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“Goodnight, little human,” Zain said with a laugh, ignoring her words. “Get some sleep.”

TheValispathtook off again, taking the Meyarin guard along with it.

Alex shook her head at the spot where Zain had been standing, then stumbled tiredly over to her bed.

As she was drifting off to sleep—again—she realised that not only Karter, but now Zain as well, would be teaching her Combat class the next day. She firmly pushed the thought from her mind, determined to enjoy her last remaining hours of sleep without worrying about what the class might bring.

? 1D;

Twenty-One

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Alex groaned at the sound of the way too chirpy voice next to her ear.

“Go ’way,” she mumbled, burrowing deeper into her blankets.

“Come on, Alex,” the voice said. “You’ll be late for PE if you don’t get up.”

“Don’t care,” she mumbled again.

Her blankets were yanked away and a rush of cool morning air hit her. She sat up with a yelp, reaching blindly for her lost source of warmth.

A quiet snort turned Alex’s attention to her roommate who began heartlessly laughing at her predicament.

“Not. Nice. Dix,” Alex grumbled, running her fingers through her dishevelled hair.

“But it worked, didn’t it?”

Alex didn’t waste energy glaring at her friend. Instead, she stood up and grabbed some clean clothes from her wardrobe and headed into the bathroom.

Hot running water was a luxury after two days in the wilderness and Alex used the time in the shower to ease her strained muscles and enjoy a few moments of peace before her day began. When she was dressed, she left the bathroom to find D.C. waiting for her.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “Sorry for being such a grump. I didn’t get much sleep.”

“Are you kidding me?” D.C. said with another laugh. “You slept for almost ten hours straight! You should feel on top of the world right now.”

“Actually,” Alex said, thinking quickly about what she was and wasn’t allowed to share, “my sleep was interrupted in the middle of the night because Roka wanted to speak with me.”

D.C. gaped at her. “The Meyarin prince was here?”

“No, Zain was,” Alex said. “He came to escort me to Meya. It was so cool, Dix. TheValispathtook us the entire way. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

D.C. was staring at Alex in shock, but then her expression shuttered and she turned her hurt-filled eyes away. “Why didn’t you wake me? I would’ve come with you.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex said, putting every ounce of sincerity into her apology. “You were dead-asleep and when I went to wake you, Zain told me not to disturb you. I didn’t like it, but I also didn’t want to argue with him.”

D.C. tilted her head thoughtfully, her unhappy expression dissolving into a calculating one. “Prince Roka wanted to speak with you privately, didn’t he?”

Alex wasn’t sure how to answer, so she nodded, almost shamefully.

“I saw how he looked at the rest of us the other day,” D.C. explained. “He doesn’t trust us.”

“No, Dix, that’s not—”

“It’s okay, Alex,” D.C. interrupted her. “It’s not like I don’t understand. While he doesn’t trust us, it’s clear hedoestrust you. I’m not going to ask what he wanted you for, because you’re my best friend and I don’t want to put you in that position. Keep his secrets, but just know that I’m here if you want to talk, okay?”