“Hi, Dyre.” I muster a smile.
“I brought you dinner.” He looks at me with a reverence I don’t deserve.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I reply.
“I owe you my life, Cadet Sorrengail.” He hands me a plate of roasted rabbit. “The least I can do is bring you dinner.”
“Thank you.” I set the plate in my lap. “Just do me a favor and keep your head down next time” Another thing infantry has on us? They carry a rudimentary set of survival gear—including a mess kit—in their packs at all times, like they might be deployed at any second. We definitely have a few things to learn from each other.
“Anything you need. I’m at your service. I owe you a life debt.”
Before I can assure him that he doesn’t, Ridoc claps him on the back. “I’m going to take Life Debt back to camp.”
I nod in thanks, and the two walk back up the incline to camp. Dyre is sweet, but he’s been underfoot the entire two interminable days we’ve been lost in these godsforsaken woods.
“You know what’s out there,” Rhi says as she sits next to me, pulling her braids over one shoulder.
“What?” I fumble and nearly drop the plate.
“You’ve been attacked by gryphons.” She stretches out her legs and looks at me skeptically. “So you actually do know what’s out there…right?”
“Right.” I nod a little too quickly, then cover a jaw-cracking yawn with my hand. My body is at its limit, but I’m sure I can push another couple of hours to make it through watch.
Her frown is fast but unmistakable. “I’ve got the watch. Your body needs the extra sleep.”
“I can do it,” I protest.
“You can, but it’s my job to manage the needs of my squad, and you need sleep. Consider it an order.” There’s no room for argument in her tone. This isn’t my best friend speaking—it’s my squad leader.
“Order it is.” I stand, brushing the grass off my leathers with one hand and clutching the plate with the other, then give her a forced, tight-lipped smile before turning toward camp.
“Vi?”
I look back.
“Something is going on with you,” she says quietly, but there’s no mistaking the steel in her tone. “I haven’t so much as seen Andarna since you returned, you’re running with Imogen of all people, you won’t open up about whatever’s up with you and Xaden, and you won’t talk about War Games. You might think that I don’t notice that you’re pulling away from everyone, but I do. You barely eat with us, and every chance we get to sneak into Chantara, you’re holed up in your room reading.” She shakes her head, running her hand along the grass. “If you’re not ready to talk, to tell me what’s going on with you, I want you to know that’s all right—”
“There’s—” My stomach twists as I try to deny it.
“Don’t,” she interrupts softly, her unyielding gaze holding mine. “I’ll be here when you’re ready because your friendship is precious to me. But please, for the sake of that friendship, don’t insult me by lying.”
She looks away before I can think of a response.
There’s no sleep that night, but at least there aren’t any nightmares, either.
A convoy of horses and wagons arrives the next morning, as do the professors, who have choice words for our failure.
“You were in the Hadden Woods, though none of you could work together long enough to figure it out. It’s apparent that we have a lot to learn from each other.” Grady hands each rider a waterskin and smiles as the infantry professor does the same for her cadets. “Seeing as you were our top squads, I can’t deny that I’m disappointed, but at least most of you survived.”
He’s disappointed, but Tomas is dead.
I uncork and drink, tasting something sweet and hard to place as I drain it.
“Next time, we’ll make sure you have supplies,” he promises. “We wanted to see how you’d make do this first time out, and now we know.”
First time out. Great. We get to do this again.
The blanket thrown over my dragon bonds lifts, and power rushes through my veins. I feel like me again.
“Tairn.”
“Behind you,” he answers.
Wingbeats fill the air, and the horses prance nervously as our dragons land at the edge of the trees, the ground vibrating with the force of their landings.
“Holy shit,” Calvin says softly, backing away with the other cadets.
“You’re going to have to get used to them.” Ridoc pounds the squad leader’s shoulder. “They’ll be at the outposts you’re all stationed at once you take your commands after graduation.”
“Right…but so close?” he whispers.
“Probably closer,” Ridoc whispers back and nods.
