Four accusing faces stared me down as my mind ran through several possibilities, searching for the most believable one. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to lie to them. But I couldn't forget what Nate had said would happen if I told anyone how we had met. As much as I wasn't overwhelmed with love for the guy, I didn't want him dead.
My wolf took advantage of my confusion to intervene and use me as her mouthpiece. It was the first time she had done anything to involve herself in a human conversation. "I met Nathan when we were children, before the Shadowcats left. I haven't spoken to him for years."
A total lie, of course, though at least it was plausible. Three of my friends seemed to accept that easily, but one narrowed his eyes. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was too perceptive for my own good.
"Interesting. I suppose you met his dad as well, then?" Kai inquired in an oh-so-benevolent tone.
As I obviously didn't know who Nate's dad was, I went with the safest answer I could find.
"Not really. I mean my parents babysat him a few times, but I don't remember much," I explained hesitantly. This time, Kai gave up on calling me out and nodded.
"You guys aren't saying that the guy we met in the woods yesterday was Nathan Silveryn?!" Becky growled.
"Well ... yes," Kai replied casually.
"And nobody told me? You both knew and you let me go ahead and start planning his demise? Were you trying to get me killed?"
"I wouldn't say—" Kai began, but he caught the look on Becky's face and promptly changed his answer. "Sorry."
I wanted to ask why everyone seemed so afraid of him, but not as much as I wanted to change the subject to something less treacherous. "Oh, look, is that the time? We should head back if we want to cook these."
I gathered up the line and still flopping fish and trudged off towards the fortress without checking they were even following. A twig snapped to my left and suddenly Kai was beside me. I looked anywhere except at him. The robin perched on a tree branch became fascinating, the rotting leaves that coated the forest floor were intriguing, and the spot of mud on my dark jacket was enthralling. Anything except face up to the tangled web of secrets that had ensnared my life.
"I remember you now," Kai spoke quietly.
"What do you mean?" I kept my voice just as low, still dodging his eyes.
"You're the one who was with Seb when..." He trailed off uncertainly.
Oh. Well, then. He knew.
"Yes." This time it was barely audible.
Kai left a short pause. "I knew him quite well, though not as well as you, obviously. He was on my rota most of the time. When I heard what happened ... I'm sorry, Sav. He didn't deserve that."
Sorry. It was the same thing I'd said to him about his father's death. I didn't know why that was the typical thing to say in situations like these. What happened to Seb wasn't his fault, but he was apologising anyway.
"What gave me away?" I asked dryly.
Kai shrugged. "Seb knew Nathan as well, which got me wondering what happened to the little Fairborne girl who witnessed something so horrible."
What? Seb knew Nate? Why didn't I know that?
The questions were running circles around my mind. Secrets within secrets.
But Kai hadn't finished. "And in response to your earlier questions, Nathan was my guide when I was fostered with the Shadowcats. We never got on brilliantly. The Shadowcats claim they left because they no longer wanted any involvement in werewolf society. I've always suspected it had a lot more to do with my mother's decision to marry a Rochester. So there. Are you satisfied now?"
It all sounded fairly reasonable. "Yes," I muttered.
"How long had you been bottling that up?" was his next question. It sometimes felt like Kai could see right through me.
"A while," I admitted.
"You could have just asked me y'know." Kai smiled as he echoed his own words from yesterday.
***
Ethan was feeling better. For nearly a whole day, he had stayed curled up in a quiet corner of the dorm, groaning and throwing up every so often. By the time we started hand-to-hand combat for the afternoon, the oleander had passed out of his system completely. It was a shame really, because having an Ethan-free life had been a lot more peaceful.
Even worse, he was somehow a hundred times more bitter and cruel than before we poisoned him.
"Today, we're going to try something a little more challenging. You won't always be fighting someone who's your exact build, or too friendly to do any real damage. So I'm going to pair you off with a candidate who's not in your family, or even your house," the instructor informed us.
The information was met with alarm and wide eyes. I wasn't too worried, knowing my friends were fairly spread out through the different houses. That was, until it came to the pairing off.
Becky was put with Corban, one of the Davengard minions. Alex ended up with the guy Ethan had thrown up on. Two by two, the safer choices disappeared. A Llewellyn girl was paired with Ben, leaving Kai as the only person I would be happy to end up with. Anyone except a Rochester was my prayer to the Moon Goddess.
Eventually, there were only three of us left — Kai, Ethan and me. The pitfall of having an odd number of candidates.
"I suppose the three of you can take it in turns," the instructor sighed. "Or even try two against one to spice it up. You know what? That's an excellent idea. Sav and Ethan, see if you can't dump Mr Davengard on his royal arse."
Of freaking course.
"Just stay out of my way," Ethan told me before I could as much as blink. Like I would have helped him anyway. I didn't reply either, remembering that we were supposed to ignore him.
Ethan charged unceremoniously at Kai. I took an awkward step back, trying to get myself out of the way. Fortunately, though, Kai moved the other way when he dodged the Rochester boy with ease. Hell, he was fast.
Then they started throwing punches. I could only wince in sympathy every time Kai took a hit, which was rarely. Although Ethan was taller, stronger, and several years older, the prince definitely had the upper hand. He seemed to instinctively know how to use Ethan's weight against him and where the pressure points were.
I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to be helping Ethan. Even my wolf was against that. She had submitted to Kai's wolf and challenging him now didn't come easily.
With the instructor glaring at me, I shuffled around the side lines until I was directly behind my friend. The second he pinned Ethan down, I threw my full weight against Kai, muttering an apology as I did so.
