Maddox said that she didn’t understand girls, even if she was one.
She also didn’t understand why we had to go to Melanie’s party, but that much I did understand. If I had said no, it wouldn’t have been fair to Trayton, who obviously felt obligated to go. And there was no way I was leaving him alone with Melanie. Not that I didn’t trust him. I just didn’t trust her. Not any farther than I could throw her—which probably wouldn’t be very far at all.
Melanie’s room was down our hallway, up two flights, and then a long walk to the midpoint of the building. And every step I took closer to it sent my nerves jumping up another notch. Trayton must have noticed, because he reached over when we were only ten steps from her door and gave my hand a comforting squeeze. I smiled at him, or tried, anyway, and turned my attention back to Maddox, who was asking me with her eyes if I was sure about this and if I was ready to face the in-crowd. My answer was no, but I nodded in spite of myself.
Maddox raised her fist and knocked on the door. It seemed a simple enough gesture, something she’d done a dozen times since I’d been at Shadow Academy, but the fact that it was Melanie’s door changed the sound of it, somehow. Her knock echoed into the hallway. Heavy. Ominous.
I swear, if Trayton hadn’t been holding my hand, I’d have turned and bolted.
But before I could plan my masterful escape, which likely would have involved some arm flailing and girlish screams, the door opened to Melanie’s parlor, revealing a tall, thin, statuesque girl with flaxen curls and stunning green eyes. She looked less than impressed as her eyes moved over Maddox and myself, but when her gaze fell on Trayton, she brightened considerably. “Trayton! Mel said you’d be coming. Mel! Your guest has arrived!”
From across the relatively crowded room, Melanie sashayed, her curves commanding the attention of every male present.
Well. Thankfully not every male.
Trayton smiled reassuringly at me. As Melanie approached the door, Trayton gently coaxed me inside. Melanie was all smiles. She hugged Trayton, planting a light kiss on his cheek. “I’m so glad you came. Can I get you something to drink? Carly smuggled in some artesian wine. It’s fabulous.”
There was a distinct moment when Melanie noticed me. It was the exact same moment that she noticed my hand was holding Trayton’s. Choking back what looked like an equal mixture of disgust and disdain, she said, “Your…friends…can have some too, of course.”
A smile settled on Trayton’s lips then. It was definitely proud, and almost smug. “You remember Kaya, Melanie.”
“Of course.” She grimaced, forcing an unreal smile. “The Healer you’re going to be Bound to.”
“As a matter of fact, we’re here on a mission of celebration.” Trayton gave my hand another squeeze. “You see, Kaya and I were Bound this morning.”
Shadows covered her mood then, and if my eyes hadn’t been locked on Trayton, wondering if he’d lost his mind completely, I would have likely noticed the dark, ominous-looking clouds rolling in overhead. Probably accompanied by purple lightning streaking across the sky.
Then, suddenly, strangely perky, Maddox pushed past us and said, “I’ll just go get us all drinks so we can toast to the happy union.”
I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was about to die. It was getting hot in there, or maybe it was just the fire shooting from Melanie’s eyes into my soul.
By the time Maddox had returned, I’d had to slip my hand from Trayton’s and wipe the sweat on my leggings. Maddox struggled a bit with carrying four full glasses, but she managed well enough, shoving the first into Melanie’s hand. Once we all had glasses, Melanie seemed to swallow an enormous, bitter lump that had been occupying her throat and said, “To happy unions.”
Trayton raised his glass just as Melanie had been about to drink and said, “To Kaya, and to being Bound.”
Maddox beamed. “Hear, hear!”
I sipped mine quietly—the wine tasted almost too sweet, like candy that had spoiled somehow. Melanie set her glass on a nearby table, untouched.
Trayton drained his glass like a pro, but I had no idea how he could stomach the stuff. I wasn’t the only one. Maddox retched and set her glass beside Melanie’s. After another polite sip, I set mine by hers and looked around. The small parlor was packed with people, and from the noise coming from each of the bedrooms—Melanie’s and her Healer’s—those rooms were full too.
