Page 60 of Riftborne
“I know the Riftborne gave her blood, but none of us should trust her. She’d slit our throat the second we turned our back. My father’s seen it firsthand.” The comment came from several chairs down. My head shot towards it reflexively, to find the pale-haired boy standing and glaring at me. The one sitting next to him, with jet-black hair and tawny skin, was looking back and forth between us, nodding slightly. My blood ran cold at the directness. I’d always known how they truly felt about us, but I’d never seen someone admit it so boldly.
“Your prejudices will get you nowhere here, Baelor. Your father served this Kingdom well, but times have changed. You must all learn to trust each other. Otherwise, we’re all doomed,” Lieutenant Mercer snapped. “There are bigger problems before us.”
My cheeks flushed.
Baelor took his seat with a clenched jaw.
“Fia, please know that we aren’t all bigots.” A freckled face peaked out behind Raine’s shoulder, toffee-colored hair nearly falling into his eyes. “I’m Briar Glennwood, by the way.”
“I said no interruptions until the end of the session!” The Lieutenant shouted and we all jumped in our seats, turning to attention. I took a deep breath and swallowed the words that wanted to tumble out.
Mercer cleared his throat. “As I was saying, for our training to proceed, you all must know what we are up against.”
He moved to the rear of the room, turning his back to us. I heard the tinkling of glass before someone slid into the chair directly next to mine.
“I’m Raine Ampere.” She spoke under her breath, shooting a look over her shoulder to make sure the Lieutenant was still distracted. “Finally, a breath of estrogen. Brace yourself for anoverdose ofmale wisdomand debates on the superior focus. You may just be my savior. And most importantly, ignore Baelor. The rest of us do.” I huffed a laugh but was silenced by Lieutenant Mercer walking back towards the front of the class with a clear glass of water and what seemed to be an inkwell.
He held up the glass in one hand and the inkwell in the other.
Slowly, he poured the ink into the water. The thick liquid blossomed out into a dark void of shapes inside the clear glass, billowing into smoke-like patterns.
“This is what we’re up against,” he said, voice sharp and direct. “Recently, there have been a series of direct attacks on our Western bases from creatures that look just like this.” Mercer took a breath before continuing.
“We call them Wraiths. They move through darkness and shadows, and are practically impossible to catch.” He observed the cup in his hand before setting it aside.
I saw a hand shoot up out of the corner of my eye. It belonged to the one boy who had yet to make a sound. He seemed much smaller than the other recruits, and his raven hair was in a state of disarray.
“Yes, Draven?”
“Where did they come from?” he asked nervously.
“There is a lot we don’t know. Considering they appeared out of nowhere, we assume they are not from our world. Perhaps they created some gateway into Sídhe, a tear in the fabric of reality. We know little of their kind.”
I shifted in my seat, looking around the room to see if anyone else was concerned about Wraith-like creatures spilling in through a tear between worlds or if this was more of a normal occurrence.
The room was silent. I swallowed hard. No, this did not seem like a normal occurrence.
Everyone was on the edge of their seat, save for Baelor, who was now twisting a quill casually through his fingers in an easy recline.
“We must assume they are here to try to take something vital from our land or worse, try to take over Sídhe as a whole.”
“So how do we exterminate them?” Baelor interrupted.
The Lieutenant hummed to himself, “Yes, how does one kill a void of imperceptible speed and darkness? Weapons seem to do little to nothing against them. A large reason for General Ashford to amp up such a special unit.”
Baelor scoffed. “So no one has been able to kill one yet? It has been some time since a Soleil fought on the frontlines. They won’t be able to escape my flames.”
“Mm, yes, the focus of the Soleil family line burns brightly in you. I’m sure General Ashford has similar hopes,” Mercer said flatly.
Baelor sat back in his seat, taking the compliment.
Raine raised her hand before speaking, “You mentioned having an idea of what they were after?”
“We have our suspicions. It seems they crave power. They’re drawn to it, at least.” Mercer crossed his arms. “Has anyone heard of arcanite?”
I slowly raised my hand.
“It’s a conductor for Essence, right?” I asked, voice not as confident as I would have liked. Baelor sighed from a few seats over, loudly shifting his weight.
