Page 77 of House of Ydril

“We’re busy,” she tells me as soon as she sees me.

“Busy doing what?”

Longborn looks away, but when I turn my eyes onto Nuala, she just spills it. “I heard Leo has a meeting with some Italian and we read somewhere that the stone might have been located in Italy at one point so we just want to see the guy. They’re supposed to meet here.”

When I turn back to her, Longborn is throwing daggers at her friend. I let out a deep sigh, making her look at me. “Follow me,” I say and the two of them do it, albeit hesitantly.

I lead them to the West common room and stop at the door. “It’s here they’re meeting.” I motion for them to take a look and they peer through the archway and into the room, where Leo is standing by a rack of suits, browsing as the Italian tailor recites their qualities.

“It’s said that if you really want a good suit,” I tell the two of them, “you have to have the Italians make it for you.”

When Longborn turns to me, she has a victorious smile plastered on her face.

But before she can even open her mouth, I say, “He really is a tailor. His name is Enzo Russo and he’s not even an Original.”

The smile disappears. “So you’ve already checked him out?”

I scoff. “Of course I did. And you should think twice before you underestimate me like you did just now.”

She just blinks at me for a second and then says, “I guess you’re right, sorry.”

Appeased, I open my mouth to say it’s fine, but the look on her face changes. Now there’s spite in it. “See what a normal person does when they do something wrong?”

That gets me instantly fuming. But I draw in a deep, long breath and I turn to Nuala. “Would you excuse us?”

I don’t wait for her to leave. I nudge Longborn into one of the empty side hallways and I stand in front of her. She folds her arms, waiting for me to speak.

It surprises me, how difficult it is to squeeze out the words, especially with those eyes bearing into me. “Look,” I start, unable to stop myself from hissing, “not saying you’re sorry doesn’t mean you’re not… sorry.”

She quirks her eyebrow at me.

“People make mistakes,” I add because she apparently didn’t understand me.

“True,” she says, “but when theydomake them, they need to apologize for them, don’t you think?”

I just look at her for a moment, fuming. “Fuck you,” I snap at her and turn to walk away.

She grabs me by the arm and I immediately stop. “Alright,” she starts as she walks around to face me. “You say people make mistakes. Do you consider yourself to be… people?”

“I do,” I say through gritted teeth. Still, her voice is softer and that’s making some of the rage start dying down.

“Great,” she replies. And she doesn’t seem to be sarcastic. “Nuala and I aren’t having any luck with the info on the stone, but we’ll leave the investigation to you.”

I turn to look at her, the remaining tension in me dissipating when I see that the look she’s giving me has softened as well.

“And tomorrow,” she starts a bit hesitantly, making my ears prick up, “maybe you could try teaching me to defend myself from whatever moves you’ve got. I guess I could really use the practice.”

I don’t say anything, I just nod and walk away. But there’s warmth spreading throughout my body, the kind I’m not used to feeling.

Chapter thirty-four

ThewarmAprildaymakes things seem so innocent, but tomorrow is casting such a shadow over everything, I’m unable to stop myself from pacing around the training grounds. When Nuala finally meets me, the sun is already setting, making the ground wet from rain glimmer in the light.

As my friend walks up to me, I see that she’s confused. But I was expecting that, considering I didn’t tell her why I wanted us to meet.

Once she’s in front of me, I smile and say, “I thought you could be the one training with me today.”

She folds her arms and quirks an eyebrow at me. “I thought Andreas specifically told younotto do it the day before.”

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