Page 4 of The Stone Curse
My blood simmered, and it took every ounce of will to soothe it. “Where are the others?”
“Headed to the main building. I volunteered to come get you.” We headed down the stairs. “Any news on Selas?”
“I spoke to my uncle last night. She’s stable thanks to the antivenom that Willowman brewed up, but she’s badly wounded. They’re not sure if and when she’ll be able to return to active duty.”
Which left Orix as the only active elite. There was only one way forward, and we’d waited a week for it to be confirmed.
This meeting was more than just about rehashing the events of the attack. This meeting was about rebuilding the only team that could take down the monster who’d ripped out my heart.
“Are you ready for this, Curi?”
“I’ve never been more ready in my life.”
Good, because if all went to plan, I wouldn’t be the only one taking the elite exam in two weeks. Curi, Sharniza, and the next Halle in line, whoever that was, would be taking it with me.
The main buildingwas buzzing with goyles, all here to hover, to get a listen in on the proceedings that were about to take place. Personally, I thought this meeting was a waste of time. Everyone involved had given their statements. The goyles who’d come to our rescue had seen what happened. This…this was a waste of time, but it was protocol. An informal face-to-face fact-finding exercise is what they called it, but there was nothing informal about the cloaked and hooded alchemists that crawled over campus.
They’d arrived the day after the attack, and it was now clear that they had no immediate plans to leave. Our security had been upgraded by mind readers, a precaution to ensure that any other moles were rooted out quickly.
Goyles stopped talking to look our way as we passed, then the whispers began. Curi’s grip on my hand tightened, not the grip of a lover like we’d faked the past few weeks, but of a friend loaning support in the face of controversy. Because my secret was out.
My reaction to Serath’s death on the battlefield had been witnessed by all. I’d blacked out, and the moments after were a blur, but I’d heard the accounts whispered on campus and relayed to me by a stone-faced Sharniza.
According to them, I’d torn off my clothes and gouged welts into my arms and face. I’d been incoherent. Crazed.
The actions of a grieving mate.
My secret was out, but Serath was dead, and my sire had been true to his word, reminding all that would listen that they needed me.
I was still here.
Unpunished by them but ruined by fate.
“Can’t believe they hid it all this time…”
“A mercy he’s dead?—”
A low growl rumbled up my throat, head whipping around to face the speaker.
The goyle recoiled, holding up his hands, but my beast was awake, pushing against my skin, incensed, because how fucking dare he? How fucking?—
Shadows bloomed in my path, coalescing into a familiar form. “No,” Derek said. “We not do this, Cam.”
The rage bled out of me, and my shoulders slumped. I was tired. So fucking tired.
Derek put his arm around me and drew me close. “We get through this. Together.”
I looked up into his beautiful diamond eyes filled with love, compassion, and regret, and couldn’t help but wonderwhat if. What if I hadn’t made Yarrow promise to keep Derek away from the cadet exams? Would it have made a difference if he’d been able to get to me?
Would Serath still be alive?
But these thoughts were redundant.
The past couldn’t be altered.
All we could do now was move forward. One moment to lean into Derek, to squeeze Curi’s hand, to draw strength, then I was standing on my own two feet, untethered, chin up as we walked past all the prying eyes and whispering mouths, up the stairs and down a long corridor to the assembly chamber.
Shar, Touron, Ginia, and Palia waited by the assembly room doors along with several other cadets who’d survived the attack. Waxen and Hawke were among them.
