Page 15

Chapter

Fourteen

“Do you want to tell me why Dainan knows your name?” Lil demanded.

He did remember my name .

“Dainan,” I said, trying to ease the tension a bit, “first name basis, how very informal of you, Lil.”

“No,” she stopped, pointing her finger in my face, “don’t you try to deflect. Last I heard, you saw him in the gym, same as me, and that was the only time you’ve seen him.”

The hurt in her eyes sliced through me.

What had happened between her and those brothers?

I fiddled with my fingers, trying to calm the nervous energy buzzing in my veins.

“It was like he said,” I sighed.

“I saw him in the library while visiting Addie. She gave him a book, and when I got lost trying to leave—because, of course, I did—and then I walked into him, as one does. Marsh found me afterward.”

Lil raised an eyebrow, arms crossing in a defensive stance.

“You accidentally walked into him?”

“Yes, I don’t exactly make a habit of colliding with people,” I replied, my words tripping over themselves.

A bit like my feet had been lately.

“He asked my name. I didn’t give it to him—I had your voice in my head, telling me to keep a safe distance. But then Marsh showed up, called my name, and…well, Dainan remembered it.”

Lil studied me, her silence a heavier burden than any accusation.

I clasped her hands, the coldness of her fingers grounding me.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I just…after what you said that first day about having personal experience with them, I didn’t want to stir anything up for you.”

She sighed, her resolve softening.

“I do have personal experience with Rai, not Dainan.” She hesitated, then slipped her arm through mine, guiding us down the corridor.

“A couple of years ago, we visited during the Autumn celebrations. Our families were close, so Rai and I spent a lot of time together. I was here when his mother died. It was awful.”

I opened the door to our hall.

“The night Alvar mentioned… That’s when things changed between Rai and me. I don’t want you caught in a similar situation. Especially…”

“Especially?” I pressed.

“Especially because you’re human, Bri. I can mess up, and it won’t ruin my life. But you…you’re different. You have an opportunity here. I don’t want you to lose it.”

Her sincerity twisted something deep in my chest. “Thank you,” I whispered, pulling her into a hug.

“I wasn’t trying to get close to him, I swear.”

“I believe you,” she murmured, her smile faint but genuine.

“And even if something does happen, I’ve got your back. We’re stuck together now.”

Lil’s attempt to smile faltered, the pain in her eyes resurfacing.

“Did you and Rai talk after that?”

She shook her head, a distant look shadowing her face.

“He tried, but…no. I’ve seen him around, but I’ve avoided him. I was hoping Dainan would knock him out during that sparring match. It’s the only time I’ve seen Dainan lose. For a bookworm, he sure can fight.”

Her expression tightened, lost in whatever memory was haunting her.

I placed a hand on her arm, offering silent support.

“If you ever want to talk about it…”

Lil managed a weak smile, the storm in her eyes clearing.

“I’m fine. And before you ask, yes, the sex was great with Rai, but only because I’m fucking incredible.” She winked and disappeared into her room.

I stood there, staring at her closed door, a sinking feeling in my gut.

I wanted to believe she was okay, but the lingering unease told me otherwise.

???

I knocked on Emia’s door, anticipation buzzing under my skin.

“Just a second!” she called from inside.

Over the past weeks, we’d all paired off—Lil and Kadian at the pool and rock wall, Oz and Tamra tackling every obstacle.

Emia and I had been inseparable, her calm presence grounding me through the Zenith and every grueling climb.

The door opened, revealing Emia in her Court of Shadows fighting leathers, black with red shimmering along the cuffs and neckline.

“Projecting?” I teased.

“Oh, hush,” she shot back with a grin.

I knew Derek’s family had ties to the Court of Shadows, though Emia kept the details vague.

“Ready?” I asked. She nodded and we made our way towards the gym.

As we walked, Emia talked about her family—two sisters, four brothers.

“It’s rare for Fae to have so many kids. By the time they had me, I think they just expected it.”

“I can’t imagine having six siblings—or any, really,” I said.

“You and Kadian are close?”

“I don’t remember a time without him,” I admitted, hoping there would never be one.

“He and Dad, they’re my family. I love Addie, but she wasn’t around as much as I would’ve liked. We kept in touch, though.”

Every night, I wrote to Dad, telling him how much I missed him and I couldn’t believe I was still here.

