Page 129 of The Stone Secret
I knocked softly on his door, and he answered almost immediately, as if he’d been waiting.
He was still dressed in his elite outfit, dark hair windswept, powerful frame silhouetted by the moonlight that filled the room behind him.
He towered over me, solid and safe, and it took every ounce of will not to step closer and wrap my arms around him.
“You shouldn’t be down here,” he said gruffly.
“I know.”
“I’m sorry about Jana. I wasn’t planning on you meeting her like that.”
“Or ever.”
“Sorry?”
“I know, Serath. I know the truth.”
His left eye flinched. “I don’t understand.”
“I overheard the others talking about it earlier. You’re not really sleeping with her.”
He exhaled through his nose, the corners of his mouth dimpling. “It doesn’t change anything.”
“Yes. Yes, it does. Because the awful pit inside me is now gone. My beast can focus on the exam tomorrow. I can stop feeling as if my heart is being torn from my chest.”
His throat bobbed.
He was wrong. Everything had changed. “I know you thought you were doing the right thing. I understand why you felt you had to. I know that the forces drawing us together are getting stronger every day, and I know that it won’t be easy to fight them, but I promise you that I’ll do my part. From now on, I’ll respect the boundaries too. It’s not all on you, Serath. I’m sorry you felt that it was.” He took a step toward me, but I backed up. “A few more weeks, and we can go our separate ways. We can do this.”
His bright eyes dulled. “Cameron, I—”
“I know.” I smiled up at him, taking a moment to soak in his beauty as it shone down on me. “Wish me luck for later?”
His shoulders drooped, the muscles in his body unknitting as he relaxed. “You don’t need luck. You have the skill, and I’ll be there at the finish line to celebrate with you.”
“Thank you.” I walked away, every step a shard in my abdomen as I fought my primal instinct to run into his arms.
Knowing that he hadn’t betrayed our bond, knowing that he was still mine had removed the pain, but it had also lifted the barrier he’d put between us.
It wouldn’t be easy to build and maintain a new one, but I was certain that we could do it. Together.
* * *
The sun wasan hour from setting, and the sky was tinged crimson. The iron gates of the academy loomed in front of us, open wide enough to allow us to spill out.
Farnell stood in that aperture, his back to the outside world, his focus on us.
Around me, my fellow cadets murmured and shuffled, eager to get this show on the road.
Today, we were all dressed in lastonflex, blue with yellow cuffs and collars. The colors of a cadet. If we made initiate, we’d graduate to navy. General would be bottle green. For me, it would always be navy, whether I passed with a high score or not, but that fact made me more determined to prove myself. To prove that I deserved the navy colors.
“Cadets, today is a big day,” Farnell said. “If you’re worthy, you’ll make it to the finish line and be allocated either general or initiate. If you scrape through or if you’re carried, then you’ll be allocated to a spot in administration, and trust me, death is preferable to that fate.”
“Wow,” Ginia muttered. “Harsh.”
My gaze flicked to the elites, standing in a row beside Farnell, hands clasped behind their backs like good soldiers. Orix caught my eye and winked, but Serath kept his gaze straight ahead. Selas had her chin tucked in, and there was no sign of Prasan.
“You will be monitored,” Farnell said. “You will be watched, and your performance scored.”
