Page 28 of Vardaesia
“Well, we wouldn’t want to give her the wrong idea, would we?” she managed to say, pushing Kaiden off the bed. “You heard the woman. I’m meant to be resting.”
Chuckling quietly as he stood, Kaiden leaned back down to brush his lips against her warm cheek—his affection now familiar, and not at all unwelcome.
“’Night, Alex,” he whispered into her ear before he rose again.
“’Night, Kaiden,” she whispered back. But then, remembering how he had arrived into her room, she quickly added, “Use the door this time.”
With humour dancing across his face, he turned and strode from the room—using the door, as she’d directed.
During their quiet exchange, Zaylin had stood sentry, her arms still crossed, a glare still on her face.
“You need to lighten up,” Alex told her, not caring that her words would mean nothing—in fact, relishing the fact. “Smile once in a while. It won’t hurt, you know.”
“You seem to be in a better mood,” Zaylin responded.
Alex blinked in shock before she realised that the helper was merely commenting on her livelier disposition rather than having actually understood what she’d said. She managed to freeze her expression just in time to keep from reacting further to the Tia Auran’s statement—a slip that would have been a dead giveaway that she could interpret the ancient language.
“Nevertheless,” Zaylin continued, uncrossing her arms to rearrange Alex’s pillows before pushing her roughly down onto them, “you still need to rest. Today was hard on you. Tomorrow will be harder.”
Why do you care?Alex wanted to ask. Not out of anger—out of curiosity. Even last night when Zaylin had spat her awful words about failure, they had been fuelled with enough passion to imply that the Tia Aurandidcare whether Alex succeeded or failed. But for the life of her, Alex couldn’t figure out which side Zaylin was leaning towards.
“Sleep now, human,” the helper said, clapping her hands three times until the room descended back into darkness. “I’ll awaken you in the morning.”
And with a final flash of light, she was gone as well.
Nine
The next morning dawned bright and clear,with an almost exact repeat of the previous day, including Zaylin’s less-than-gentle wakeup call, Alex’s unnatural fatigue, and the group breakfast in the common room. But this time, on top of their nervous anticipation of what challenges the second Gate might bring, Alex’s friends were watching her cautiously, not knowing what to say or how to treat her.
She was surprised. She’d been fully prepared for their ambush upon leaving her room after her bath, but none of them had said anything other than to enquire how she’d slept. They were walking on eggshells around her, and she couldn’t blame them, considering she’d locked herself away last night.
When the uneasy silence at the table became too much, she cleared her throat and said, “About what happened yesterday…”
Immediately, three pairs of eyes jumped straight to her, while Kaiden deliberately continued eating to offer her some normalcy, and Declan too, since while he must have also been curious, he wasn’t as desperate for information as her closest friends.
“I don’t have time to go into everything right now,” Alex said, knowing the full story would take much longer than the minutes they had before their next Gate. “But that Meyarin you saw yesterday—Niyx Raedon—he wasn’t who you think he was. There’s a lot you don’t know, a lot I couldn’t tell you for anumber of reasons. But until I get the chance to go into detail, all you need to know is that Niyx was one of the best people I’ve ever known.”
She pushed her food around her half-empty plate and forced herself to continue, her voice barely audible. “He died saving my life, and that’s a sacrifice I’ll never be able to repay.” She made herself meet their eyes. “But it’s also one that he’d never expect me to.”
Alex could see that her friends didn’t understand. That they were dying to ask questions, to know how she could so staunchly defend someone they had all believed was Aven’s most loyal friend. But she hadn’t been wrong about their limited time— even now, Zaylin was gesturing impatiently for her to return to her room and get ready for their next task.
“We’ll talk more about this later,” Alex promised, rising to her feet. “But—Just don’t cast judgement until you’ve heard everything. He doesn’t deserve that. And neither do I.”
With nods of agreement—some hesitant, some more assured—Alex sent a small smile around the table and followed after Zaylin. Yet again the process of preparation was a replica of the previous day, right down to the similarly ridiculous Amazonian warrior outfit she was expected to wear.
“What happened to the pants?” Alex grumbled to Zaylin, tugging at her skirt. “Tomorrow, I vote we try for those again.”
The helper ignored her, too busy roughly braiding her hair—as if Alex were incapable of dressing and grooming herself—and then promptly shoved her out the door.
“You have a nice day, now!” Alex told her in a saccharine voice just before she flash-transported away, the glare on Zaylin’s face telling Alex that her tone had been enough to get the message across.
Repressing her snicker, Alex approached her friends, who were already waiting. Barely a second later, brightnesssurrounded them, transporting them directly to the centre of the golden stadium.
I guess I was cutting it a bit close today, Alex thought, understanding why Zaylin had been so impatient that morning. Or perhaps not, since that seemed to be the helper’s usual disposition.
“Here we go again,” Bear murmured as light overwhelmed them and the stands filled with the Tia Auran audience.
Alex couldn’t get over just how many of the otherworldly beings were in attendance. If anything, there were even more today, as if word had spread about the humans undergoingTu’eh Saeron ess Telari.But they weren’t all that had changed in the stadium. Unlike when Alex had arrived yesterday, the three fiery arches weren’t floating above them; instead, they were still hovering in the clouded gap beside the dais. Ignoring the fact that the Gates were baseless and should have been structurally incapable of maintaining their upright position, the three of them looked almost innocent, offering no indication of the challenges to come.
