one I saw with you in Midgrave?”
For one split second, I debated telling the truth; telling Wolf about Phantom, about Lord. Maybe, just maybe, I could trust him, could confide in him with this big secret.
But then I remembered the look on Lord’s face when he swore me to secrecy. He had worried me with his expressions many times in the past, but that one was different.
I couldn’t tell Wolf. I couldn’t tell any living soul about Phantom.
I already screwed up by trusting Lanson. That wouldn't happen again.
“Enough of the interrogation,” I sighed. “I’m tired. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of Wolf’s breathing. He eventually settled into bed, his breath slowing with each passing minute.
