Page 58 of Kingdom of Shadows and Wings

Once, when I was ten, Cook prepared butterscotch bread pudding, Leesa’s favorite dessert. That day, my sister, feeling a little greedy, decided she didn’t want to share. So she came up with the brilliant idea of lacing my stew with wormwort. A tiny bit of the bitter plant causes minor nausea and stomach upset, but my sister was unfamiliar with the dosing. She added too much, and I ended up spending two entire days and nights on the bathing chamber floor with severe stomach cramps and the runs.

As soon as she realized how awful I felt, Leesa burst into tears and confessed. Mother yelled about how her rash actions put me in danger. She forced Leesa to take care of me while I remained ill. Cook was so horrified, she refused to serve Leesa dessert for two weeks, but I deemed Leesa chastened enough and snuck her bites of mine when no one was looking.

I’d give anything for Leesa to be sitting here with us.

My chest aches as I stand. Olive’s joking interaction with Theo drew unwanted attention, and heads swivel as we carry our trays toward the bins. One particular group whispers and tracks us with keen interest when we pass, and an alarm bell clangs in my head.

I tug on Olive’s sleeve. “Let’s hurry and get out of here.”

Too slow. On the next step, water blasts me in the face, squirting into my eyes and temporarily blinding me. Olive’s squeal tells me someone hit her too. A gust of wind slams into our backs, and we both stumble. Our plates fly off our trays and shatter on the floor. A second, stronger gust hits Olive, pushing her to her knees.

I crouch beside her and grab her hand. Blood drips from where a glass shard pierced her palm. “Are you okay?”

She yanks her hand away. “I’m fine.”

Her wobbling chin belies her words, and my hands curl into fists.Bastards.

I straighten and whirl. “Who did this?” Plenty of people snicker and elbow each other, but no one claims responsibility. “Pretty cowardly, attacking from behind.”

Mark Levine struts past, sneering. “Not me, but I wish I had. I’m not the only one who thinks we should start the search for what happened to the dragon by looking at the traitors in our midst.”

Dropping his tray into the bin, he deliberately grinds his boot into the glass next to Olive’s knee and kicks the shards at her before leaving. I make a move to follow, unsure of my plan other than I’m pissed on Olive’s behalf and want payback, but Olive grabs my tunic to stop me. “Seriously, just leave it. Chasing after him will only make things worse.”

Only when I notice the wet shimmer in her eyes do I relent. “Fine,” I huff, “but just so you know, chasing after him and introducing his nose to my fist would do wonders for my mood.”

The remark prompts a soggy giggle. “Mine too. Another day, maybe.”

“It’s a date.”

Abel and Nick arrive to help us clean up the mess. After we finish and leave the mess hall, Abel pats Olive on the shoulder. “Don’t listen to Levine. He’s such a dick that he’ll be lucky if his alicorn doesn’t gore him to death before the trials.”

I grin. “Thanks, Abel. That heartwarming visual is just what I needed to make it through the day.”

Olive manages a fragile, anemic smile. “Look at you, turning bloodthirsty already. Leesa would be proud.” Her face falls. “If it was just Levine, I wouldn’t care, but he’s not even the one who did it. A lot of people seemed mad at me this morning over the dragon dying, as if I had something to do with it. Gallora only knows why I’d want to hurt a dragon.”

Abel drags a hand down his face. “That’s ridiculous.”

Nick casts a dark glance at the ground. “Maybe, but that’s not going to stop the rumors from flying.”

Olive slumps. Abel glares in Nick’s direction and wraps his arm around Olive’s shoulders. “Rumors, schmumors. People will run their mouths for a day or two, and then everything will die down again like always.”

Nick opens his mouth like he wants to argue but remains silent. During weapons training, he and Abel stick close to us. I hold my own with the throwing stars, hitting the target more often than I miss. When we switch to swords, I manage not to disgrace myself. I have a lot of work to do to catch up to the rest of the class. No surprise there. The big bombshell, though, is discovering how much I enjoy working with weapons to improve my skills. Even in my short time on campus, my progress has become noticeable. I relish the sweeping sense of fulfillment that rushes through every time I hit a target closer to the center or manage to block a sword parry that I couldn’t the day before.

I’m starting to understand the appeal Flighthaven held for Leesa. Not that I fool myself into believing I belong here.

I’m just not sure I belong back at Castle Axton either.

History passes in a blur, with my head too full of my upcoming caper to focus on the names of old kings and queens and the dates of skirmishes.

Lunch proves a repeat of breakfast. Lots of conjecture. More ugly glares cast in Olive’s direction. I try to take a page from her book and ignore them, but the comments I overhear about the Kamor sympathizer sabotaging and killing the dragon make the strategy damn hard. With the upcoming trial hanging like a sharpened axe over my head, I slip out early and head to the alicorn stable to groom Zephyr. If repeated exposure to alicorns will get me flying faster, then I’ll make as many trips to the stable as possible. Though I hope to be gone by the trial, I need to plan for the worst. And I want to give my all for however long I’m here.

In magic training, I avoid getting cornered by Elijah and Mark by buddying up with Theo. My fire display is no better than the previous class, but Theo distracts me from my abysmal performance by informing me of tonight’s plan. He’ll lure Elijah out with the promise of booze in another fledgling’s room on a different floor, leaving the door unlocked for me. Since the rooms are small and come with little to inspect, he estimates that should give me plenty of time to search.

The chance to potentially learn more about what happened to Leesa keeps me from taking Resnick’s disappointed expression as he supervises my subpar magic to heart. Partway through class, Torno shows up. She observes me, too, but if my performance underwhelms her, she does a better job of hiding her displeasure.

By dinnertime, Olive’s good spirits have returned. She insists on helping me sneak into Elijah’s room, so she, Theo, and I sit with our heads close together and maintain low voices. Partly to keep our plan a secret from outsiders and partly to prevent Nick from overhearing. His reaction when the idea arose made his disapproval clear, and not flaunting our rule-breaking in front of him seems like the respectful thing to do.

My stomach writhes with nerves on the walk back to the dorm. Olive parts ways with me on the first floor, hooking her arm through Theo’s and accompanying him to his room as planned. I climb the stairs to the second floor and head into my own room to wait, perching on the edge of the bed before hopping up and pacing back and forth. Anxiety wars with excitement. This could be it. I could find a clue in Elijah’s room that points to Leesa’s whereabouts.

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