Total pages in book: 214
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 195876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 979(@200wpm)___ 784(@250wpm)___ 653(@300wpm)
"I thought becoming aspirants meant the academy didn't want our lives being thrown away?" A bitter taste like ash fills my mouth. More deaths. More conflict.
"And that's true. We don't want senseless murders in the halls. Pointless training accidents. But you should see the real truth of it, Nessa. We don't want these things because they eventually only reveal the bullies and the ruthless. A superior soldier can be killed when his guard is down by an inferior one. Now that we've culled the weakest, your lives will only be risked in ways that select for better soldiers. The Crucible is exactly that. It's a war game, and there will be deaths, but these deaths will serve a purpose. They will sharpen you. Hone you."
I lower my eyes, unsure what the hell I'm even supposed to say to that.
“They treat you like blades, not humans,” Typhon growls.
“Then they had better hope one of those blades never decides to turn on its master.”
“Angry human…” Typhon says, but I sense a note of pride in his tone.
Rector Voss saves me with a quick clap of his hands and a smile. "In any case. I've kept you here too long. Please," he gestures toward the door, helping me pull my chair out as I stand. "As before, I would ask that you still keep what we do here between us. For your safety, of course. But feel free to warn your friends about the Crucible. The legacies will already know it's coming, but it may be a helpful advantage for your fellow aspirants to know a few days before the announcement. You’ll have some time to gather your team in peace."
"Thank you," I say as I leave his office and step into the narrow hallway that leads back to the stairs.
As soon as the door closes, Raith seems to unfold from the shadows at the far end of the corridor. I notice the hard angles of his face and the tension in his jaw, the careful way his eyes scan me as if checking for injuries.
"You came," I whisper.
Raith waits for me to approach before he speaks. I find myself noticing how his breath slightly quickens when I move closer.
"Surprised?" His voice rumbles low in his chest.
"After last night… I guess I thought—"
"That was a mistake," Raith says quickly.
I give a jerky nod of my head, even as a stab of pain punches through my chest at his words like a blade between my ribs, sharp and precise. "Yeah. I know."
"Good."
We head down the stairs single file with Raith in front because the stairs aren't wide enough for us to walk side by side. At the bottom, a few students pass in either direction, but nobody pays me much attention. Raith, on the other hand, is already known as the most deadly first-year aspirant across all affinities. Girls look at him with open lust. Guys look at him with envy and respect.
At best, they look at me with anger, because rumors about his "interest" in me have been spreading since the first week on campus. Some look to laugh because my elemental is a flying fish. Others occasionally ask me about the events at Mirror Lake, but those rumors are mostly old news, now, replaced with more recent events.
"Nessa…"
I lick my lips, heart suddenly racing just to hear my name from his mouth like a spell that only he knows how to cast. I feel like I'm leaning into him, drawn toward his warmth. Toward his heat. For a heartbeat, Raith's eyes drop to my lips, and the corridor seems to narrow until there's nothing but us. Then footsteps echo as another pair of students approaches. Raith steps back abruptly, expression shuttering closed.
"I told you it would be dangerous to know… certain things about me," Raith says. "But there is something I can tell you. Something that might be more dangerous to keep a secret."
I try to hide the disappointment I feel as I lean back, dragging my eyes up from his mouth. Right. Truths and secrets. These things are more important than talking about the kiss.
The fucking kiss that feels like it tipped my entire world sideways.
No big deal.
“Humans,” Typhon mutters in my mind.
"Okay." I tell myself I shouldn't be watching the way his hands move as he speaks, shouldn't be remembering the sensation of his fingers against my skin. But my body doesn't seem to care what I should or shouldn't do.
"Do you remember that night on the castle walls? You had a nightmare. We heard instructors talking about deaths. They mentioned siphons.”
"Rings a bell…" I say, as if I haven't thought about every single encounter with Raith on near repeat like a favorite song I can't stop coming back to.
"Siphons are real."
Words from the unbound book float into my memory unbidden: "Many common pieces of folklore and stories told to small children can be traced back to unbound and their unique manifestations. Old tales of vampires, for instance, are believed to be an unbound who could feed on blood for strength. Some say stories of siphons can be traced back to Lorkan Grace and his wife Milena.”