Page 6

“I like that,” a new voice said. “No one should be forced to do things they don’t want to do.”

I looked back over my shoulder to see that a new guy had just jogged up. He was wearing the violet jacket that marked him as on the same level as the Kings. Since he wasn’t one of their team, that meant he had to be one of the nobles’ brats. He had white, crystalline skin, as if it should sparkle in the sunshine or instantly burst into flames, but it did neither. His eyes had jet black irises, but other than that, they were pretty normal-looking. He had the round ears of a human, black hair that was trimmed neatly with a French crop that was a little longer on top with shorter sides. He was shorter than Uthred, the top of his head coming just under Uthred’s chin, as if he would fit there perfectly in a snuggle.

I narrowed my eyes at the thought, glancing back and forth between them.

“Are you coming with us to the dungeon, Rian?” Uthred asked him.

“Oh yes, if that’s alright with you,” Rian smiled up at Uthred, all sunshine and innocence, as if Uthred was where the sun began and the darkness ended. “I’d love to see how this whole thing plays out. I believe your group has nefarious intent.”

I narrowed my eyes as I wrenched my gaze back in front of me. These guys were messing with me. I knew why they were taking me into the Dungeon. They knew I knew why they were taking me there. All the talk of not hurting me and nefarious intent was designed to mess with my head.

They were fucking with my head before they fucked with me.

“You won’t break me,” I said. “I know what you do, and you won’t break me.”

“Ah, okay,” Uthred said. “Sounds like a plan.”

I looked back over my shoulder to see him giving me a thumbs up. The gesture was so strange and yet not, it took me a minute to realize why it was so weird. The students who grew up in this world didn’t make that gesture. Putting your thumbs up was something that came from the mundane. A ‘Proper Student’ like Uthred would never mimic a lower-class mundane gesture.

The confusion of that observation faded as we approached the entrance to the dungeon. There was a huge new barricade, a giant wall placed between us and the opening, with a small gate at the bottom. It wasn’t surprising that they repaired the damage so quickly. They built things faster here, using magic that they wouldn’t teach to us lowly mundanes. The structures for the arena battles and the Blood Moons usually went up within the course of a day.

Soldiers were on top of the wall, holding crossbows, all looking down at the entrance.

“Going in again, Princes?” a tired-looking soldier asked as we approached the gate. His eyes fell on me and his chin dipped down towards his chest, his shoulders slumping with a minor expression of guilt. “Another one?”

Even the soldiers knew what was happening here.

“Is there a problem with that?” Bram asked.

The soldier looked from one to the other of them before shaking his head.

“No, go in,” he said. Then he raised his voice. “We have entry!”

They knew what was happening here, and they weren’t going to stop it. They hadn’t stopped what happened to the women who were brought before me. They weren’t going to save me. It wasn’t surprising. Mundanes learned quickly to avoid the Order Army encampment as well. They weren’t any better than the beasts that this place labeled ‘Proper Students’.

I clenched my fists down at my sides, my fingernails biting into my palms.

Soldiers boxed us in as we approached the gate, their spears all pointing at our backs. The gate clanked open, and we went through. We crossed the barren dirt ground from the wall to the jagged maw of the dungeon. It still looked a bit like an animal’s mouth. I glanced over at Uthred out of the corner of my eyes and then picked up the pace, walking faster as I strode into the dungeon.

The entrance was different from the drawings in my books. Most of the time, it was supposed to be dirt. Every so often, when the Dungeon wanted to draw more people in, it was a lush entryway filled with valuable herbs.

But it was neither of these.

The ground and walls were all made out of smooth marble slabs, interspersed by pristine columns.

Uthred rushed past me and down the hallway.

“Uthred!” someone shouted from behind me. “The traps! Duck!”

Uthred threw himself down to the ground. A large blade whooshed in the air above his head, embedding in the wall next to him. I pressed my lips together to hold back my disappointment and excitement.

Maybe I could survive this.

Maybe the Dungeon would kill them all before they tortured me.

“What are you doing?” Bram asked as we all caught up with him. “You know the Ordered section traps. They are always the same. They never change.”

“The Ordered section?” Uthred asked. “There is an Ordered section?”