Resistance (Ilyon Chronicles Book 1) (7 page)

Beyond the wall lay the complex Kyrin had seen from the intersection. Tarvin Hall. Between the main building, outbuildings, and training fields, it occupied many acres and sat right in the palace’s shadow. This was home—at least the home Kyrin and Kaden had known since the age of seven, along with any other child deemed remarkable or particularly privileged.

They jogged through the gate to find the front courtyard empty and ran up the wide stone steps to the front door of the main building—a massive, three-story structure. Inside, the silent, empty halls echoed their hasty entrance. Kaden set Meredith down, and they strode through the corridors, the little girl running to keep up.

At the dining hall, they came to an abrupt halt, and Kyrin grimaced.
Great
. The tall doors stood shut, and a murmur of voices filtered through them. Lunch had started.

Her eyes shifted from the closed doors to a lone figure beside them. Master Zocar stood tall and proud like one of the grim-faced statues in the courtyard, and just as commanding. Though thin, almost spindly even, Kyrin didn’t doubt his strength. She’d seen him sparring on the training fields. A retired general, he’d headed this program for all the years she’d attended, and demanded utmost respect. The younger children were convinced one glance from his smoldering, dark eyes could shrivel them on the spot. He moved toward them now with slow, precise steps.

“Uh-oh.” Meredith pressed up against Kyrin and grabbed her jerkin. Kyrin patted her shoulder.

Master Zocar’s gaze landed first on the little girl and then pinned Kyrin. She suppressed a grimace. While she no longer feared the man, not a single person at Tarvin Hall liked to face him when in the
wrong, and she and Kaden found themselves in that position more than most.

“Late for noon meal, are we?” His voice filtered out, low and even, not giving away any emotion.

Zocar stood firm on order and discipline and ran Tarvin Hall much like the military he’d once commanded. After all, wasn’t that what they all were? The emperor’s own personal army, groomed from early childhood to do his bidding? Of course, this was considered a high honor, and Master Zocar held them all to a standard of perfection. His own appearance attested to that—always impeccably dressed and groomed—his uniform pressed, and his shoulder-length silver hair neatly framing his face. He would look better with it cut short, but now was not the time for such thoughts.

The silence lengthened, and Kyrin shifted.

Master Zocar’s thin brows rose. “Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?”

Kyrin bit the inside of her lip. She glanced at Kaden and willed him not to say anything. He returned her look with his own warning message in his eyes, but Kyrin chose to ignore it.

She faced Master Zocar again and straightened. “It’s my fault. I should’ve made sure we were back sooner.”

Kaden let out an audible sigh. Kyrin could almost feel him frowning at her.

“Is that so?”

Now Meredith drew breath and opened her mouth to speak, but Kyrin nudged her. Dear Meredith, always ready to come to her defense. But if Kyrin understood anything here at Tarvin Hall, it was that tattling made enemies, and she wouldn’t let the girl come under fire for her. She already made a prime target for the other young students.

“Yes, sir,” Kyrin answered with a reinforcing nod. “I’m the oldest and was responsible.”

Master Zocar peered at her as if trying to draw out the truth. “Well then, you four know the consequences. No lunch, and an assigned chore to occupy your afternoon.”

“Sir?”

“Yes, Kyrin?”

“Let them have their lunch. I’ll take the punishment, and do multiple chores if I have to.”

Another long silence followed, and Kyrin watched his eyes. The man was a master at thinking things over without the slightest hint of his thoughts showing in his expression. Even she had difficulty reading him at times, but had no doubt of his answer.

Eyes fixed on Kyrin, he said, “Meredith, Elise, Kaden, go find your seats.”

He turned to open the door of the dining hall. Meredith’s face drooped as she looked up, but Kyrin gave her a quick smile and coaxed her forward.

“Go on. I know you’re hungry.”

“What about you?”

Kyrin shrugged. “Not really.” After this morning, the knots still hadn’t released from her stomach.

Meredith bowed her head and shuffled away. Elise passed by next. They traded glances, and Elise’s chin tipped up. Kyrin met it with a cold stare. No
doubt Elise would have found a way out of this punishment anyway, the ungrateful manipulator. Heat prickled up inside Kyrin, but she refused to let it take hold. After all, she had done this for Meredith and Kaden and contented herself with that. The two girls entered the dining hall. Kaden, however, didn’t budge.

“Kaden, if you please.” Master Zocar motioned to the door.

Kyrin stared expectantly at her brother, but he refused to look at her.
Stubborn
.

“Sir, I’ll do the chores. Kyrin can eat.”

Kyrin shook her head. “I’m the oldest.”

“By three and a half minutes.”

Kyrin narrowed her eyes. Why did he always have to insist? But she supposed if they weren’t both stubborn, Tarvin Hall’s instructors would have separated them growing up. According to their authorities, family connections and interaction distracted them from their studies and duty to the emperor. However, regardless of any rules or consequences, they stuck together. Always had, always would.

“Very well,” Zocar decided, “you‘ll both do the chores.”

Kaden flashed a triumphant smile, and Kyrin rolled her eyes. He just couldn’t leave well enough alone. She returned her gaze to Master Zocar and caught the tiniest hint of amusement twinkling in his eyes. After all, how many times had they gone through this?

She sighed. Time to get it over
with. “The courtyard?”