Melanie put on what I was sure was her most charming smile and looped her arm around Trayton’s, practically dragging him into the next room, her bedroom. After exchanging glances with Maddox, we followed them inside. As expected, several people were sitting on the bed and several more were standing in small groups, chatting. One couple was swaying sloppily near the bathroom door. Another couple near the closet looked as if they were trying to swallow one another. Trayton was already chatting with a fellow Barron—a boy—and trying to ignore Melanie, who kept pushing her way into the conversation. The music was obnoxiously loud and made my head ache slightly, so I pinched the bridge of my nose and wished that time would move forward faster, so I could go back to my room. But no way was I leaving Trayton here. Not in Melanie’s greedy, well-manicured claws.
“You hate her, right?” Maddox was smiling at me. She nodded toward Melanie, who had thrown her head back and laughed harder than was necessary for the joke Trayton had just told.
I eyed her hand on his arm for a moment before answering. “I don’t hate her. I just wish she’d stop pawing at Trayton for a second. I mean…does she have no respect for personal space?”
“Not where Trayton is concerned.”
“They have a history?” I would have turned to face Maddox, to get a reading on her emotions, but my eyes were transfixed by Melanie’s fingers, which were lightly edging their way up Trayton’s arm. When they reached his biceps—his strong, rather sexy-looking biceps—they squeezed and continued their trek north, toward his neck.
I had never considered myself the jealous type, but the sight of her fingertips grazing lightly against the skin on the back of his neck was filling me with an angry heat that threatened to boil over if she didn’t stop touching him soon.
Trayton brushed her hand away like she was an annoying sucker fly and continued his conversation with the other Barron. It was enough to quell my jealousy for the moment.
Maddox said, “I wouldn’t say that they have a history, but that Melanie does. She’s always had a thing for him, from what I hear. Since they were just kids. And she completely despised Samantha, his original Healer, from day one.”
After I flashed her a questioning look, she shrugged. “What? Guards talk.”
A couple passed by, laughing and clinging to one another. After they’d gone, I said, “Mind sharing?”
Melanie was pouting a little, but still sitting so close to Trayton that it was clear she was trying to send a message to the room about who he was there to see— a message I was certain that Trayton wasn’t aware of.
“When Samantha died, she made a move. But I guess Trayton didn’t react well to her timing. Some say he didn’t react well to her disregard of Protocol about Barrons and Barrons coupling up, but I think it was more than that.” Maddox was watching them too, looking only mildly concerned. “I think that Trayton can see through her physical beauty to the ugly thing she is under the surface. And I don’t think he likes her much at all.”
A boy walked by with two bottles in his hands. Maddox snatched one and removed the cork. She took a swig and made a face before handing the bottle back to him.
Melanie’s hand squeezed Trayton’s arm and my eyes narrowed a bit. “If that’s true, why come to her parties? Why hang out with her at all and be nice to her in public? Why not just avoid her?”
Maddox shrugged. “Because they were friends when they were kids. Their parents are still friends. There’s an unspoken obligation there. Besides…he may not want to date her for whatever reason, but they’re still friends, in a messed up kinda way, for whatever messed
up kinda reason. People get weirdly loyal to their friends. Even if their friends are terrible people.”
Turning my attention away from Melanie for the moment, I looked at Maddox. In many ways, she reminded me of Avery. Only tougher. And far less boy crazy. Far less anything crazy. “Who are you loyal to, Maddox?”
“You. Because you’re probably the worst Healer I’ve ever met.” She smiled, and I couldn’t help but wonder whether she’d had too much of whatever was in that bottle. “And Trayton. Because he was nice to me once, and I’ll never forget it.”
Her eyes took on a strange glaze then, and I could tell that her thoughts were far away from this time and place. I was so tempted to ask her about Trayton being nice to her, but the look in her eye said that that information was only available on a need-to-know basis, and while I was high on her trust list, I did not need to know. Not yet, anyway.
