Page 122 of Taste of Thorns

Briony

“There’s someone to see you,” Thorne says, knocking softly on my bedroom door.

“Who?” I ask, peering up from the book he’s lent me.

Thorne steps to one side and lets the professor through, the others following him into my room.

“I have information about the trial,” he announces.

He looks uncomfortable like this information has cost him something he’d rather not have parted with.

He takes another pace forward into the light. I’m so used to seeing him hugging the shadows, that for a moment I’m stunned. The light reflects on his skin and it’s so pale it’s translucent, translucent and glowing like his eyes.

“Briony, can you swim?” he asks me.

I frown at him in confusion, closing the pages of my book.

“Yes, I can swim.”

“Thank fuck,” he says, slumping back against the wall.

“Erm, but not very well,” I add.

“Shit,” he mutters.

“I’m guessing that’s what the trial is going to involve, then.”

“There’s a lake on the other side of the forest, beyond the rail station. Students are going to be required to swim from one side to the other.”

“How far?” Beaufort asks.

“Three miles.”

All four men look at me. I grimace, feeling a little sick.

“Do you think you can manage that, sweetheart?” Beaufort asks.

I can swim, but mostly I’ve swum in the ponds in the forest back in Slate. They weren’t very big or very deep. I could always touch my feet to the bottom. But swimming is swimming, right?

“Maybe? I never had lessons ...”

“You sure that’s all there is to this trial? It sounds pretty lame,” Dray asks.

“No, there’s more,” Fox says. “There will be obstacles in the lake, obstacles the students will need to navigate past.”

“How’d you find all this out, Prof?” Dray says. His tone is lighthearted but I hear a note of suspicion in there.

“Bardin.”

I gape at him. “She came to see you?”

“I went to see her.”

“And she told you? Just like that? Why?”

He hesitates. It’s quick. Maybe not noticeable to the others but I know Fox well and I see it. “Because I asked her.”

“That makes no fucking sense,” Dray growls.