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“There is beauty in sadness and among the darkness,” he says, and I can see in his eyes that he believes it too.
“There is also hope and new beginnings. Try not to forget that,” I tell him, and his eyes widen a fraction. It is the only acknowledgment I get as I take one last glance at the view.
I turn to head back to my cell, even when his presence draws me to stay. But as soon as I turn away from him, I immediately spin back around.
He pauses with a frown. “What?—”
“Ah, there you are. I was wondering…”
My eyes widen, and something in Kestral’s eyes flash as if in understanding. He quickly moves, using his body to block me from view, his back to mine as he acknowledges Lieutenant Amaro.
“Lieutenant, I will discuss anything you need in a moment, once I finish up here.”
“Of course,” Amaro says, and I hear the irritation in his tone just before his footsteps move farther and farther away.
I turn when I hear his footsteps disappear, but another moment passes before Kestral turns around to me. Not realizing how close he was, I’m a step closer, leaving just an inch between us. My eyes find his once more as they draw me in and hold me captive. The silver in them swirls, and something warm jolts through my chest.
As if he’s just realizing how close we are, his eyes widen, and he quickly moves a step back before clearing his throat.
“I could see you didn’t particularly want to run into the lieutenant,” he says as he searches my face for something.
Shaking off the strange moment, I give him a forced smile. “I seem to have ended up on his bad side.”
“He has another?” Kestral raises a brow and gives me a wry smile.
A small chuckle leaves my lips. “What type of position do you hold that allows you to dismiss the lieutenant so easily?”
His smile only widens, a glint of amusement filling his eyes as he stays silent. When it is obvious that he isn’t going to reveal anything, I take a step around him.
“I should get back.” The cold cell is the last place I want to be, but my time here was a means to an end and nothing more. No matter how much those stormy eyes call to me.
“Good luck tomorrow,” he says, bringing a smile to my face, but I don’t turn back around as I leave the hallway or when I disappear into the shadows of the palace. But the smile never leaves my face the entire journey down to my cell.
Now that I don’t have Veles’s life on the line, I can focus back on the trials and my original plan. I just need to find that hidden tunnel Veles described. Everything now hinges on finding it.
I move down below the palace to the strange door that lies not too far from the stairwell and my cell room. I take a closer look at the carvings that crawl up it and hope that my instinct is right and that this is the door Veles recounted.
Moving down the stairway and through the hall, I head inside my cell block, ready to inspect the first cell on the right, when I hear movement from behind me.
Quickly making my way toward my cell, I lock myself inside and check to make sure the healing stone is still in my pocket before I turn and silently wait for the newcomer to reveal themselves.
CHAPTER 16
The guard with interest in his blue eyes from before comes with a plate of food and water, and not just gray-looking slop. He dips his head to me before unlocking the cell and reaches a hand out to pass my tray and drink to me rather than throw it to me on the floor.
I eye him warily before reaching out to take it. Once I do, he steps back and out of the cell, giving me my space.
“Finish what you can, and then I will take you to the next competition.” He turns and looks ahead, attempting to give me some form of privacy.
“Straightto the competition?” I ask, wondering if maybe his kindness comes with a catch.
I spot the frown from his side profile before he turns to look at me. “I have no hidden agenda, nor do I wish you harm. You may choose not to believe me, and I wouldn’t blame you, based on your ill-treatment here. But I, for one, hope you continue to do well and succeed.” With a dip of his head, he turns back to his position, leaving me to think on his words.
I never truly assumed all Caligo were bad, but I didn’t have the greatest opinion of them. After all, I only met the ones who were cruel, rude, or outright hostile.
But after coming to the palace, I’ve realized that some Caligo are just like the Sidus, warm and welcoming.
The Caligo guards have become a completely separate entity to that realization. There is not one of them that has proven to me they have an ounce of compassion or kindness in them.