I’d received a few responses and some letters from Flora.

I sent instructions to her for some teas she could make and some herbs that I’d found around Azmeer, well, those that were in the accessible areas.

These weeks had been the most eye-opening of my life.

With the trial just days away, I was determined to be among those who continued.

The rock wall loomed before us, two hundred feet of daunting height.

Sweat dotted my brow before I even moved.

“Ready?” Emia whispered beside me.

“Why are you whispering?” I asked.

“It feels like the rock can hear us.”

We were alone, the gym eerily quiet.

Whether others were more confident in their ability or we were just paranoid, I couldn’t say.

I checked the clock, took a deep breath and stepped to the wall.

As soon as my fingers touched the stone, a strange thrumming vibrated through them, the magic of Hadash’s rock urging me upward.

Each pulse pushed me higher until time and sound blurred into a soft song.

At the top, I rang the bell and looked down.

Emia was only halfway up.

She’d have to be faster if she wanted to make it through.

“Way to go, Bri!” she shouted, her voice echoing in the quiet gym.

When Em finished, we proceeded to make our way to the pool.

Unsure exactly as to what the task would be, we had practiced most things.

“I’ll time you first,” Em said as we made our way into the water.

“Hold your breath as long as you can, and we’ll go from there.”

I nodded.

“Go,” Em whispered, her voice barely a ripple in the air.

I took one last breath, then plunged beneath the surface.

The world above disappeared, replaced by the serene stillness of the water, a silence that wrapped around me like a comforting shroud.

Down here, time seemed to stretch and slow, the usual chaos of my thoughts quieted.

As foreign as this underwater world felt, it also welcomed me, a strange comfort in the embrace of the water.

Em and I had practiced this each night.

I knew I could hold my breath for close to eighty clicks.

Yet, tonight felt different, as if the water itself was alive with a secret it wanted to share.

Eyes open, I fixed my gaze on the distant wall of the pool.

The cool blue seemed to pulse faintly, the light shifting and bending in ways it shouldn’t.

Then, out of nowhere, a streak of light shot through the water.

It was quick, almost like a flash of sunlight breaking through the surface, but there was something unnatural about it.

The light twisted and curved, like tendrils of the sun itself, slithering along the walls and floor, creeping closer with every beat of my heart.

I didn’t have time to react before darker tendrils appeared, coiling out of the shadows.

They twisted together with the light, a dance of opposing forces, and they were heading straight for me.

Each click in my head marked their approach, and my heartbeat quickened in response.

The tendrils’ edges began to morph, taking on shapes that were terrifyingly familiar—hands, reaching out, almost sentient in their intention.

My breath hitched, and without thinking, I kicked hard, shooting up out of the water.

I broke the surface with a gasp, the world above rushing back in a chaotic blur.

“Bri, that wasn’t long at all. What’s wrong?” Em’s voice was sharp with concern.

I looked around frantically, but the pool was just as it had always been—calm, ordinary, betraying no hint of the bizarre vision I’d just seen.

Em placed a steadying hand on my shoulder, her touch grounding me.

“Brida?” she said softly, trying to pull me back from the edge of my panic.

“Take a breath, it’s alright.”

I greedily sucked in air, my lungs burning as if I’d been under for hours.

“Sorry,” I whispered, the word trembling on my lips.

“I thought I saw something.”

Em offered to time me again, her voice gentle, but I shook my head.

I couldn’t go back under, not tonight.

Whatever I had seen—or thought I’d seen—left a lingering fear that the water wasn’t as safe as it seemed.

???

The knock came as a whisper, so soft it blended into the morning as light crept shyly through the edges of my curtain.

“Brida, Brida, it's me, open up.”

I groaned, every muscle in my body aching like a rusted hinge. The covers clung to me, but I peeled them back, rising on legs that still trembled from yesterday's trials.

“Come on, you’ll have to be quick,” the voice urged again, now more insistent.

Lil. Of course.

I stumbled to the door, rubbing my eyes, each blink a plea for clarity.

When I cracked it open, Lil's grin greeted me, wide and mischievous.

“Good, you’re up. I want to show you something,” she said, barging past before I could protest.

“I wasn’t up,” I mumbled, gesturing helplessly at my wrinkled clothes and tangled hair, a testament to the war I’d waged with sleep and lost.

