Memphis arched a pale eyebrow, snarling back at him, “You really think this is the time, Brokk? We are about to go into a warzone.”
He grabbed his friend’s arm. “Which is exactly why it’s the only time. Just hear me out. I’m sorry about yesterday. About how I reacted. I talked to Roque last night about the meeting, and he said if I helped the cause, I wouldn’t be expelled from school. You didn’t have to follow.”
Memphis smirked, whispering, “Yes, I did. Do you really think I would allow you to get all the action? Besides, who is going to keep you in check with Iasan?”
His heart dropped but he grinned. “I would suspect you.”
Rolling his shoulders, Brokk stood straighter as Roque opened the door, looking tired, Tadeas following closely at his heels. The door closed with a snap as their leader eyed the thirty students in front of him and slyly smiled. Reaching the front, he folded his hands neatly in front of him. “Thank you all for coming so promptly. I have been reassured that you are all the top of your class or have volunteered on your own accord.” Roque’s gaze lingered on him at this, but he continued. “You are representing not only the Academy, but the future of Kiero. Tadeas and I have reached an agreement that if anyone, either from the Academy or the Shattered Isles, steps a toe out of line, they will fall into the same category as Cesan and will be brought back for a trial. Your mission is to tell anyone who is seeking refuge to come here until we have the situation under control and bring Cesan back. I hope you all know I wish I could come with you, but I am needed here. I expect you all to show Tadeas the same respect you would show me. He is here to help us.”
Brokk’s blood ran cold, his mind running into a thousand different possibilities. Here he was trading his freedom to a man who had waltzed in proclaiming he was a king from across the Black Sea? To lead them to the capital to find a madman? Looking over to Memphis’s furrowed expression, he knew his friend was thinking the same thing. He swallowed his doubt, thinking about what exactly they had gotten into. He took in the rest of the senior year students, young men and women potentially ready to lay down their lives for this. To do Roque’s dirty work. He pushed the thought immediately down. Of course, Roque was staying to get word to the capital, to sway Kiero to his regency. Or he was staying to ensure no one found what he was hiding here. The thought had him practically bouncing on his heels.
If Brokk knew one thing for certain, it was to never trust the Strattons, and things had gone from bad to worse in a matter of days. Somehow, when they got back from this, he and Memphis would get the truth and the full story. If we get back.
He knew they were all underprepared for what Cesan was planning. At the end of Roque’s speech, Tadeas seamlessly started talking about the fierceness of him and his people and how they shouldn’t be worried. They were on the same side, a team. By flame, he couldn’t care less, and his gaze flitted to each person, looking for one ebony head of hair. Where was Adair? He didn’t remember seeing him last night at the meeting or this morning in the dining hall.
He didn’t realize Memphis had been watching him, and his voice was low and urgent as it shook through Brokk’s confusion. “Adair isn’t here.”
He had to admit it surprised him. If anyone would have volunteered, Brokk thought Adair would have been the first. Icy shivers ran down his back, but it was too late. The room exploded in a flurry of movement. While Tadeas beamed down at them all his men distributed an assortment of weapons. Growling, he pushed through the crowd, Memphis at his heels, as he went up to a rover, ripping the sleek bow from his hands. “This is mine.”
The man raised his eyebrows at him, but as he slung the bow securely over his shoulder, the quiver of arrows strapped onto his back, he realized that any humanity within him was quickly being destroyed with every passing second. Filing out of the room with the stream of students, the thought planted itself in his heart. The Academy was quiet, and he liked it this way. Finally, the school saw the truth, and it was solemn. No fellow classmates looking wide-eyed at their entourage. No one seeing what he was seeing. The darkness that was bleeding into all their hearts with what Cesan had done. He had forced Fae’s hand, forced to fight fire with fire or else be afraid that Kiero would see them as weak.
Furrowing his brow, Brokk tried to still the chaos within him. The steady pace of his boots against the floor pulsed like a heartbeat, but in his mind it was a war drum. His body moved lethally, his muscles taut, his adrenaline spiked. On the outside, he was the epitome of a warrior.
Could no one else see the sadness when they caught his gaze? When they talked to him? In the flicker of his essence? Did no one else care that the Academy was ripping their morals from the core, leaving behind an empty shell. Leaving behind nothing but the echo of a dream.
“Brokk, Memphis, wait!”
He stalled, turning quickly, Memphis mimicking his movements. Emory ran down the hallway full tilt, her garb from the previous night gone, replaced by a black shirt, pants, and boots. Her royal blue jacket was too bright for what was happening around her, but to him it
