‘If I want to move into her dorm, I’m perfectly capable of asking her myself,’ I snap. ‘And if you thought it was a good idea, why didn’t you say so?’

‘I don’t know,’ he admits. ‘I guess I didn’t want you to feel like I was coddling you.’

‘Like when we fight, you mean?’ I grit my teeth. ‘Jonas, Etta accepted me, and no one has tried to kill me for weeks. I’m fine, okay?’

Whether I will be after the first trial is another matter, though.

Thankfully, Llinos appears before Jonas can continue. Trailing behind her is a tired-looking Caroline. From the way both of them are rubbing their eyes, they didn’t get much sleep either.

Jonas’s eyes widen. ‘She’s not a Rettling. Why is she here?’

Caz’s lips purse slightly, but Llinos doesn’t miss a beat.

‘Library delivery service,’ she says. ‘Now, shall we get going? This damn ringing is driving me insane. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a trial to survive.’

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 26

Over half the Rettlings are already gathered in the dining hall, almost all of them bedraggled and, like me, still needing to draw on their sigils.

‘Do me a favour and try to stay alive, will you?’ Caroline whispers as she kisses Llinos at the door.

It’s not a small peck, either. Llinos’s hands reach around the back of Caroline’s neck as she pulls her in close. It’s the kind of kiss I might do in private if I were in the right mood, and a pang of jealousy streaks through me at the way they press their foreheads together when their lips part. Theirs is the type of love that doesn’t require words, and seeing them together makes it feel impossible that they’ve ever been apart.

‘She’s not actually from the library, is she?’ Jonas whispers in my ear.

‘Oh, she is,’ I tell him. ‘She definitely is.’

Five minutes later, sigils have been painted, the rest of the Rettlings have arrived, and Holden and Zelle appear at the front of the dining room. Speculation has run rife, not just about what the trials will be, but about how we will get to them. Many of the Rettlings are keen to experience portation, but much to their disappointment, we are merely led out into the battle yard, where the same series of carriages used previously awaits us.

‘So what do you think we’re going to face?’ I ask as I pile into a carriage. Estel goes with Kestria and Seiren this time, and without Jai and Coulter, the carriage feels close to empty.

‘It’s hard to guess what direction we’re heading in right now,’ Benny replies, glancing up at the skylight, ‘as we won’t know until we’re out of the city and the sun’s up, but my bet is the forest. Eight Retterhelds have had their first trials in the forest.’

I could cope with that, I think. Lots to climb in a forest.

‘How many trials have taken place in the water?’ I ask, trying to keep my face as passive as I can.

‘In the water or on the water?’ Jonas clarifies. ‘Do you mean on boats or actually swimming?’

‘Either,’ I say, though really, it’s the second possibility that terrifies me. As a child, I learned to swim in the Festroin lakes, a low mountain area about a four-hour carriage ride outside of Wrohelm, but that was a long time ago, and I worry I’ve forgotten.

Benny looks to Jonas as if he’s expecting him to answer, but Jonas stays quiet, leaving Benny to explain.

‘Normally one per Retterheld, though it’s normally only one aspect of a trial. Like swimming down to an underground cave or rowing across to one of the Vypark islets and continuing from there.’

Swimming to an underground cave may feel like a ‘small part’ of a trial to Benny, but unless it’s glassy water and the depth of the cave is no more than ten feet, I’m going to struggle. Hopefully, this year there’ll be some type of rowing involved instead. Ideally, rowing across water so tranquil there’s zero chance of me falling in.

‘I notice you haven’t asked us how many times the first trial has been the magicless one,’ Jonas comments.

‘But I get the feeling you’re going to tell me, right?’

‘Three. If the scribes are right.’

‘Out of how many?’

‘Eighteen documented.’

Is that good or bad for me? I’ve no idea. As I glance at Llinos, she shrugs.

‘Whatever this is, we do it together,’ she says, all strained confidence. ‘We can all get to the Ofur. We can all complete and pass all the trials without anybody needing to die, right?’

‘We work together,’ Benny agrees. ‘Until the last one. Then we go for it by ourselves.’

I clear my throat. ‘If I ever become a burden⁠—’

‘You won’t,’ Llinos interrupts.

‘But if I do, tell me, okay? Tell me and I’ll go it alone. It’s what I planned on doing before I got here.’

‘That’s not going to happen. Not for the first four trials,’ Llinos assures me.

It’s impossible not to notice how quiet both Loch and Jonas have been, and now silence sweeps around the carriage, amplified by our shared tiredness from being woken so early.

‘Maybe we should sleep,’ Jonas suggests. ‘No idea how long it’s going to take us to get there.’

He pulls off his fur coat and folds it in half before laying it on his shoulder. He looks at me. ‘For a pillow, if you want?’

The way his eyes meet mine, I know what he’s actually offering: a truce. An apology for going behind my back to Llinos. When this trial is done – and assuming I survive it – this situation of ours needs clarifying. Not knowing what we are is taking up too much of my mental capacity, and right now I don’t have any of that to spare. For now, the thought of a comfy shoulder and sharing someone else’s body heat is too good to pass up.

‘Just don’t forget to wake me when the trial begins,’ I say before snuggling down and closing my eyes, my head resting against him.

‘West, I’m telling you, we’ve definitely gone further west.’

I’m not woken by our arrival at the trials, but by Jonas and Benny at loggerheads.

‘We’re going west now,’ Jonas says, ‘but I think we’ve gone north just as much. That would put us in Afaven Forest.’

‘We went north to start with,’ Benny replies. ‘But while you were snuggling up with Rose, I was awake, and that’s how I know we’ve been going west the entire time. I’m telling you, we’re at the coast.’

Benny looks to Loch. ‘What do you hear?’ he asks. ‘Forest or water?’

‘Right now, I just hear a lot of horses’ hooves and you two arguing,’ Loch replies sourly.

Llin and I suppress a smirk.

As I glance up, I can see the sun directly above us. I’m not exactly sure what time it was when we left, but I must’ve slept for at least six hours. That’s more hours than I’ve slept in my room, and I should feel rested, only there’s a crick in my neck from sleeping against Jonas that reminds me of my bed in the slums.

I wonder what bed Kay is sleeping on. If she’s warm, well fed, happy. With effort, I push my worries down. I can’t afford to be distracted, not now.

It’s only when I go to rub my neck that I realise my fingers are entwined with Jonas’s. I’ve no idea when it happened, but given how much longer he’s been awake, he must have noticed. As subtly as I can, I try to draw my hand away, and as I move, my eyes fall on Llinos. This time I’m well aware that her smirk is directed at me, a smirk that evaporates when Loch suddenly stiffens.

‘Loch?’ she says. ‘What is it? What can you hear?’

The older islander flinches at her voice, blinking and shaking his head.

‘It doesn’t make sense,’ he mutters. ‘I don’t understand. It doesn’t make sense.’

Benny leans forward in his seat. ‘What, what doesn’t make sense? Loch, buddy, what can you hear?’

Rather than reply, Loch continues to shake his head. Jonas and I exchange a concerned look. Loch’s certainly the least sociable in the group, but he’s never been like this before. The only Rettling who can usually lay claim to this kind of incoherence is Seiren.