Page 17 of Into the Isle

The people appeared to love him for it, or at least put up with it since he was the man of the hour. He had a few more skirts chasing him around than usual, now that the girls saw him as some great champion of the people.

I scoffed and hung my head, doing the exact thing my mother told me not to do: wallow in defeat.

Anna arrived after a time in a flurry of energy and sadness. It hurt to see her face smudged with tears, her eyes red-rimmed. She brought me in a hug before saying anything. “My mother and father told me not to associate with you anymore, now that you aren’t the initiate.”

“I don’t blame them,” I mumbled into her neck.

She pulled me away, scowling. “Fuck them. You’re my best friend in this gods-forsaken village, and nothing will change that.” Then her face softened. “Oh, Vini, I’m so damn sorry. This is fucked up.” She hugged me again.

The dead feeling inside me sputtered with life.

My brow furrowed, unsure what I was feeling.

I gazed over Anna’s shoulder, to the loud, boisterous crowd in the village square. Musicians played their stringed instruments, beat on drums, and Damon was dancing in the middle like an arrhythmic heartbeat.

An idea came to mind. I wasn’t sure if it was from Anna’s sorrowful apology to me, or what. I just knew I couldn’t fight it off.

Slowly, I put my hands on Anna’s shoulders. I put her to arm’s length, cupping her right cheek. “Anna. Thank you for always being kind to me, when no one else is. I don’t know what I did to deserve your friendship, but . . . thank you.”

With that, I leaned forward and kissed her cheek.

Anna’s eyes bulged. She blinked, her pale face blushing with color. “Vini? W-What’s this all about? You know I’ll tell it to you straight—that sounded like a damned farewell. A suicide letter. Please tell me you aren’t planning to do something stupid.”

I lurched back, face twisting. “Suicide? What? No! No, Anna. It might be stupid, but it’s—I—it’s not—”

“I’ve just never seen you express that kind of emotion before!” She flailed her arms around, clearly flustered. Then, leaning in conspiratorially, her eyes narrowed. “If not that, then what are you doing?”

I recalled my mother’s words.

Firming my lips, I said, “I’m not giving up.”

Chapter 6

Ravinica

THE CELEBRATION DRAGGED into dusk, when the sky was bright with twinkling stars. It would be a cloudless night over the flatlands.

Damon was expected to join the Gray Wraith and Eirik back to Vikingrune Academy tonight. It didn’t really matter if he got blind drunk, because he could just sleep it off on the ship en route to the academy. That was the theory, anyway.

Damon acted on that idea with aplomb. As day turned to night, he kept the booze flowing. We hadn’t said a single word to each other yet, and I preferred to keep it that way.

I also knew I couldn’t be ungracious in defeat. I hadn’t been raised that way. “Celebrate your victories, honor your defeats,” Korvan once said to me.

I wondered where the Swordbaron had gone off to. I hadn’t seen him all day, and he hadn’t been present at the initiate announcement. Maybe, like me, he’s too discouraged at the result to show his face. His best student failed.

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