Page 78 of A Curse So Cruel
Elgen is the one to break the bad news to me.“Not now, child. The queen has personally selected you as the Token. There’s no way out of this for you. Not unless you find the relic.”
On the dias, there’s more laughter and jeering from the originals, but I tune it all out.
“Best of luck, Miss Shade,”Tarlaz rasps in my head.
Chapter Thirty-Four
~ Shade ~
Isit on my bed in my dorm, watching as Kenzie uses her magic to create a badass battle outfit. Her braid is coiled into a bun at the top of her head, and a sword sits in the sheath at her hip. More knives are tucked into her boots and along the strap across her chest, and black is smeared around her eyes and to either side of her nose.
“You should get ready,” she tells me softly.
I don’t move from the bed. I’m still wearing the dress Galen made for me, and neither Kenzie nor I have slept. I spent a large portion of the night telling my roommate about the events of the previous days, about how the professors are my mates, and how I found Satine in a cell. But sunrise isn’t too far away, and already, we can hear students in the corridor heading outside to the forest.
The last time I looked through the window, a large tent had been erected on the grass, and now drums pound outside, a band playing some kind of unnerving war tune.
They don’t care if you die.The thought has played in my head all night. For a long while, I waited for Galen, Thane, or Raith to turn up and tell me this is all some big joke. I don’t know what I expected. I think deep down I hoped I was wrong about them. That maybe they would whisk me away somewhere, because there’s no way they would let their mate be sacrificed. Well, it turns out the joke’s on me because they never come.
I swallow hard. I came to this academy for answers, but so far, all I have is more questions. And now I’m the Token for the hunt… As much as I want to find out about my past, even I know that I’m in a bad position. In a few hours, the hunt begins, and there’s no way I’ll survive it. At least, I wouldn’t if I didn’t have this… I peer at my portal ring. I don’t have any choice. I need to get out of here. I remember Galen saying that the magic of my ring won’t work inside academy grounds. So somehow, I need to get over the academy wall, and then I can create a portal to Blake. If I can get away quickly enough, I can close the portal behind me, and maybe Blake and I can find a way to save me, so I don’t die after I leave this place. The plan isn’t ideal, but it’s the best I’ve got.
Kenzie slides a few knives out from their sheaths, and she places them on the mattress beside me. “Here.”
I shake my head at her, not wanting to accept them. “No, they’re yours. I can’t.”
“I only have the power to create a single outfit at any given time, but knives are easier,” she says. “Take them.”
I give her a small smile, and she sits on my other side, wrapping her arm around my shoulders and squeezing. “They’re assholes,” she whispers. “They kept you hidden in that room, and now they’re sending you to die. You sure they’re your mates?”
“Apparently,” I mutter. I haven’t told her that the guys believe their mate is prophesized to destroy them. If they’dwanted the students to know about that, they would have told everyone by now, and it feels like something I shouldn’t be divulging. I also haven’t mentioned the portal ring. It’s not that I don’t trust Kenzie, but I’m not supposed to have it, and it feels safer to keep the information to myself for now.
“Well screw them,” she says. “You find the damn relic, and you win this.”
I give her a skeptical look. “Girl, you’ve seen me run. Pair that with my bad navigational skills, and I have no hope.”
She makes a face. “Well, not with that attitude. Who knows, maybe luck will be on your side. I’ll hold the others off for as long as possible.”
“You’re going to hold off every student in the academy?” I nudge her. “Thanks, but I don’t want you killing people because of me.”
“What else am I going to do? Watch them come for you?” she protests.
“Focus on keeping yourself alive,” I tell her. I might have the worse position, but it’s not going to be safe out there for her, either. The other students will all have the heightened abilities their animali give them.
I can sense she wants to say more, but at that Kenzie grows silent and we simply sit there for a while, listening to the sound of the drums thudding through the walls of the academy.
All of a sudden, Kenzie bursts out crying. “You know, if you weren’t the Token, it would have been me.” She sniffs. “Itshouldbe me. At least, you’ve seen your animali.”
I squeeze her tightly. “Well, if that’s true, then I’m glad it’s me,” I tell her, smiling.
“How can you say that?”
“Because I’m selfish, and I’d much rather worry about myself than have to think that you’re the one being hunted down,” I tell her. I mean it, too. Kenzie has a good heart, and she deserves tobe here. Heck, at least she can mostly keep up with the others. I, on the other hand, don’t belong at Shadowbone. I told the professors from the beginning. I’m no warrior.
Kenzie starts sobbing more, and I have to bite my tongue from turning into a blubbering mess myself.
“They’ll come to their senses and fight for you,” she says stubbornly as her tears finally subside. “They will if they’re truly your mates.”
I realize she’s talking about Galen and the others, and I want to agree with her, but I can’t. Instead, I squeeze her again and force myself to my feet. Putting on a brave face, I walk over to the mirror. “All right,” I say, sounding serious. “Now, what would a Token wear?”