I needn't have felt guilty about it, because Kai wasn't nearly so easy to beat. He took the impact of the ground against his back. I enjoyed a second of pride before he got his legs underneath him and twisted over so that I was trapped underneath him instead. My heartbeat sped up as Kai leaned down slowly to whisper in my ear.
"Next time, put your weight on my legs."
My cheeks flushed as he gently eased off me and stood up, only sparing Ethan a cursory glance. The Rochester boy was slowly picking himself up, wiping a smear of blood from his split lip. He made an attempt to go for Kai again, but the instructor shoved the end of his staff into Ethan's ribs, stopping him in his tracks.
"Enough of that. Kai and Ethan against Savannah. Let's make it interesting."
I felt like dying on the spot. Those two fighting me was only going to end one way. My collection of bruises was about to make a considerable addition.
"That's not interesting, that's sadism," Kai protested loudly.
The instructor took no notice. "This is no time to be a gentleman. Short-term pain, long-term gain and all that. She'll thank me for it one day."
But he wasn't easily dissuaded. "I just think it would be a more even fight if you at least give her an ally."
"If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. You'll fight her, or you'll swap with Josh. It makes no difference to me."
Kai shot me an unhappy look. I knew that Josh was one of Ethan's cronies and would probably be far worse. "It's okay. I can take a few hits," I assured him quietly.
I had resigned myself to getting beaten up as soon as the instructor had first spoken, but that didn't mean I would go down without a fight. Didn't that guy have other groups to supervise, anyway? Even at a glance I could see that Patrick had climbed a tree to get away from his partner. Wasn't that a little more pressing than causing me pain?
Ethan came at me first, of course. I dodged one punch, then took the second straight to the ribs. The force of the blow brought tears to my eyes. It felt like I was being slammed into by a bulldozer. I fell to my knees, blinking rapidly, determined not to let any of them see me cry.
He advanced slowly towards me again, cracking his knuckles. I grunted and tried to pull myself together to avoid his next blow. A figure stumbled across Ethan's path, tripping him up. Accidently, of course, but it bought me enough time for the pain to fade.
"Oops," Kai said bluntly.
"Mr Davengard, this is your first and only warning," the instructor snapped. "Fight her."
Of the two boys, much to my misfortune, Ethan got up first. A punch to his stomach seemed to go completely unnoticed. He proceeded to take advantage of my disorientation by grabbing me by the scruff of the neck and landing another blow to my midriff. I sensed extreme anger, which stemmed from Kai beating him earlier and was now being taken out on me. Almost too late, the instincts Seb had drilled into me kicked in ... literally. I slammed my heel into the bridge of his foot.
Ethan let out a grunt of pain and released me. I rolled clear only to end up face to face with Kai. He gave me a rueful look, taking gentle hold of me and putting me into an arm lock before I had even processed his presence. Of course, just for pure pig-headedness I struggled and kicked at him, but Kai was far too clever to let my feet anywhere near him.
"Alright, let go." The instructor finally seemed to realise what a bad idea this was. "Cool off."
The second order was directed at the boys, giving Kai no choice but to head over to the fountain with Ethan. I got the feeling that, for some reason, I was in a lot of trouble.
"If that was a real fight, you would be dead by now," the instructor commented.
"If that was a real fight, Kai would've been on my side, so I could care less."
Rebel me was making a reappearance. How convenient.
The instructor raised a thick eyebrow, seemingly unconcerned by my outburst. "What exactly do you think we are doing here?"
"Um ... training?" I tried. "Learning to fight so we survive patrol."
"Wrong, wrong and wrong. We train the five candidates that are chosen. The exercise you took part in had a different purpose altogether. When you work it out, let me know."
At that point, the instructor spotted Patrick clinging to the tree trunk and stormed off to deal with it. He left me with a considerable amount of questions. What was the point of forcing my friend to fight me?
My next stop was to visit the girl's washrooms with Becky. We were never officially told we could use them, but no one had said we couldn't either. At the very least, I could rinse off the worst of the sweat and dirt that collected on my body every day.
"So ... you and Kai, huh?" Becky asked as she ran her head under the cold tap.
"What do you mean?" I frowned.
"I just don't quite understand why you haven't jumped his bones yet," she shrugged.
I choked on a mouthful of water and looked at her in alarm.
"Oh, don't look so shocked. That boy is smoking hot, and you're both legal."
"It's not like that," I assured her. "We're friends."
"You sure? He can hardly take his eyes off you," she said with a knowing smile.
That really made me pause for thought. There was a small part of me feeling flattered that a prince like Kaeden would even look at me twice. The more logical and humble part of my brain decided that Becky was imagining it. Having a handsome boy unable to take his eyes off you was something that only happened to people in stories.
The trouble was, I liked him back. More and more every minute we spent together. It felt like the beginnings of a crush. Who wouldn't enjoy being taken care of by someone so charming? I didn't like the idea of depending on the male gender any more than any other girl in her right mind ... but it was still nice to know that you had somebody on your side.
"It's not like that," I repeated, although I was getting less sure by the second.
I completed the short walk back to the dorm with a towel thrown over my shoulders to catch the drips of soapy water. The dorm was empty when we arrived. Becky quickly busied herself with lighting a fire to heat up the leftover fish, leaving me to slump down in my usual spot.
Every inch of my body felt bruised and aching. I had taken a glance at my ribs while I was washing and quickly looked away again. Where Ethan had punched me, a dark, blotchy bruise was forming, making breathing too deeply very painful.
A patch of white on the grey floor caught my attention. A folded scrap of paper had been carefully placed next to my folded pile of spare clothing. Once I had made sure Becky wasn't looking, I opened it warily.
There were only seven words, scrawled in black ink. The Silver Birch at midnight. Come alone.