Page 23 of A Court of Ash and Midnight
“I just—I came to awareness in a street. It was the middle of the night, there weren’t any people around. I wandered around until the sun came up.”
“You were fourteen, yes?”
I nod.
“What city was this?”
“Terlian.”
“Oh.” He looks surprised. “In Kierevale. And when did you first realize someone was—” He pauses, clearly rephrasing for delicacy. “—looking for you?”
“About a week after I woke up.”
Professor Julian paces back and forth, chin down, gazing at the floor with unfocused eyes. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why you? All these years?”
I let out a mirthless laugh. “Welcome to the thoughts that plague my existence.”
“You don’t speak like a commoner,” he says, then his gaze darts up to me sheepishly. “That is to say, your vocabulary is advanced. You must have been raised in a wealthy family.”
I’d had people make similar comments over the years. Working at forges, I’d been told I had afancy mouthmany a time, at least early on. I’d quickly learned to talk as little as possible, and occasionally threw local slang or an accent into my conversations. Since I’d traveled all over the eastern half of Aureon, I knew them all.
“No more questions?” I ask after a long pause.
Professor Julian shakes his head. “Not at the moment.”
“My turn, then.” I lock gazes with him. “Will I be safe here?”
“I’ll ensure a guard is posted at your door, and we’ll double the guard around the perimeter wall. This won’t happen again.”
I’m not sure I have as much faith as he does, but I suppose that’s as good as it’s going to get. There’s still one thing I have going for me here. For the first time, I have someone determined to find out why I’m being hunted. Maybe, after all these years, I can finally get some answers.
“I suppose you don’t want to dine in the hall tonight?”
I sigh. I don’t, but the rumors are only going to grow more wild if I hide myself away in my room. “I’ll go,” I say, though my voice isn’t at all confident.
“Good. I’ll escort you.”
I get off the bed, and we head for the entrance. Professor Julian opens the door, stepping back and gesturing for me to go first. But someone is standing there, blocking the path.
“Daemon!” Professor Julian says. “You shouldn’t be here.”
But Daemon isn’t looking at the Professor. He’s looking at me, his eyes burning with strange intensity. Our gazes lock, and I feel that same heat and connection I’d felt in the garden. The same familiarity and the same thrill of trepidation. The same sureness that his eyes are the ones I’d seen two nights before.
“Daemon?” Professor Julian asks, this time a warning in his tone.
Finally, Daemon tears his eyes from mine, mumbles something that might be an apology to the Professor, and then strides off down the hall.
The words of the students from earlier ring through my head.“Only one person here would do such a thing…”
My heart pounds as I watch Daemon’s dark cloak billowing behind him as he stalks away. Why had he come to the healing ward? To see if I was okay? Or to see if Iwasn’t?
Maybe no one had broken into one of the most secure castles in all of Aureon.
Maybe my enemies are inside the walls.
Interlude
The girl hadbeen awake for a week when they came for her.