Master Zocar gave a brief nod. “Then I would like to speak to you
…” he paused and specified, “
just you
, in my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

She turned and walked back down the corridor the way they had come. Kaden’s footsteps echoed beside her. Outside, she stopped at the top of the steps and stuck her hands on her hips. Kaden should have let her take responsibility for this. She refused to look at him and frowned down into the courtyard. In the center, a circular area of etched stone about fifteen feet in diameter portrayed another depiction of Aertus and Vilai. As a high traffic area, it required cleaning every few days.

She descended the steps, and Kaden followed her across the courtyard to the maintenance shed. They each filled a bucket from the well and grabbed a hard-bristled brush. On hands and knees, they scrubbed the stones, working the bristles into the grooves. Such tedious, tiring, and sometimes painful work. Kyrin still bore bruises on her knees and scabs on her knuckles from last time. And experience had taught her it would take them over an hour to clean it to Master Zocar’s satisfaction. Students learned at a young age that shortcuts only made more work. Better to overdo than fail Zocar’s expectations.

In some ways, Kyrin didn’t mind the work. It offered them a time of quiet away from all the activity of living at the bustling Tarvin Hall, but sometimes it left too much time for thought. Thoughts that often drifted toward home—their true home they’d left ten years ago. They could be there now, if only they’d been born normal. How could they help it if they’d learned to read as well as their eldest brother by the time they were four? And Kyrin certainly hadn’t chosen to be so aware of small details or able to remember everything that ever entered her head. Still, when they turned seven, the emperor’s men brought them here to spend their childhood developing their dedication and service. Forget their home, parents, and other brothers or the cherished days of unconcerned play. Only normal children experienced such things.

“So
…”

Kaden’s voice snapped her attention back to their work. She looked over at him. He had a contrite little smile on his face. Apparently, her wandering thoughts had caused her to ignore him for longer than she’d intended. “You’re impossible.”

“So are you.”

A smile pulled at Kyrin’s lips. She fought it for only a moment before it won, but she attempted to force it away. “You just keep your eyes on your work.”

They’d agreed a long time ago that Kaden would focus on Aertus’s side of the etching while Kyrin took care of the indecent Vilai.

Kaden snorted. “It’s not like it isn’t right in front of me every day.” He shook his head. “It’s stupid anyway.”

Kyrin peeked around to make sure no one had overheard him disrespect the goddess. “You know, you could’ve just let me do this myself. You must be starved by now.”

He shrugged, though she’d never known him not to be hungry. “You could’ve just let me tell Master Zocar it was Elise’s fault we were late.”

Kyrin dunked her brush in her bucket and let her shoulders sag. “And make more enemies?”

“At least the right person would’ve been blamed instead of you
…again.”

Another little smile tugged Kyrin’s cheeks. He might be impossible at times, but without him, she wouldn’t have survived the last ten years. “Let them all blame me. It’s not like I can sink any lower in their estimation between being an Altair and branded for life as the ultimate snitch.”

Kaden’s expression darkened, a sharp ring to his voice. “Grandfather was the traitor. I don’t see why we all have to live with his shame. And it’s not your fault Master Zocar and the other instructors use you all the time.”

“I know,”
Kyrin sighed. Every time they brought her into their offices to ask about the other students’ behavior or to tell her to keep an eye on someone, she hated it. “But why fuel the fire?”

Kaden made a face and went back to scrubbing. They could complain all they wanted, but when had that ever changed their
circumstances?

A
t the end of the half-hour lunch period, the doors of Tarvin Hall opened, and students poured into the courtyard on their way to various activities. With them came the inevitable sneers and snickering directed at anyone under punishment, though they were especially harsh toward Kyrin and Kaden. It always bothered Kaden the most. They managed to ignore it for a while, but when someone stopped near Kyrin, she tensed.

“So the snitch got caught breaking the rules again?” The male voice dripped with contempt. “I thought the snitch was too good to break rules.”

Kyrin clamped her jaw shut and looked toward Kaden. His expression tightened, his fingers fisting around his brush. She gave him a shake of her head and pled with her eyes.

A foot knocked against Kyrin’s bucket and tipped it over. Dirty water splashed everywhere. She jerked back, but not fast enough to prevent it from soaking into her pants and the long ends of her jerkin. Kaden threw down his brush and jumped up. Kyrin scrambled to her feet. The two young men stood chest to chest. Kaden’s taller stature contrasted highly with the other young man, but his opponent didn’t back off.

“Do you have a problem?” Kaden demanded, his voice taut.

“It was an accident,” the other replied too innocently.

Kaden scoffed. “Sure.”

“
You going to do something about it?”

Kyrin’s eyes slid to the group forming off to her right, ready to back the young man up. Kaden could take any one of them, but not all at once. If things escalated, she would have to watch him get beat up and then further punished for fighting, again. All for her sake. Before it could spiral out of control, she took her brother by the arm. The iron-hard muscles in his forearm tensed under her fingers.

“Kaden,” she said gently, but with a tone of warning. “It’s fine. Just leave it alone.”

Neither young man moved, their gazes still warring against each other. Finally, smirking, the other young man ambled off. Kaden’s muscles bunched harder, and Kyrin tightened her grip. She said his name again, urging him to listen, and his gaze dropped to her.

“It’s not worth it.”

Kaden huffed. “I’m tired of how they all treat you. We’re not children anymore.”