Page 26

“We have a few good qualities,” Tristan said, and I could tell he was making an effort to sound normal.

“I’d rather be down there.” Galen looked longingly at the arena’s center.

I shuddered. I’d be fine never stepping foot in there again, but I slammed the thought down. Thinking like that could manifest that exact outcome in three months, and that was the last thing I wanted. Come the end of the week, I’d have to double my time in the arena with Rhyan, no matter how strained things were between us.

The stadium continued to fill with the sounds of hundreds of footsteps slapping against the floors of each level. I straightened in my seat, moving away from Tristan’s embrace when I realized just how full the arena was becoming. There were hundreds of students here—all the elite of the Empire—but apprentices weren’t observing tonight, and even if they were, as large as the Soturion Academy was, we didn’t have enough students to actually fill the stadium.

Silver armor gleamed in the flickering flames in the seats on the other side of the arena. The seats were nearly as full as they had been the night of the habibellum.

Fuck. It wasn’t students entering to fill the seats, it was the Soturi of Ka Kormac. All at once, I heard wolves howling in unison above the din of the crowd. All male voices called out to each other; Ka Kormac was all men. They were the only country of all men. Men and women had both served equally as soturi since Lumeria Matavia, since before the Drowning. The disparity of Ka Kormac’s soturi was shocking when they came together like this.

My throat went dry as I stared at the sea of silver. It looked like the entire legion was here. I pressed myself harder against Tristan. His arm automatically tightened around me again, and this time, he relaxed into the practiced touch of the man who’d been mine for over two years.

“Lyr?” he asked. His voice was gentle, but his body still crackled with tension. “Are you all right? Your back?”

I nodded, not sure I could speak in that moment. And even if I could, what could I say? What could he do? Nothing.

“Watch it,” Haleika yelled.

I looked up to see her and Galen glaring at Tani, who was pushing her way through our row of seats. There were aisles and empty rows that would have been easier to cross through, but she’d chosen to disrupt us. She wasn’t done with me yet, and she clearly didn’t care how small or petty the offense. She was going to keep coming after me, especially now that she knew what she could get away with under the Ready and the Imperator’s noses. Her eyes caught mine as she stood over me, crowding my space. One of Tristan’s flames flew right before her face, nearly burning her own nose off with its proximity.

“Your grace,” she said, her voice mocking. “How’s your back feeling?”

Tristan’s flames expanded, the orbiting fires forcing Tani to duck and lean away. “Move,” he said with all the dripping disdain of Bamarian nobility. “You’re blocking my view.”

Tani shrank back, just for a second.

I narrowed my eyes at her, grateful for once for Tristan’s snobbery. It sometimes came out at just the right moment. However far I had fallen from grace, no respect had been lost by Ka Grey. As long as they had their silver, they had their respect. The snide look on Tristan’s face was enough to send most Lumerians scurrying.

Tani’s dark eyes narrowed in defiance as she turned her attention back to me. She smirked, her golden-brown skin alight. “Where’s Rhyan?” she asked sweetly, flipping her silky black braid over her shoulder. “I thought he was always…just a step behind.” She placed a hand over her eyes, squinting like she’d find him somewhere in the distance.

Tristan sucked in a breath beside me, the muscles in his arm going taut around my shoulder. In the same moment, I felt Haleika lean into my side. She was still for once, her brown eyes—just like Tristan’s—widening.

“Apprentices aren’t at clinic tonight,” Haleika said.

“No,” Tani shrugged. “But Rhyan is usually around her grace anyway.”

Herself to Moriel. She’d gotten away with everything today. And I realized with horror—it wasn’t just the Ready and the Imperator who had let her go. It was me, too, in my attempt to protect Rhyan, to protect us. Tani was clearly taking this as permission to say what she wanted about Rhyan and I without fear of repercussion.

A gryphon does not shed tears when it’s called a seraphim. It knows what it is. Only a seraphim in the mask of a gryphon would be upset—for their truth has been revealed.Aunt Arianna’s words played through my mind; they were the words I used to guide my actions at every turn.

Tani had me cornered, for that was exactly what I was: a seraphim in a mask. I was sitting here with Tristan, trying to act normal and pretend our relationship was fine, when deep down in my heart, in my soul, something that felt ancient and un-nameable was calling out for Rhyan.

Galen stood up from his seat, his dark muscled arms peeking out from beneath his practice tunic, flexing. “Are you lost, Tani?” he asked. “We don’t talk to you.”

Tani rolled her eyes, looking down at me, an unmistakable challenge in the quirk of her lips. She wanted me to fight her, to pick up where we’d left off the day before. Whether or not I was capable of beating her, we both knew where it would end. She would be the victor, never having to face punishment for her actions.

Tristan had had enough. He stood, his posture a mirror of Galen’s, the anger of his aura expanding with a vicious pulse. “Go,” he said, voice low and dangerous. It was the voice he used when hunting vorakh. “Now.”

Tani left, offering one glance behind her as she continued to push her way through the seats. A swatch of orange and purple tunics down the row hinted she was heading for seating with the rest of Ka Elys.

“I thought she was out sick,” Haleika said. “She missed the run and all her classes today.”

Because she was on trial for being part of the Emartis, for being a terrorist, and for fighting me.I didn’t want to get into it, so I shrugged in response. “Must be feeling better now.”

Another round of howls erupted as the soturi fighting in the night’s clinic took their places, the three groups of five entering the bindings of the silver rings.

Haleika narrowed her eyes, staring across the stadium at the uproar. I stared down, seeing several novice soturi wearing silver in the rings. Their armor was sculpted to look like wolf’s fur. Ka Kormac. Guess the entire army had all come to support their pack.