Page 27 of Grave Situation

Oh, holy burning gods’ turds. Is he seriously playing childish politics right now? No wonder Master can’t stand him.

Wordlessly, Master Samoine takes the box out of his pocket and puts it back on the lectern, opening it. Then he smiles faintly—disparagingly—at Master Janssen. “Forgive me. Since the stone made its way to me initially, I assumed it wanted me to be its caretaker until the next part of its journey begins.”

The words are humble, but the tone implies that Master Janssen is an attention-seeking imbecile. I love my master so much.

“We don’t have time for this,” Rider Hearne barks, striding forward. “Stone, is Master Samoine your preferred guardian until Mage Silverbright begins his journey?”

~Yes~

“Excellent, that’s settled. Let’s not waste more time on nonsense.”

I eye him with new respect. Say what you will about riders, they have a certain way of getting things done. Too bad about the dragons.

While Master Janssen sputters, my master calmly pockets the box again.“Go now, before anyone can waylay you,”he urges.“Talk to Tia, then come to my chambers.”

I’m already sidling toward the exit. I don’t know how the councilors signal the guards outside, but the heavy doors begin to swing ponderously open, and I’m between them as soon as the gap is wide enough. I flip a quick wave of thanks at the guards, then head for my rooms. Tia’s waiting for me there, and what I have to tell her is best done in person.

It’s going to be a long night.

CHAPTER EIGHT

I don’t even makeit all the way across the gallery before I’m waylaid. Ambushed, you could say. I recognize the faces—they’re all people who normally would have been sitting in on a council meeting. Mage and healer apprentices to the councilors. Riders don’t have apprentices—their structure is more military-based—but they have aides and adjuncts or whatever they call them. Right now, they’re all crowding around me, demanding to know why I was allowed in the meeting when they weren’t.

“Your masters will tell you,” I promise. “They’re coming now. I have to go.” I shove through them all, ignoring the questions. Dammit, I don’t have time for this.

Rather than risk being stopped again, I sneak through some of the lesser-used passages to get to my room. It takes a little longer, but if a master stops me to ask questions, it won’t be quite as easy to fob them off.

When I finally get to the corridor outside my room, it’s no surprise to see Tia sitting on the floor, leaning against my door. She could have gone inside to wait for me—the wards on the door are keyed to allow her entry—but the effect of this is far more dramatic. She wants me to know how pissed off she is. I shut her out? She’s saying fine, you’ve literally shut me out.

Normally I’d appreciate the subtle messaging there, but today isn’t the day for one-upmanship between us. “Come inside. I have a lot to tell you, and then we have to go see my master.”

Wordlessly, she follows, waits until I’ve closed the door, then shoves me against it so hard, I see stars.

“Do. Not.Ever. Do that again. I’m not joking, Talon. Whatever happened to make you react that way, to make every fucking dragon in the valley suddenly get very agitated today, do not ever tell me ‘not now’ and cut me off and leave me to wait for hours, terrified that something happened to you.” Her forearm is against my throat—lightly, but the threat is real. Her eyes, so much like mine, are cold and calm. Anyone else might think she was merely angry, but I can feel her fear.

Fuck. I really am an asshole.

“I’m sorry.” I drop all barriers between us and let her see how genuinely true it is. “I didn’t intend to make you wait so long. Things kept happening, and all my attention had to be on what I was doing. I swear, Tia. I swear it wasn’t on purpose.”

A beat passes, and then she steps back. “Tell me.”

So I do. I start with the headache that made me detour through the Great Hall and tell her everything. At the mention of the life stone, her knees give way, and she sits right there on the floor. I don’t stop, joining her on the rug to tell the rest.

When I’m done, she turns her head and stares out the window. I’m pretty sure she’s talking to Leicht.

“So we’ve been volunteered for this, have we?” she says finally.

“I tried to get out of it.”

She scoffs. “You would. Most people dream of this kind of honor. Being a tool of prophecy? Going on a quest to find the one person who can save us all?”

“Most people are idiots.”

She shrugs. “True.” The silence stretches for another minute, then she sighs and gets to her feet. “I guess we better go see your master.”

I blink and scramble after her. “You don’t have more questions?”

“Of course I do. But you probably don’t know the answers, and even if you did, what difference would it make? In two days, you, me, and some healer we haven’t identified yet are heading south to find someone who can stop a zombie horde. That’s a fact. Between now and then, my job is to make sure Leicht and I are ready to deal with any trouble we might face on the road, including zombies, and to get us fully provisioned.” She pats my chest lightly. “You’re the brains in this little game, brother dear. I’m the brawn.”

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