“Kaya!” Trayton shouted across the crowded room, a smile on his lips, gesturing with his hand for me to come join the conversation. Melanie’s hand was still on his arm, but the expression on her face was one of a dog that’s been kicked into submission. I was betting she’d keep her fingers off of Trayton’s neck for the duration of the evening—which I was hoping would be very short.
Maddox smirked. “You go on ahead. I’m going to try to find some food and maybe something decent to drink. You want anything?”
Shaking my head, I worked my way through the crowd to Trayton, who patted his knee. I hesitated, then shook my head. No matter the strong feelings I had for Trayton the instant we were Bound, I didn’t think we’d quite reached the sit-on-my-knee portion of our relationship. Trayton looked disappointed, but hid it well enough in front of his friends. He turned to the Barron beside him and said, “Luke, this is Kaya, my Healer. Kaya, Luke studies with me under Darius.”
A cold shock ran through my veins at the mention of Darius’s name. Just when my thoughts had finally had a moment’s peace not thinking about the silver-haired boy and why he seemed to loathe every fiber of my being, there he was again. I managed to smile at Luke. “Nice to meet you, Luke. Have you and Trayton known one another for long?”
Luke smiled, revealing dimples. His blond, wavy hair was tied back in a thong, and his eyes were intensely blue. “Pretty much since we were born. Our parents are close.”
Trayton was beaming. “Luke always got us into trouble growing up.”
Luke gave him a light shove. “Hey, swimming in Harper’s Pond was your idea.”
“But that trip to Cartertown—”
“Okay, you win.” Luke laughed openly, his smile spreading to his eyes, but it didn’t last. Abruptly, his features dropped as his eyes fell on something across the room. He leaned forward and muttered under his breath to Trayton. “Looks like the party’s over. For us anyway.”
Trayton followed Luke’s eyes before chuckling and standing. I turned to see who had caused this ripple in the party atmosphere and felt a jolt go through me.
Darius looked serious as ever as his eyes scanned the room. When he found Trayton, he crossed the room with purpose. It was as if I weren’t even in the same room as everyone else. The party—and its apparent end, if Luke was to be believed—was happening all around me, but I wasn’t a part of it. I was merely a bystander.
That is, until Darius’s eyes found mine. There was a fire in his gaze, and one not born of anger or bitterness. Darius looked alive, and he pulled everyone—me included—into that excitement with hardly a glance. I tore my gaze away from him, remembering how awful he’d been treating me, and looked over at Trayton, who was looking at Darius expectantly, and whose expression also contained that same bright, wild excitement. Darius said, “A dead youngling has been found just outside the north gate, and no one knows where its parents are. Searching for a possibly angry Graplar mother is too much for the inner patrol to handle, so it’s on us, Trayton. Are you ready? Luke, you’re coming too, along with fifteen of your best. You decide who. Let’s have some fun.”
Trayton stood, almost anxiously. He flitted a quick glance my way. When he spoke, though, it was to Darius. “Should we bring our Healers?”
Darius tensed. It was only slight, but to me it seemed so jarring, so obvious. Maybe because I knew that he wasn’t my biggest fan. Maybe it was because we hadn’t exactly had the greatest beginning. But he tensed and I saw it. I could almost feel him looking at me with his peripheral vision. “No. No Healers.”
This time it was Luke who tensed, but far more noticeably. “No Healers? But…we’re going outside the gates. What if something happens?”
“If you get injured, I’ll drag your wounded body back inside the gate.” A smile, both cruel and bemused, touched his lips as his words came out in a challenge. “What’s the matter, Luke? Afraid to face a few overgrown pups without your nursemaid?”
The Barrons in the room grew utterly silent. These were more than a few overgrown pups. They were Graplars. One bite could mean death.
But no one was about to argue that with Darius.
