My eyes scanned the room. “Where’s the sword I was wearing?”
Sera frowned. “That’s the first thing you’re going to ask? Seriously?” She retracted her hand from mine to cross her arms. “It’s under your bed. Professor Vellum left strict instructions not to let you use it. You need to talk to her once you’re recovered.”
Sitting up took significant effort. My back felt like someone had stuck a basket of needles in it.
Sera ruined my accomplishment immediately by pushing me back down with a firm hand. “Stay. You’re not going anywhere for a while.”
From the pain that was building in my temples, I knew she was right. I lifted a hand to rub my forehead. “What happened?”
“A better question.” Normally, she’d be smirking with a line like that, but not the slightest hint of mirth traced across her lips. “You almost died.”
I blinked. I almost died?
That took a few moments to process.
“How? Wasn’t that just a simulation?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, and you still somehow managed to almost kill yourself. How typical.”
When I didn’t reply for a moment, she elaborated with an exasperated wave of her hand. “You somehow managed to wreath yourself in ice that spread on its own. Then you lost consciousness. You were lucky the tests are closely watched. They pulled you out almost immediately. Thing is, the ice started spreading again as soon as they melted it off you. Vellum apparently woke you up long enough to get you to toss the sword aside, which stopped the effect from propagating further.”
Oh, is that what that was?
“Uh, oops?”
She raised her arm. I flinched back, but the blow I’d expected never came.
Instead, she slipped her arm under me and gave me a crushing hug, burying her head in my chest.
“Never do that again.”
I felt my hands quiver at the unexpected contact. I... wasn’t used to being touched in a way that didn’t involve violence, at least not in the last few years.
It helped that it was Sera. I pictured when we’d held hands as children. It had been perfectly normal, even comforting, when we were little. I hadn’t associated touching with pain back then.
I took a deep breath and, slowly, returned the hug. “I’m sorry that I worried you.”
I was surprised to find that I actually meant it.
After three years away from everyone, I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have friends.
I pulled her closer, feeling her tense, then relax at the gesture.
“I’m okay,” I said.
That part, unfortunately, was a lie.
***
The next morning, I woke to find Sera sleeping in the chair next to my bed. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
I’d been raised to expect Sera to be my retainer. Looking after me while I slept, to make sure I didn’t somehow manage to get myself killed? Classic retainer business.
Now that she was presumably the family heir?
Honestly, she’d have been better off if I had died. Less competition that way.
I wouldn’t have expected her to think in those terms, of course. As practical as Sera could be, I never expected her to make a utility calculation about the value of my life.
Was she actually thinking of me like a sibling now?
I didn’t know what to make of that.
I missed Tristan. I missed him desperately, and I was still firm in my resolve that I’d find a way to get him back.
And when he was back, we’d rebuild our family. He’d always been the unifying one, the one who was effortlessly charming and limitlessly talented. Mother and Father had been so proud of him.
But as much as I loved my brother, he’d never been the gentle sort. He wouldn’t have been watching over me here. He’d have assumed that coddling me would have just encouraged future weakness.
That was my father’s philosophy, and we’d both been trained to believe it completely. I didn’t start to have my doubts until after Tristan was gone.
I was grateful that Sera had never been raised with those values.
Her eyes flickered open as I sat up, awkwardly dislodging my covers. I was feeling vastly better, but Sera looked wretched. I doubted she’d gotten much sleep.
“Hmm?” She mumbled. “What time is it?”
I shrugged at her. “Don’t know. It’s Wyddsay, though, unless I slept through more than one day.”
“You didn’t.”
“Then you can sleep in. No classes to worry about.”
She nodded blearily, and I pulled back the bed’s covers and pointed a hand. “In.”
Sera grumbled as she shifted from chair to bed, and I helped pull off her boots. I wasn’t going to let those filthy things into my sheets; I had standards. Next, I eased her into the covers. She mumbled something I couldn’t hear, and then turned away. I saw the slightest crack of a smile on her face as she began to drift off. She was fast asleep in moments.
***
Professor Vellum wasn’t quite as friendly with her morning greeting. From her grimace when I walked into the office, I knew I was in for a lecture.
“Ah, it’s the prodigy of idiots.”
I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “And a good morning to you too, professor. As always, your kind words bring warmth to my frigid heart.”
She folded her arms. “Don’t you snark at me, boy. There’s only one seat for snark in this office, and I’ve had it claimed for quite some time.”
“I suppose a duel of wits for the chair is out of the question.”
Vellum chortled. “Please, child. Have you ever heard the phrase ‘death of a thousand cuts’? That’s what the last fool who challenged me got, though the truth was that he could only comprehend one jab in those thousand. You wouldn’t last a round.”
“Don’t attribute to inability what more rightfully would be called disinterest. When the time comes for our contest, I won’t need a thousand strikes to match your own. A single one will suffice.”
She laughed in earnest this time. “A bold claim.” She waved a hand as though she were clearing smoke and grew serious once more. “Though not amusing enough to make up for your little stunt in the test. Now, sit your too-clever rear. We have actual business to discuss.”