He just stared, eyes dark and unreadable, and I hurried out the door in the direction of the women’s barracks. As I was crossing the field, I saw a hooded figure stealthily approaching the men’s, and I knew Darren had retired for the night as well.
Lucky for him, however, the nonheir’s routine did not have him taking a freezing bath at such an ungodly hour. I tried to be careful not to make any noise as I scrubbed the stable stench from my hair and skin, but it was impossible to keep completely quiet with the water sloshing around.
Still, it appeared I was undiscovered as I crawled into my bed. The bell had long since tolled an hour past midnight, and once again I was asleep within seconds of hitting my pillow.
CHAPTER FIVE
The next two weeks flew past in a blur. No sooner had I crawled out of bed I was rushed to the dining hall with Ella in hopes of catching the last couple of minutes of the morning meal. Even then, I was too tired to do much else besides stare lifelessly ahead. The extra hours I was losing had started to take their toll, and it was all I could do to stay awake.
The only thing that made the experience worthwhile was catching sight of Darren across the hall. There was something gratifying about seeing the non-heir gripping a steaming mug with the same blood-shot eyes as me. He may have been better at hiding behind a steely composure, but there was no denying the fact he was just as miserable.
Alex and Ella at first wondered why I stayed behind studying each night, but it hadn’t been hard to convince them I needed the extra time to myself. Both of them knew how slow I was at learning some of the assignments. No one in the girl’s quarters even mentioned my absence. I think Ella was the only one who had noticed, but she kept it to herself.
Each day was filled with the same tedious coursework as the last. The bright side, of course, was that I was no longer behind. My assignments were always turned in complete, and I could tell from Master Eloise and Isaac’s approving remarks that I was no longer a disappointment. Mathematics was still a time-consuming ordeal, but with the extra two to three hours each night, I was easily gaining traction in the basics and moving on to more complex issues that dealt with warfare and Crown law instead.
It was a strange schedule, and a tiring one, but it seemed to be working. Still, I was beginning to wonder how much longer I’d be able to hold out. I was doing well in the first half of my day, but three weeks of sleep deprivation had weakened my performance in the remainder. I was lagging through Sir Piers’s drills and Master Cedric’s lessons, and while everyone else had started to improve, I was still as clumsy as the day I had started. To make matters worse, everyone had noticed.
The worst embarrassment had come today.
“What is wrong with you?”
I froze, cheeks burning as I tore off my blindfold. The entire class was silently staring. Priscilla of Langli stood in front of me, one large, red welt plastering the left side of her face. She was furious.
“Didn’t you hear me give the command to halt?” Sir Piers barked.
“I m-must have missed it.” I had been so exhausted I hadn’t heard anything other than the pounding in my head.
Priscilla she dropped her staff and stormed off in the direction of the armory.
Sir Piers eyed me distastefully. “If you can’t stay awake long enough to hear your commander give you an order, you shouldn’t be at this Academy—or anywhere near a weapon—in the first place.”
I nodded, eyes watering, and went to return my staff, avoiding my brother’s sympathetic gaze. It was harder to miss some of the comments of the others, however. Several of Priscilla’s friends were loudly telling anyone that would listen that my blunder had been an “attack of jealousy” since Priscilla was clearly the “leading female of our year.”
I met people’s stares with a glare of my own. Both Alex and Ella tried to talk to me after class, but I was too upset to listen to anything they had to say.
It seemed that no matter what I tried, it would never be enough. I didn’t have enough time to do everything the masters asked of me, and when I tried to make time, my work only suffered somewhere else.
My evening became progressively worse when I ran into Darren as he was leaving the dining commons. As soon as he spotted me, a grin spread across the non-heir’s face. He’d become less icy since we had started our late night studies, but it didn’t mean he had become any kinder.
“What?”
“Do you always attack the blind?” Darren asked, dark eyes filled with humor.
Several students nearby snickered, and my cheeks flushed.
“There’s a first time for everything,” I snapped. “Maybe I’ll try a prince next.”
“Ryiah!” Alex grabbed my wrist just before I could throw my tray at the arrogant halfwit. Darren laughed and sauntered off to join his table of admirers while I was left brimming with rage.
“What has gotten into you?” my brother hissed.
“It’s not fair!” I growled, “I am going to fail this place—”