“Claidh,” Amber whimpers, the courtyard so unbelievably silent that the sound carries.
The formation splits at the center.
Tairn leans low, extending his head and neck past the dais toward where Amber stands. Then his teeth part, he curls his tongue, and he incinerates her with a blast of fire so hot, I can feel it from here. It’s over in a heartbeat.
A gruesome scream rends the air, shattering a window in the academic wing, and every rider slams their hands over their ears as Claidh mourns.
Don’t freak out if you can’t immediately channel your dragon’s powers, Mira. Yeah, I know you have to be the best at everything, but this isn’t something you can control. They’ll channel when they feel you’re ready. And once they do, you’d better be ready to manifest a signet. Until then, you’re not ready. Don’t push it.
—Page sixty-one, the Book of Brennan
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
“This really isn’t necessary.” I glance sideways at Liam as we make our way toward the door of the Archives. The cart doesn’t even squeak anymore. He fixed that the very first day.
“So you’ve told me for the last week.” He shoots me a grin, revealing a dimple.
“And yet you’re still here. Every day. All day.” It’s not that I don’t like him. To my absolute annoyance, he’s actually…nice. Courteous, funny, and ridiculously helpful. He makes it difficult to loathe his constant presence, even though he leaves wood shavings in little piles everywhere he goes—which is everywhere I go now. The guy is constantly whittling with that smaller knife of his. Yesterday he finished the figurine of a bear.
“Until otherwise ordered,” he says.
I shake my head at him as Pierson jolts upright at the Archives doors, straightening his cream tunic. “Good morning, Cadet Pierson.”
“You as well, Cadet Sorrengail.” He offers me a polite smile, which dies as he glances at Liam. “Cadet Mairi.”
“Cadet Pierson,” Liam responds, as if the scribe’s tone hadn’t completely changed.
My shoulders tense as Pierson hurries to open the door. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t been around marked ones before Basgiath, but the outright hostility toward them is becoming glaringly, uncomfortably obvious to me.
We walk into the Archives and wait by the table just like every other morning.
“How do you do that?” I ask Liam in a hushed whisper. “Handle when people are that rude without reacting?”
“You’re rude to me all the time,” he teases, drumming his fingers on the handle of the cart.
“Because you’re my babysitter, not because…” I can’t even say it.
“Because I’m the son of the disgraced Colonel Mairi?” His jaw ticks, his brow furrowing for a heartbeat as he looks away.
I nod, my stomach sinking as I think back over the last few months. “I guess I’m really no better, though. I hated Xaden on sight, and I didn’t know a single thing about him.” Not that I do now, either. He’s infuriatingly good at being completely inaccessible.
Liam scoffs, earning us a glare from a scribe near the back corner. “He has that effect on people, especially women. They either despise him for what his father did or want to fuck him for the same reason, just depends on where we are.”
“You actually know him, don’t you?” I crane my neck to look up at him. “He didn’t just pick you to shadow me because you’re the best in our year.”
“Just now catching on, huh?” A grin flashes across his face. “I would have told you that on the first day if you hadn’t been so busy huffing and puffing about the pleasure of my company.”
I roll my eyes as Jesinia approaches, her hood up over her hair. “Hey, Jesinia,” I sign.
“Good morning,” she signs back, her mouth curving in a shy smile as her gaze darts up to Liam.
“Good morning.” He signs with a wink, clearly flirting.
It shocked me to my toes that first day that he knew how to sign, but honestly, I’d been a little judgy just because I didn’t want a shadow.
“Just these today?” Jesinia asks, inspecting the cart.
“And these.” I reach for the list of requests amid their obvious glances and hand it to her.
“Perfect.” Her cheeks flush and she studies the list before putting it in her pocket. “Oh, and Professor Markham left before his daily report arrived to teach your briefing. Would you mind taking it over?”
“Happy to.” I wait until she’s pushing the cart away from us, then smack Liam’s chest. “Stop it,” I whisper out loud.
“Stop what?” He watches her until she turns the corner at the first set of shelves.
“Flirting with Jesinia. She’s a long-term-relationship woman, so unless that’s what you’re looking for…just…don’t.”
His eyebrows hit his hairline. “How does anyone think long-term around here?”
“Not everyone is in a quadrant where death is less of a chance and more of a foregone conclusion.” I breathe in the scent of the Archives and try to absorb a little of the peace it brings.
“So you’re saying that some people still try to make cute little things like plans.”
“Exactly, and those some people is Jesinia. Trust me, I’ve known her for years.”
