Page 30 of Daughter of No Worlds

“—And you know how it is, things are just so tense with the invasion of Tairn and all the hostility in Vernaya. Ascended only hope it won’t go to war— Oh!” Willa stopped short. Two sets of eyes turned to me. “Tisaanah. Good morning.”

“Good afternoon is more accurate,” Max said.

“How are you feeling? Oh, your hair…” Her voice trailed off. I wondered if it was good or bad that my shortened hair was enough to reduce Willa to silence.

“Good morning,” I said. “I am much better. Thank you.”

“I meant to make it here last night, but with everything that happened…” She let out a breath, her small, plump mouth thinning.

Something was off.

“What?” I asked.

“Our oh-so-great Queen Sesri’s paranoia cost a lot of people their lives last night,” Max said.

“Paranoia?” Willa’s brow furrowed. “These are difficult times, Max. We can’t dismiss it as paranoia. She’s doing the best she can, under the circumstances.”

Par-uh-noy-uh.

I knew nothing about the queen of Ara — until now, not even her name. The most recent history that my books covered was more than two decades old at this point. Still, I understood what Willa was saying before I walked into the room: war. War could destroy all of my plans.

Or…it could be a chance to advance faster than I would otherwise.

That thought put a nauseous pit in my stomach, and I hated myself for considering the possibility. I was very young when the Threllian Lords conquered Nyzerene, but some echo of my memory still recalled the smell of the capital burning, the chill of the night as my mother and I fled. War destroyed my home. Scattered my people to the plains. Sent me into slavery.

But it also presented an opportunity. I didn’t have the luxury of ignoring that.

Before I could ask more, Willa shook her head as if to clear the unpleasant thoughts and spoke again. “Anyway.That’snot what I came here for. I wanted to bring you some clothes and take a look at those wounds again since you left so suddenly, and all. I wasn’t really expecting her to take you away right then and there, if I’m being honest. That’s— not normally how things are done.”

“Don’t bother,” Max cut in, before I could respond. “She’s not staying. In fact, this is an excellent opportunity for you to take her back to the Towers.”

Ugh.I didn’t understand why he had to be such an ass about it.

Willa’s fingers played around each other. Max, I realized, made hernervous. Interesting.

Max gave her a deadpan stare. “I’m serious, Willa.”

“Well— this poses a problem—”

“The only problem anyone should be talking about is the fact that I already told Nurano.” He threw up his hands. “How come no one ever discussesthatproblem?”

“I don’t care who trains,” I said, growing increasingly irritated with this discussion. “I will train with anyone. I only want to join the Orders.”

“See? Anyone could do it.”

Willa picked more ferociously at her fingernails. “Apprenticeships were assigned six months ago, Max, and with everything happening right now, there’s no one else available who—”

“There’s nowaythat’s actually true.”

Willa looked so startled at being outright accused of lying that I felt bad for her. “Itistrue. I checked.”

Shit.I had still been holding out hope that Max wasn’tactuallymy only option.

“If you don’t do it,” she went on, “then no one can, at least not for another five months when the current crop of senior apprentices—”

“Then she can wait for five months.”

I shook my head, fiercely. “Icannotwait five months.”

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