Page 63 of House of Ydril

That makes the building tension inside me loosen up a bit, but I also feel strangely lightheaded. As if someone knocked all the air out of my lungs by making me look into the depths of something I didn’t even know existed.

“Thank you, this was delicious,” Dame Gothel says with a slow exhale. “Now for my end of the bargain.” She pauses for a second before she adds, “the name of the stone you’re talking about is the Semper Stone.”

I’m having trouble breathing and it seems that Nuala has taken note of it, at least judging by the way she rushes to my side and helps me stay upright. “Thank you, Dame Gothel,” I manage to squeeze out. “We’ll be taking our leave now.”

She stops me with another chuckle. “You know, you act tough, little one, but I could taste all the fear in your blood.”

I just blink at her.

“You’re scared of being a fae. Scared of your own power.” She pauses before she adds, “But is that really how you want to live your life?”

I frown, but she obviously doesn’t expect me to answer because the door to her house opens with a thud, signaling it’s time for us to leave. I have to fight to make it outside, even with Nuala’s help, as the witch’s words echo in my head. Not almost, she said when I mentioned the bloodbath that nearly happened in 2005. Notalmost.

Chapter twenty-eight

Aweekafterourvisit to Dame Gothel, I have another training session scheduled with the Vipers. I feel like I’ll only be getting myself into more trouble by actually showing up, but I don’t let it stop me. I get up at the crack of dawn, again, and make my way to the training grounds with my shoulders slumped and my face taking on a more sour look with each step. It’s haunted every moment of my waking life since it was revealed to me.

That my parents have probably been dead for a really long time and that it’s more than likely that they were killed in some horrible bloodbath.

No wonder I get that feeling when my mother visits me in my nightmares, looking at me, without ever blinking, with eyes full of some secret anguish.

Of course, I think to myself as I approach the training grounds, it would be nice if I got something else out of Dame Gothel, other than trauma and the name of a stone that apparently does nothing at all and doesn’t seem to have any connection whatsoever to the Trials. Nuala and I would know. We’ve searchedeverywhere. The only thing we’ve found is that there’s another name that the stone goes by. The Mhaenal Stone, that same stone I read about weeks ago. But it’s so insignificant that there’s only two mentions of it, both in some historiography of Grimm Academy.

So it’s absolutely delightful that on top of all that, I need to spend time among the Vipers again.

And I absolutely need to. Even if our visit answered all our questions, which it didn’t, there’d still be the matter of the Second Round of the Trials, which is barely a month away, on April 30th. And as much as I don’t believe the Vipers will intentionally help me get better at Magic, I’m hoping that just being around them and watching them train will improve my chances of surviving.

When I finally see them, splayed out on the only couple of benches on the entire training grounds, I breathe a sigh of relief. Their stuff strewn casually all over the low table in the center, they’re laughing as they listen to Harry read something to them from his phone. They seem, well, not pissed, and they haven’t started without me.

The chatter dies down a bit as they turn to watch me approach. I notice the way Leo looks at me, a frown etched into his forehead. But when Sarya says, “Who do we have here?” and the tone of her voice is not menacing, I almost crack a smile.

“Notsomeone who likes to get up at dawn, that’s for sure,” I say, attempting to start making friends with them. Although, I’d settle for becomingformerenemies as well.

“We were just reading about you,” Harry starts as I take a seat, forcing myself to leavesome, not too much space between them and myself.

I open my mouth, but Zelda rushes to say, “Yeah, and it seems like you’re someone much more interesting than we thought.”

I’ve never seen her look intrigued before. It’s also the first time she’s ever addressed me. She’s smiling at me, but I’m sensing a trap. “Really? How so?”

Harry practically barks with delight as he holds his phone up and starts reading loudly and performatively. “Fascinated by the story of Quinn Longborn, the mediocre Scion turned the only surviving Olarel? Well, let me tell you the truth that no one wants to admit.”

“No, read that last bit, H,” Zelda cuts in.

As he pauses to scroll, I dig my nails into the palms of my hand, trying to keep it cool. It was my choice to stay out of the loop with the tabloids, but I guess they’re taking it away from me. Chill, Quinn, chill.

“So, we have a young penniless woman who claims to be of noble origin, but there are no records of her parents even existing. And then we see that same young woman throw herself, time and again, at our prince? Is that really not enough for us to see the plain truth behind all that seductive glimmer? That Quinn Longborn is just a modern-day version of the Princess Anastasia wannabe trying to play a trick on her wealthy,supposedgrandmother.”

By the time he’s done, I can feel my cheeks burning from all the rage and for a second, I think the world around me turns liquid. There’s a moment of silence before I manage to squeeze out, “Had your fun?”

“At least now we know,” Leo surprises me by speaking, “why you wanted to join our little club.” There’s venom in his eyes.

I start getting up. “I don’t give a shit what you know or don’t know,” I say to him in a tense voice and I turn to the others. “If you’re done playing Gossip Girls, I’d like to start training.”

“Sure,” Sarya drawls, craning her neck to point at a table a ways off, strewn with all kinds of weapons. “Today we thought we’d practice a little hand-to-hand combat. See that mallet over there?”

“I think I do.”

“We need you to get it here,” she says as she throws me a vicious smile, “but you have to stay where you’re standing.”