Chapter 22

22

THESSA’S PRIVATE NOTES:

Thessa and Kellan, forever.

Does he even love me?

B lending in with the interwoven guards, Thessa and Leora stepped inside the marble fortress.

The Solarium straight ahead was tempting Leora, however, they had to stay on task. Instead of turning toward city services, Thessa tugged Leora the opposite way. The metal lettering overhead read, Restricted Access , and there was a quartet of guards blocking the long hallway.

Thessa tapped her shoulder before speaking, “Guard K. Phillips, escorting Guard S. Blooning to her quarters. She seems to have gotten lost.” The respect for new cadets was minimal, and Thessa had used that to their advantage.

The quartet stood to attention, mumbling something brash about first-years before parting.

They marched down the never-ending hallway until it came to fork. Right looked familiar—the dungeons were that way. Turning left, they entered another hallway cast in sleek marble.

It was eerily silent until a group of guards burst through a door, laughing with relaxed shoulders.

Thessa kept her eyes from bulging and her pulse steady as the group crossed their path with nothing to say but brief hellos.

Off-duty soldiers.

Leora whispered, “Do you think we’re close?”

She nodded.

When the guards turned the corner, Thessa jerked her head toward the door they’d exited from. She pressed her ear against it, encouraging Leora to do the same.

Thessa listened and asked,“That’s jabber. Right?”

Leora nodded.

“This has to be it. If anyone greets you, just remember your name. And don’t salute off duty, that’s only at posts.” She opened the door and stepped one boot in front of the other.

The room was vast with cots assembled in rows. Hundreds of cadets were stationed here. She paced forward, unsuccessfully holding back a smile knowing she’d just infiltrated the residential quarters.

Fire-spewing fools.

Thankfully, the guards in here were not paying them any mind. The ones that weren’t sleeping were reading, eating, or flirting with each other. About a third were asleep, the ones on night duty, she supposed. She scanned the mounds of bodies, but it wasn’t hard to spot the soldier who’d taken bites from her heart. He was lying on his side, and that chiseled jaw was prominent from across the room.

She spoke out of the side of her mouth. “That’s him.”

Leora pivoted for the water table beside the door; Thessa’s pulse quickened as she made her approach .

She used the empty cot across from Kellan to sit, and for a moment, she watched him, wondering how his lips maintained that puckered shape while he slept. Then, she poked him.

When he blinked awake, she returned the favor and cupped a hand over his mouth.“Shh.”

Kellan’s eyes shifted from dazed to furious as he forced her hand off.

“Ouch.”

He pressed up, looking left and right, then spoke through his teeth. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, but I just had to see you ,” she mocked his words.

His eyes trailed along her uniform. “How’d you, are you?—?”

He started but Thessa shushed him again, there was no time to explain. She leaned closer, whispering, “Give me your keys.”

“What? Absolutely not.”

“Kellan, I need the keys.”

“Thess—”

She cut him off. “Don’t say my name here. The keys.”

He threw an arm up. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Not your concern, just like my heart has never been your concern. You won’t ask me another question unless you prefer to be implicated, right? Give me the keys and report them stolen when you wake up.”

Kellan scrunched his face in disagreement.

Thessa held firm. “You owe me.”

He rolled his eyes and mumbled, “My boot,” before slamming his head into the pillow.