Nightfire | The Whispering Wall #1

Forty Three: A Date

It had been a relief to get away from the other apprentices, but standing next to Grace and Nova just made him feel like he was intruding on something. Jordan stared deep into the Night Fire, catching familiar traces of his tutor's magic in the heat blazing off it, and tried to ignore the chaos of the celebrations behind him. Even with Yddris's restrictions in place, the sheer volume of life in such a small space, which included a good three dozen Unspoken, was making his head hurt.

He glanced at his sister. She had small frown lines between her brows and had edged closer to Nova; as for the Angel, her face betrayed nothing at all. Even after talking to her alone, he couldn't understand what Grace saw that he didn't. His sister was her polar opposite in almost every way, and previous girlfriends of Grace's that he'd met had been nothing like the Angel, either – and he wasn't sure that was a good thing.

He took a sip of wine. It was sweet and tinged with cloves, and left him with a gentle, natural warmth curling in his belly. He wasn't cold, because his magic never allowed him to be cold, and sometimes it disturbed him; the crackling heat kept the feeling in his limbs even as he saw dozens of people around him shivering and blowing into their hands.

He sensed Yddris come up behind him a split second before he spoke.

"Get yourself something to eat, won't you?" The Unspoken pressed three small bronze coins into his palm. "There's no food in the house and we don't need you collapsing."

"Again," Jordan muttered, and pocketed the coins. "Thanks."

"Get Koen to point something out that won't have you in the privy for the next few days," Yddris said as he turned away, and a moment later the crowd had swallowed him.

"Shouldn't he be watching you closer?" Grace said, frowning at the spot where his tutor had vanished. "After what happened?"

"Nobody will try anything when it's this busy," Jordan said, repeating Nika's assurances from that morning. The possibility had also crossed his mind. He didn't want to run into Arlen here. "I'm under strict instructions to stay with the crowds, and apprentices are watched really closely anyway. See?"

He nodded his head towards a nearby stall which was setting up. An Unspoken stood watch nearby.

"In case we set stuff on fire, I'm guessing," he muttered. Not that he had it in him; he was still exhausted from the events of the past few days, and a festival with a high risk of demon appearances was the last place he wanted to be as it was.

"That's alright, then," Grace said, not sounding like it was alright but resigned to it. "What are the other apprentices like?"

"You met Koen already," Jordan said. "Astra seems nice."

"A girl?"

"Yeah."

"I was starting to think there weren't any female Unspoken."

"There aren't that many," Jordan said. "I guess they're less likely to get themselves in shitty situations that trigger a manifestation." He shrugged. "I don't know about Oloe. He doesn't speak."

"By choice, or...?"

"Didn't ask," Jordan said. "Seemed inappropriate."

"Oh, yeah. I suppose." Grace frowned.

"If you don't want to be blessing people all evening, I suggest you wear your hood," Nova said suddenly. "People are starting to notice you."

Jordan grimaced as Grace cursed and threw up the hood of her cloak. He looked around and found that they were being watched from all corners of the plaza.