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Shereallyhoped he didn’t hear what she had said about him.

“There is.”

The rest of the party came to her mind and she jumped to her feet. She had done enough dillydallying; it was time to save them. Or at least,almost. “Well?” She walked a few steps, her body relaxing with the smooth movements of her walk. “How can I free you?”

Revna’s smile sent shivers down Kolfinna’s spine, but she ignored the sensation. “The runes that imprison me are outside the house,” Revna said. “You saw some of them when entering through the front door, I assume? There are hundreds of runes wrapped around the house like chains. With your abilities, I don’t think you’ll be able to break them all and thus free me, but you’ll have to try.”

“All right, I’ll try.”

“It’ll take you months—”

It felt like a bucket of ice water was thrown over her head. “I don’t have months to give you,” she said slowly. “Everyone will be dead by then.”

“Then I suppose you should work quickly.” Revna shrugged as if it wasn’t her problem—and it wasn’t, but she could’ve at leastpretendedto care.

“All right,” Kolfinna said, stretching her leg. “And thank you, by the way. For healing my leg.”

“Certainly, dear.” Revna pushed herself to her feet and bounded to her front door. She yanked it open and gestured to the doorway, where sand was already blowing into the house. “Now, I suggest you work fast if you want to save them all.”

Kolfinna didn’t appreciate being told what to do, but she headed to the door nonetheless. Revna had healed her—that was enough reason to help her. But she couldn’t stop the anxiety from growing in her chest, tightening like a corkscrew. Eyfura, Mímir, Magni, and the rest of the party needed her.

But, she supposed, Revna needed her too. And a deal was a deal.

19

Golden runes spannedacross the door in swirls and overlapping lines.Revna cannot use rune magic to break out of the house. Revna can use rune magic to fight students, but she cannot escape the house. Revna cannot escape the house. Clause: Revna’s body will die if she leaves the house. If the house is left by Revna, her real body will crumble to dust. Revna cannot leave no matter what. Clause: no clause can be made to make Revna leave the house. Revna will be trapped here until the end of time. Clause: no clause can be made to change the duration of her imprisonment unless it is to increase the time. Clause: no decrease of time can be made. Revna will not be able to ever leave.Hundreds of similar lines were carved into the door, the walls, and even the windows. They all essentially said the same thing, except worded differently each time. They snaked around the house in tiny never-ending lines and glittered under the harsh two suns.

Kolfinna pressed her hand against the first rune she could.Revna cannot escape the house. Her brows pulled together as she wisped her mana around the words. She imagined a snake wrapping around the runes, pulling tighter and tighter. She concentrated, and the words crumbled. A grin spread across her face as the first rune was destroyed, but her smile disappeared when she glanced at the thousands upon thousands of runes that filled the walls. It would be a long, arduous task to break each one.

She set to work, first focusing on the door. She grasped another rune and forced her mana to crush it with the weight of her power, and then moved on to the next. And the next. And the next. Sweat dampened her brow, but she kept at it. She used as little mana as possible to conserve her energy, since she would probably be here for a while. She found that grabbing two different runes with both hands and breaking them simultaneously worked faster, so she resorted to that.

“You’re working fast.” Blár poked his head from the window; the blue of his eyes was bright in the sunlight.

Kolfinna shattered the rune beneath her finger, the light dying from it as it disintegrated into gold dust. “I see you’re finally awake.”

“Looks like it,” he said, pushing the window higher above his head. He leaned his muscular forearms on the windowsill and watched her with a curious expression.

“What is it?” She moved to the next rune and watched him from her peripheral vision. “Is there something on my face?”

“Your eyes glow gold when you do that.” He pointed to her hand, which hovered over a rune. “It looks cool.”

“Oh.” She inadvertently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I didn’t know.”

“How long until you’re done? I don’t know about you, but I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“I don’t know …” She broke another rune. “I have to break all of these first.”

“Isn’t there any way you can do it quicker?”

“No, there isn’t.”The heat of the desert beat down on her and sweat dampened her uniform. She turned toward the expanse of sand surrounding them and curtained her eyes with her hands to peer at the sky and the position of the suns; she didn’t need anyone to tell her that time was of the essence. She wished there were another way.

He stayed there and watched her, his head propped against the side of the window frame and an unreadable expression painting his striking face. She wasn’t lying when she said he was a looker. The fear she had of him had masked that beauty, but now she could openly gawk at it. He was prodigal in his abilitiesandhe was handsome. Life truly was unfair. She frowned and moved to the next rune.

When had her fear turned into civility? Or whatever she felt toward him. It wasn’t admiration, and it definitely wasn’t friendliness, but it wascloseto the latter. When did that happen? When they were on the ship and he saved her? Or when they traveled together to get to this house? Or had it happened when they were in the castle ruins?

She finished the runes on the door and moved to the left side of the house, which was also where Blár was situated at the window. He was now sitting on the windowsill, watching the desert sky with the two suns. An awkward silence stretched between them. They weren’t buddy-buddy with each other and even if Kolfinna had wanted to say something, there was nothing to talk about.

Blár finally broke the silence. “Why do you want to become a Royal Guard?”