Nightfire Warriors (Remastered)

23.

"I know you can be a Nightfire warrior, Sag," she says faithfully. "I know you can. But it doesn't matter what I know. You have to know it, too. Okay?"

I nod, going with it. "Okay."

Kendall wraps her arms around me. It's the warmest hug I've ever felt from her. She's almost a mother to me now, but I can't tell her what I'm about to do. I don't want her to talk me out of it.

"I'm proud of you, Savage. And don't worry. We're going to find the underlying cause of whatever Frankie is up to. You leave cranky pants to me."

"And you will leave the traitors to me!"

I wasn't aware that the Seeker Leader had walked in; Kendall's motivational speech enraptured me. What's he doing here? It's incredible how someone can walk into a room and take out all the joy. My mentor's face drops, and she approaches him threateningly. "You keep Sag's name out your mouth!" she snarls.

A'Dimsyte raises his eyebrows. "What are you going on about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Kendall sounds extremely mad. "You're stealing Sag's passion and making him feel like he's worth nothing!"

"Oh?" A'Dimsyte asks. "Quite the contrary. You're the mentor. You should be ashamed of yourself for not seeing right through him."

"I'm still going to blame you," Kendall promises. "Your training methods are ridiculous. I see how you treat your warriors in the training room."

"Are you questioning my teaching methods, Ms. Minshew?" A'Dimsyte warns.

"Not questioning," Kendall says. "Judging."

A'Dimsyte takes offense to that. "We'll see who has the last laugh when I'm finished with him." The look in his eyes says he desperately wants to slice my throat. "Get your flat ass to the training room now, Devlin. I'll be waiting for you."

It doesn't take effort to figure out there's a specific reason A'Dimsyte is here today. He's going to train us. There's always a special guest. Please tell me Abigail didn't hire him as a guest judge for the rest of the tournament. She would do something like that, especially with all the rumors about Frankie and me. This is his way of going undercover and keeping close eyes on us. And now I'm confident that's the reason for his attendance. Be careful what you wish for, Sag, I think. Now there's a fifth judge who can break ties.

When I enter the training room, A'Dimsyte isn't there. But I'm confident he'll arrive any second and make an impactful entrance similar at Joffrey.

Danny wears his combat gear. Black boots and a weapons belt over his warrior uniform. Surprisingly, he approaches me. Ever since Frankie's outburst, he's been lightening up. It's mindboggling. I'm not sure what he thinks of me. I tolerate him, anyway. "Where have you been?" he asks.

"You are never going to believe who's here," I answer.

Danny glares at me. "Who?"

"A'Dimsyte," I say. "The Seeker leader."

"Oh. Cool," he says. I thought Danny would be more thrilled, knowing very well A'Dimsyte is the only one at this point with authority who can release him and his family in peace and harmony. Unfortunately, we both know he enforces every law.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Well...Frankie's not talking to me," he reluctantly says.