Nightsworn | The Whispering Wall #2

Seventy Five: Investigation

"You're getting faster." Koen stepped back and lowered his sparring stick. Jordan wiped sweat from his eyes and blew out a long breath.

"Stop buttering me up."

"No, seriously." Koen rolled his shoulders and set his stick against the wall. "A few months ago I didn't even get winded sparring with you. No offense." Jordan grunted. "Now I actually have to try."

Jordan stretched one arm and then the other as the cloud of smoke in the corner of the room parted and allowed Yddris into view. "He's right, boy. You are getting faster. And you're not as afraid to hit back."

Jordan knew where that came from. Being charged by a seven-foot Varthian and thrown around at least every other week was a fast way to learn how to move quickly and hold ground. He ran a hand through his hair and grimaced at the stringy sweatiness of it. "I desperately need a bath."

Koen shrugged. "I can't smell you from across the room yet, so you aren't doing too badly." He sauntered towards the door. Despite his words, he wasn't moving nearly as stiffly as Jordan was. "I'm going to see what Nika's left in the pot."

As his footsteps receded, Jordan shuffled to one side of the attic and sat down. In one corner of the room was a thin mattress, a pile of blankets and a stack of books, where Nova and his sister slept each night. At the other end was a desk where Nika worked half the morning on research for Harkenn's affliction – even more books populated that part of the room. They had just about had enough space left to spar in. Not that Jordan had been in any kind of mood to spar, exhausted as he was. Cael's attack had left him afraid to sleep, no matter how he rationalised to himself that the Angel couldn't do anything to him from this far away.

Even if he could convince himself of that on a given night, his stress only found another focus on Arlen's leadership bid. Marick had had almost nothing to do with Jordan, but he could well imagine that making a pact like that with the assassin hadn't featured in the guild leader's plans for him, and that was before they'd started actively working against his grander ideas. And thus, instead of taking him through torturous loops of what would happen if Cael got into his head, his mind provided him with all the scenarios that might follow if the Devil leader discovered that plot. Both left him staring at the ceiling in a cold sweat, so that not even Ren could calm him down.

"You've been avoiding Nika," Yddris said, sitting down beside him. Jordan blinked, shocked by the sudden accusation. "He's not stupid, boy, and he's not so busy that he hasn't noticed."

Jordan swallowed. Guilt flooded him. He hadn't done it in any kind of calculated fashion. He had simply found ways not to be alone in the room with the Unspoken for too long, knowing what Nika knew. He dreaded being questioned on it. And he dreaded even more that even if Yddris had missed it, Nika had noticed him outside their bedroom door that night at the inn. It wouldn't be the first time the Unspoken had sensed him somewhere he had no business being, and Jordan fervently hoped that that conversation would never need to happen.

"I haven't been avoiding him," he defended, "just...the conversations that might happen if we were alone. That's all."

"I think he's got the message that you don't want to talk about it."

Jordan's face heated. "I didn't mean it like that."

Yddris sighed out another stream of smoke. "I know that, boy. He knows that, too, I think. But I know more about all this than he does, and he knows that as well. He's under a lot of strain, just as much as strain as you or I. He's been charged with curing Harkenn, which is synonymous with preventing outright war. If he fails, the Pit breaks loose, and he's worrying about you more than he needs to be right now. He enjoys teaching you, boy. He would've taken you on if the time had been right. Don't shut him out completely."