Clover sighed. “I know. I don’t particularly enjoy it either. So, you think you can do it? Find a tribe in a month?”
Kerrigan shrugged noncommittally. “Going to have to try.” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and then habitually moved it back to hide it once more. “Anyway, Darby is worried about Lyam. He never turned up this morning.”
“Ah, Lee is probably drunk somewhere. He’s a lightweight,” Clover said with a laugh.
“Probably,” Kerrigan agreed. “But it’s not like him to miss something this important. His new tribe sponsor showed up and no Lyam? Seems odd. And I don’t like the idea that he’s missing.”
“Yeah. That’s not good.”
“I can get you into the mountain. Meet me in my rooms. I have to report to the tournament administrator first.”
Clover perked up at that. “Why do you have to talk to him?”
“Helly said I still had to work for my keep,” she admitted. “So, I’m working for the tournament… since that’s my timeline.”
“Damn.”
“Yep,” Kerrigan said, popping the end of the word.
The guards waved them in as they passed back into the shade of Draco Mountain.
“All right, I’ll meet you in your rooms,” Clover said, veering off in the opposite direction of Kerrigan, who jogged toward the tournament rooms.
She was running behind again. Bastian had told her to hurry back, but she hadn’t anticipated getting caught in the melee. She was breathing heavy again when she finally made it into the hall, which was strangely empty. Usually, people were bustling around, enjoying meals, and chitchatting. Voices and the ring of steel could be heard from the training facility. After the beating today, Kerrigan couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to train, but to each their own.
Administrators kept rooms near the competitors during the length of the tournament, and Kerrigan headed that direction. She was nearly there when Valia materialized.
“You don’t quite know the meaning of hurry, do you?”
Kerrigan bristled. “I got caught in the crowd.”
A smile split Valia’s face. “I’m kidding. I don’t care how long it took you. Bastian is just annoyed and takes it out on me.”
“That’s frustrating,” Kerrigan said. “Should I go speak to him?”
She shook her head. “Better not. I swear it must be a full moon tonight. Everyone is acting so incredibly strange.”
“I’ve noticed that,” she admitted.
“Anyway, here you go.” Valia passed her a note. “I wrote out Bastian’s instructions so that you could avoid a few moments of pain.”
Kerrigan took the note from the girl. “I appreciate that. My friend is missing, and I really need to figure out where he went off to.”
Valia frowned. “I’m so sorry. I hope that you find him.”
“Thanks,” she said, waving the paper at her in retreat. “Me too.”
Kerrigan headed back through the hall, and as she was about to enter the corridor that led back to her old apartment, Fordham appeared before her. She didn’t even have a chance to think before he slammed her back against the stone wall.
“What the hell?” she growled, struggling against him. But it was no use. He was a good foot taller than her and corded with muscle. She might have the magical advantage, which she drew in close to her body, but she truly didn’t want to have to use it. “Release me.”
“Who is your contact?”
“My contact?” she asked in confusion.
“Who told you to tell me that? How did you know it would be hand-to-hand combat with just one element?”
“No one told me.”
It sounded weak, but she couldn’t tell him about her visions. Gods, she had been stupid. She had thought the visions were telling her to tell him… to help him. Instead, he was furious and thought she was out to sabotage him.
“You lie.”
“I’m not a liar,” she growled, shoving against him uselessly. “No one told me. I swear it. I swear it on my mother’s grave.”
Fordham pulled back slightly at that. “Your mother is dead?”
Kerrigan squirmed out from under him, massaging her aching shoulders. “Yes. Most human women don’t survive bearing Fae children.”
She didn’t know why she had said it. Why she was confiding any of it. Why she was even helping him. Except that her visions had kept drawing them back together. That much was clear. And she didn’t know what they meant or how to ignore them.
“I was trying to help you,” Kerrigan said. “And it seems to have worked. You won your match. You’re near the top of the leaderboard.”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “But why would you want to help me?”
A valid question, all things considered. He had done nothing but insult her since the moment she had met him. And she couldn’t tell him the truth… so she’d settle for a half-truth.
“I feel like we’re… drawn together,” she admitted.
His eyebrows rose sharply. “You and I? That’s impossible. Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know, all right? And I’m aware it sounds ridiculous, but I can’t shake the feeling. So, I thought instead of letting you die today, I would help you.”
“You called out to me when Kamari was going to attack me with the flaming sword.”
“Kamari? The girl from Aude?”
He nodded.
“Yeah… I did.”
“I heard you even though the crowd was screaming, like all of it had turned to background noise.”
“Are you saying I’m loud?”
He sighed heavily as if she such a nuisance. “I meant that… perhaps we are connected in some way. But I don’t understand it nor do I like it.”
“You and me both,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest. “And here’s a hint, princeling: shoving people against walls and accusing them is not how you make friends.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Why, thank you.” Kerrigan stepped back. “Now, I can’t deal with this”—she waved between them—“anymore. My friend is missing, and I need to figure out where he’s gone.”
Fordham’s eyes shuttered at that. Everything in him went very, very still. “What friend?”
“Why would you care?”
“Is he about this tall?” Fordham asked, gesturing to a height slightly shorter than his. “Brown hair, tan skin, a little annoying, pompous, self-righteous.”
“You’re one to talk, you know,” she chided.
“Is it him? The one who follows you?”
Kerrigan stopped her jest at those words
“Yes… that’s Lyam. But… how do you know?”
“Because he followed you out of the party last night.”
“What?” she gasped.
Her heart beat furiously. She hadn’t even seen him. Normally, she noticed him tracking her. But she hadn’t even felt him. Had she been that far into her own head, or had he gotten lost?
For the first time, she wondered if perhaps something had happened to Lyam rather than he was just missing.