Angelfire | The Whispering Wall #3

Thirteen: Unexpected Arrivals

"I'd like to still have arms at the end of this, you know."

Yddris breathed out a long plume of smoke. "You said something similar when we started, and back then you could barely do one. Proof of concept."

Jordan glowered at the floorboards as he pushed himself up again, then down. His arms trembled and threatened to plant his face in the floor, but he forced his torso back up again. "This seems excessive."

Yddris said nothing. Jordan forced himself through a couple more push-ups before sitting down, gasping for breath, arms feeling like struck tuning forks. Downstairs the front door opened and closed again – probably Henrik and Astra. For days the house had been in a limbo of anxious waiting. Cara and the Guildtown delegation could arrive any time, and someone had to be there to meet her and whatever news she brought. He knew the terrors of the dark season were in the back of everyone's minds as much as they were his, and that Yddris and Nika were both braced for the worst.

"Who's cooking today?" he asked. He hadn't seen Nika all morning.

"By default, one of us." Yddris had a frown in his voice. "That emergency must have been serious."

A runner had arrived at the house in the small hours of the night, after he and Yddris had come back from patrol. He had spoken to Yddris at the door for a second, and then Yddris had gone to wake Nika. The last thing they'd seen of the other Unspoken was him snatching up his medical satchel from its place near the hearth and hurtling out of the door with it. Jordan had at first assumed it was something to do with Harkenn, and then corrected himself. There was no way something could happen to Harkenn without Yddris being the first to know.

"Me, then," he grunted. Yddris's culinary prowess had not improved any since they'd last had a similar conversation.

"Astra might help you. I think I sensed her down there."

That was likely true, but Jordan didn't like the wry note in Yddris's voice. "Don't make it weird."

The Unspoken put his hands up in mock surrender. "Wouldn't dream of it." A pause. "Just saying that I've never seen her this interested in anyone else."

"Oh, fuck off." Jordan stood up and brushed dust from his trousers. "She talks to Koen way more than she talks to me. You're just trying to stir shit."

"She's never gone on a painting date with Koen."

Jordan glowered. "It's not a date."

His tutor shrugged in his most infuriating manner, but thankfully didn't say any more. Like Jordan wanted to discuss his love life with Yddris, who was not only terminally constipated when it came to feelings, but expected everyone else to never once ever mention his own relationship, even the poor bastard who had to live with them both.

Besides, Astra terrified him. He was never certain that she was even tolerating him, let alone liking him – several steps before even the possibility of attraction. The idea was so ludicrous he wanted to laugh aloud.

The front door opened again, and this time Henrik's voice echoed up the stairs, "Nika! Kiel's teeth, man, you look exhausted..."

Yddris was already on the steps, taking them two at a time, before Jordan had even foggily registered that it meant Nika was back. He followed at a much slower pace, dragging his putty-like limbs down the stairs and feeling very sorry for himself while he did it. He tired more easily since Cael's attack; exercises like that shouldn't have been as difficult as they were after the length of time he'd been training. He wasn't about to mention it, though. He didn't need everyone treating him more carefully than they already were.