“Doesn’t matter. Throw on a sweater; no one will see us,” she insisted, rifling through my things while I stood there, still clutching the doorframe, trying to gather my scattered thoughts.

"What time is it?" I rubbed at my eyes again, the blur refusing to lift.

“Brida,” she said, her voice sharp and impatient. “Put on something warm and comfy. You won’t want to miss this.”

Before I could argue, she tossed a sweater at me, and I tugged it over my head, still half-asleep, before she shoved me into the hallway. Her energy was relentless, like a gust of wind sweeping me along.

“We have to go this way,” Lil said, leading me down an unfamiliar corridor, the opposite direction from where we normally went.

I blinked, trying to orient myself. “Where are we going? Should we get Kadian? You know I’m useless with directions.”

At the mention of Kadian, a grin spread across Lil’s face. “Nah, I saw him earlier. Besides, this is something I wanted to show you.”

Her words hung in the air, thick with mystery. I followed, heart pounding harder than it should have this early in the morning. When Lil smiled like that, you could never quite tell what she was planning.

We rounded a corner, and Lil paused before a door, its hinges groaning in protest as she nudged it open.

“Get in,” she whispered, her eyes darting around like we were breaking into the Eternal Court itself.

“You sure we’re okay to be doing this?” My voice was hushed too, caught between the thrill of the unknown and the constant gnaw of anxiety in my gut.

Lil shot me a look. “Yes, yes, Brida. You need to live a little. Be daring!”

If only she knew. Daring had brought me here, hadn’t it? Lying, cheating, abandoning the one person I cared about most. I’d been daring enough for a lifetime.

Still, I followed. The stairwell wound upward in a dizzying spiral, each step making my legs burn anew.

“I found this place one of the last times I was here,” Lil started, her voice echoing off the narrow walls. “We used to stay in the House of Reflection unless we were trapped in the royal quarters. But I overheard them talking about something—something called a Mirage.”

“A Mirage,” I repeated, the word hanging between us like a secret.

“Yeah, I thought it was some cheap magician’s trick at first.” Lil’s voice carried a thrill of rebellion. “But then I begged them to show me. Six rounds of cards later, when I’d cleaned them out, I bet everything I had left on one condition—they had to take me to see it.”

Her story pushed me up the staircase, faster now. I didn’t even notice how many steps we’d climbed, my curiosity outweighing the fatigue. There was something in Lil’s tone—like the world was about to crack open, revealing something far more magical than I could imagine.

“Naturally, they thought they would best me, I was just a kid and a girl. Fucking pricks .” Lil spat the words out as we reached the final step. “But, despite everything, they kept good on their promise, and they showed me this.”

We reached the top at last. Lil pushed open a final door, and I stepped onto the flat roof of Azmeer, breath catching in my throat. The city had disappeared.

Before me, an endless ocean seemed to stretch out, shimmering like liquid silver under the early morning light. The desert surrounding Azmeer had dissolved into the mirage, a perfect reflection of the sky.

“What…what is this?” I whispered, moving to the edge and leaning against the cool stone, trying to take it all in.

“It happens once a year,” Lil murmured, joining me at the railing. “Some mix of the air currents, they say. But to me, it’s the start of summer. My favorite time of year.”

The quiet joy in her voice tugged at something deep within me. I turned to face her, a smile creeping onto my lips despite myself. “It’s beautiful, Lil.”

Her grin softened as she gazed out at the horizon. “Just wait, this isn’t even the best part.”

For a few moments, we just stood there. Lil filled the silence with stories—her adventures sneaking through Azmeer, stealing moments of freedom from under her mother’s watchful eye. But as the sun began to rise, painting the sky in hues of gold and amber, we both fell silent. The mirage shimmered, and for an instant, it looked as though the whole city was engulfed in flames. The sight was so unreal, so majestic, I had to remind myself to breathe.

Lil’s voice broke the spell. “I wanted us to have something beautiful to remember Azmeer by, just in case…”

Her words hung heavy in the air. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, forcing a laugh. “There’s no way you won’t make it through, Lil. You were born for this.”

I turned to face her.

“You know I’m here for you, right?” I always sensed that something chased Lil in the silence, a shadow she could never quite shake—a reason she never let it linger for too long.

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she kept her gaze on the horizon, her face unreadable. “For the first time in a while,” she said softly, “I feel like I’ve got something to fight for.”