Page 21 of A Court of Ash and Midnight
I’m not sure how, but even from this distance, I can tell it’s Daemon. It’s something in the posture, in the way he holds himself.
And his eyes are unmistakably locked on mine.
As I watch, he turns and strides away, leaving me to wonder why the traitor of Aureon is watching me, and why I’m certain, despite what everyone keeps telling me about his inability to leave the castle grounds, that he’s the one who brought me here.
The question, of course, iswhy?
Chapter Ten
The rest ofthe day passes in an exhausting blur.
I go to classes that cover magic, poisons and anecdotes, the royal houses and courts of Aureon, battle strategies, outdoor survival, espionage, and regional slang and dialects. Other than espionage, which I’m a natural at after all my years of blending in and lying, I am absolutely worthless. When I finally reach my room after the last class, I’m beyond frustrated and my nerves are wrecked.
What is the point of treating me like a normal student? I’m not going to become a Guardian, for about a hundred reasons. Namely, I’m human, not fae. Second, even if I did want to be a Guardian, I would need to have started six years ago. Most trainees become Guardians by age twenty-five, after nine years of training, eight if they’re exceptional. And finally, I have no desire to be a Guardian. Other than Professor Julian, and maybe Toryn, every single one of them seems to be a pretentious cock.The air of self-importance and self-righteousness is so thick I could cut it with a dagger.
When I flop down on my bed with a loud groan, my new little friend makes a purring sound and flies down from her perch on top of the curtain rod over my window. I’d nearly forgotten she was here, so for a moment it startles me, but then I realize it’s actually… nice. I’ve never had a pet before. Not that Trix is a pet exactly. Or even mine to keep. I can feel her walking toward me across the bed cover, dragging her oversized wings behind her. Once she gets close enough, she wet-noses me like a cat. I jerk reflexively, and she jumps back a few inches. With a laugh, I reach over and run my finger along the back of her head, which she seems to enjoy.
“What do you eat other than fruit, I wonder?”
I hadn’t had a chance to bring her anything today with all my classes, but she doesn’t seem to be hungry, so I imagine she must be able to fend for herself. After all, I’d only just shown up yesterday. Thinking of food makes me realize I’m absolutely starving. The last thing I want is to see everyone again in the dining room. Maybe I can sneak off to the kitchen with Carmeline and the others again…
As if on cue, I hear the dinner bell being rung on the first floor of the castle, and I force myself upright, which seems to disgruntle the little cat-dragon. I catch a glimpse of myself very faintly in the glass of the window. It surprises me, and it makes me curious. I haven’t had a real home for as long as I can remember, and so I’ve never possessed a mirror. The only time I’d ever caught glimpses of myself had been in the occasional tavern, or making a delivery at someone’s home. And those times, I had been pretending to be a boy, so I’d only glanced to make sure my disguise was effective.
Now, being here in this place, it is utterly strange that I can drop the façade. And I also find myself wondering what otherpeople think when they see me. I’m no longer smudged in soot and ash, and my hair isn’t pinned tightly behind my head. The reflection looking back at me actually looks like a woman, and I’m not really sure how to process that.
I turn, a breath I didn’t realize I was holdingwhooshingout of my lungs, and I head for the door to my room. When I swing it open, I nearly trip on a package sitting right outside it. It’s long and narrow, a box made of wood. The surface is polished and inlaid with green stone in intricate patterns. I stare at it a moment, puzzled and entranced.
Perhaps it’s something Professor Julian dropped off for me?
I reach down and pick up the box, retreating a couple steps into the room. I set it down on the table next to my bed and run my fingers along the sides of it, looking for a latch or release. Trix watches me curiously from where she’s curled up on the far corner of the bed, looking sleepy eyed as if she’s about to take a nap. My fingers find something at the back, a small button. At my touch, the lid lifts back on a spring hinge, revealing an interior of black satin, and something silver…
There’s a shriek from Trix and she launches off the bed at me. I stumble backward, instinctively covering my face with both hands. In the process, I tumble through the doorway out into the hall. I hear a yell and am vaguely aware of a group of trainees off in the distance, visible in my peripheral. But I don’t turn to look, because I see something else quite curious.
Something that has me scrambling backward farther out into the hallway, away from my room.
Through my open doorway, I can still see the wooden box on my bed. Rising from the interior, from the fancy satin lining and the silver dagger that’s sitting inside, is a cloud of black mist.
I’ve never been given a gift before, most certainly nothing arriving in a polished box inlaid with crystal, but I’m fairly confident it’s not supposed to spew noxious fog that looks like…
“Poison!” shrieks a woman behind me.
“Get one of the professors!” says one of the other trainees.
Hands slide under my armpits, shaking me from my shocked stupor as someone hauls me up off the ground. I look around, suddenly horrified at the thought that I’ve crushed Trix in my fall, but then I catch sight of her perched on one of the rafters down the hall.
“You need to go to the healing ward.”
I realize the person that lifted me is Toryn. He turns me around and his eyes search mine, as if trying to determine my wellbeing with a look.
“You seem dazed. Let’s go.”
I don’t protest physically as he practically drags me down the hall, but I mumble, “I—I think I’m fine,” to which he doesn’t respond. His lips are set in a grim line.
The healing ward is on the first floor, on the opposite side of the building from the dining hall. A small crowd follows behind us on the way, and I can hear people whispering loudly.
“Black magic…”
“…someone wants her dead…”
