Page 13 of The Stone Curse
Outpost Ten was the elites’ home when they weren’t at the academy. It had been Serath’s home. “I want to come with you.”
Orix’s gaze flicked to me. “I’m sorry, I can’t take you. You’re our only Basque and not fully qualified as an elite yet.”
I didn’t have the energy to argue. “Fine.”
Silence fell, and the pressure of everyone’s regard made my scalp itch. My beast shifted, irritated by the attention. The dining room table was suddenly too full, the air too thick.
“I’m going to go check on Varsa.” I fixed a smile on my face as I pushed my chair back. “I’ll see you guys later. Thank you for the amazing dinner. It was just what I needed.”
The looks on their faces told me that my smile wasn’t fooling anyone, but no one called me out on it as I crossed the room to the stairwell exit.
I made it to the ground floor before the clatter of boots behind me pulled me up short.
Curi joined me by the door. “Mind if I tag along?”
“That depends. Are you tagging along to keep an eye on me or just because you want to hang out?”
“Will you hurt me if I say it’s a little of both, but more the hanging out thing?” He gave me a disarming smile, and I rolled my eyes.
“Fine, tag along.”
The night was crisp, cool, and filled with starlight and a moon that was almost full.
We walked in companionable silence, and I took a moment to study the strong, clean lines of his brutally handsome face, softened by blue tendrils of hair that had escaped from their band to brush his cheekbones. His face had become a comfort to me, and I couldn’t recall ever disliking it. Disliking him.
I bumped my shoulder against his arm. “I’m glad we’re friends.”
He glanced down at me, his expression serious. “Yeah, me too, Cam.” He reached for my hand, and I allowed him to take it.
The grounds were dotted with goyles going about their evening, and we garnered a few curious looks. Heck, we were famous now. The cadets that survived a graynite attack.
“Are you going to square things with Levi when he moves into the tower later?”
“Yeah, I’ll speak to him.”
“He’s taking Serath’s room, by the way, but I can take it instead if you want.”
I ignored the pang of resentment. “No. No, that’s fine. He needs a room. It’s just a room.”
Serath’s room. His space. But he was never coming back.
Curi squeezed my hand. “We’re going to get through this, Cam. We’re going to make those bastards pay.”
I stepped closer to him so that our arms touched and I could rest my head on his shoulder. “Thank you for being here. For being with me.”
“Always.”
Willowman’s cottage came into view a moment later. The windows were dark, and the place looked empty. Willowman had asked me to keep an eye on Varsa, but I’d been too busy to check in today. What if he was hurt?
The door was ajar. Heart pounding, I pushed it open and stepped into the dark, empty living room.
“Varsa?”
His bedroom was somewhere at the back of the house, but I’d never ventured that far. Never needed to, but now…
Curi followed me through the door at the back of the living room and down a short corridor with three more doors coming off it—a bathroom, an empty bedroom that smelled of incense, and finally a closed door.
I knocked. “Varsa?”