Trayton stood. It was clear that no one but him would or could dare say anything in question to Darius’s orders. “Does the headmaster know something that we don’t? Why else would he order us outside the wall without our Healers?”
Darius pressed his lips tightly together for a moment before speaking. “The headmaster doesn’t know. This is my order. No Healers.”
“But, Darius.” Trayton grabbed him by the shoulder and lowered his voice, but if he were hoping to keep the conversation between them, it was a lost cause. All eyes and ears in the room were on the two of them. Still, Trayton spoke his next words out of concern, and in the quietest of tones. “It’s against Protocol to leave our Healers behind without the express instruction of Headmaster Quill.”
Darius swept his eyes across the room for a moment, not really looking at anyone in particular. The slight dimple in his left cheek deepened as a grimace settled onto his mouth. He shook off Trayton’s hand, but didn’t get two steps closer to the door before Trayton was blocking his path. “You could lose your teaching position.”
Everyone in the room was quiet, apart from Maddox, who’d found some saltbread slices to munch on. Darius dropped his attention to the floor, as if mulling over the possible repercussions of his actions. After a long moment, he met Trayton’s eyes and nodded. “Well, we wouldn’t want that, now would we?”
Trayton smiled and slapped his hand on Darius’s shoulder twice before turning back to the room. As Darius exited, Trayton said, “You heard the man. On your feet, Barrons. You too, Healers.”
Melanie was the first one on her feet, and it wasn’t long before David, her Healer, was following her out the door. As the rest of the crowd busied itself and began filing outside, I stood and looked at Trayton, who seemed at peace with the entire situation. “Did I hear that right? Are we going on maneuvers outside the wall?”
“Yes, we are.” He smiled brightly then, and I could see the excitement in his eyes. Barrons lived for the fight, and he was hoping that walking the perimeter in the dark of night might bring about the adrenaline rush he was looking for. It was beyond my understanding, but I deeply respected the reckless nature of that need to chase, that need to hunt.
Maddox shoved a saltbread slice in her mouth and chewed as she spoke, not caring that the occasional crumb would fly out of her mouth. “I’ll walk you to the south gate and wait for you there ’til you get back. You excited?”
Excited—that was one way of putting it. I would have leaned more toward nauseated and gripped by fear. My stomach roiled at the idea of stepping outside of the wall again, knowing that Graplars lurked on the other side. But it wasn’t like I had a choice. Trayton was counting on me, and if I wasn’t there to heal him when he needed me to be, he might die. It sounded dramatic, but it was true. He was counting on me.
Maddox and Trayton chatted casually all the way to the south gate, but I didn’t feel much like making small talk. I was too focused on the memory of those teeth
and how they’d almost chomped down on me, the way they had chomped down on Avery. Avery—it felt like a lifetime ago that we’d raced to the Harvest Festival together. In fact, it felt like another lifetime altogether. I wondered what she’d think of me being enrolled at some school where I was expected to do as I was told, in support of a cause that I didn’t truly understand. I wasn’t sure what she’d say about any of it, that is, except for my being Bound to Trayton. She would have nudged me and wiggled her eyebrows and laughed so hard that it made me want to smack her.
I really missed Avery.
The south gate was looming up ahead of us as we made our way across the dark campus. No torches tonight, nothing, not so much as a speck of warmth or comfort, flickered in the night. Just a group of Barrons and Healers, none older than nineteen or so, heading toward a large metal door that would lead us to the outside world with no one to rely on for protection but ourselves. My hands were trembling, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the intense fear that someone—me, Trayton, someone else—might be hurt or killed, or from the excited thrill that was tickling its way up my spine. If Trayton asked, I wouldn’t give voice to that excitement. It seemed like something that would disappoint him, a Healer experiencing a rush right before heading out into the unknown wilds. So I kept my mouth shut and marveled at the size of the door as we approached. Tonight it seemed ten times bigger than the last time I’d seen it. The sky also seemed ten times darker. I was ready for this. More ready than I would ever admit to Trayton.