Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

They parted ways, and she returned to her rooms, ready to bathe and eat breakfast before going down to meet Drosni and the rest of her elite unit. Although she disliked Drosni, she wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity to get out of the palace for a day.

True to habit, Trelar had already filled Siraay’s bath and laid the table in preparation for the first meal of the day, so Siraay undressed and bathed quickly, ready to eat after such a vigorous training session.

It was only when she had finished with her meal that she noticed the servant’s fidgeting.

Siraay narrowed her eyes at the female, observing her for a moment longer before speaking. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

Trelar seemed to freeze for an instant, before folding her hands. ‘Well, my lady, while you were down training this morning, a message came for you.’

Interested, Siraay sat straighter in her chair. ‘And?’

‘And it was from Lord Chezran, lady. He said that the chief archon would be accompanying you out on patrol today.’

Siraay felt her face go numb. She couldn’t have heard correctly. ‘He said what?’

Trelar began fidgeting again. ‘The chief archon, my lady. He’s been ordered to join the patrol.’

Siraay stood up abruptly. ‘I think I’ll go and have a word with His Lordship.’ She ground out the last word. Had her dream last night then been just that—a dream? She had felt so sure it was something more.

But if it had been real, why then would Chezran send her and Pyron out together? It didn’t make sense.

‘The message also said that Lord Chezran would be unavailable for the rest of the day. Urgent matters, apparently,’ Trelar said hurriedly in an apologetic voice.

Siraay paused midway to the door. Then she sighed and kept moving. It was going to be an interesting day.

***

Siraay walked down the steps of the main staircase, but instead of turning right or left, she continued along the main hall, passing through the large entranceway where Chezran had first showed her paintings of the Xarconians battling the other cities.

Here she patiently waited until she heard the sound of soft boots coming determinedly towards her. Lifting her chin, she turned casually to see that Pyron was approaching wearing gear similar to hers—a dark-grey top over which he wore a jacket with long, tight sleeves, along with long pants that allowed room to move, and boots that circled up and over the bottom of his pants, so that nothing could be snagged on plant, tree, or rock.

She eyed him with dislike while trying to assess if he still hurt from the injury she had given him, and he returned a similar look.

‘Ready?’ he asked, his tone conveying that he doubted she could ever be such.

‘Of course.’ Siraay knew that her outright confidence would annoy Pyron, so she purposefully injected it into her voice. He didn’t seem to be hurting now, so maybe he had healed himself in another form, like she had.

Apart from his new level of restraint, there was no other evidence of the dream she had had the night before of Chezran raging at him.

If only Chezran had hit him, clawed him … anything to leave a mark that would have told her in the light of day if what she had dreamt was real or not.

But there was nothing, and Pyron just pivoted and began walking down the hall.

Irritated, Siraay followed, knowing that the sooner they got out into the wild, the sooner she could ignore him again. As she followed after the chief archon, she lamented the fact that the uniforms did not cut low enough around the collar so that she could see the effects of what she had done to him with her claws yesterday.

Although he may have healed by now anyway, she realised.

Still. The memory of her claws sinking into him yesterday continued to please her, and she smiled as Pyron turned off the hallway into a much larger room.

As soon as she entered, Siraay could tell the room was different. She had first thought that Pyron might be taking her out of the palace the way Chezran had first led her in—through the tunnel that led to the arena and to the yard where the soldiers in training were housed.

Instead, she could see that this could only be a preparation room.

It had a selection of weapons similar to those in the large training hall where Siraay had fought Loce that morning, but here there were many full racks of weapons, extra jackets and pants like those she wore, and many other outfits of varied colours and styles.

There was also a large map on one wall that intrigued her, and Siraay moved up for a closer look while Pyron ignored her and went to talk to another soldier. The map was projected out from a unit embedded in the wall itself, but this projection didn’t show the whole of Kaslon; rather, it depicted the territory ranging from the outskirts of Xarcon to the mountains she and the others had been forced to cross on their march to the city.

‘Lady.’

Siraay twisted to see who was addressing her, and she had to hide her grimace when she saw Drosni smiling at her.

‘We are ready to escort you on patrol,’ he continued. Behind him were arranged the other two males and the female who had fought Siraay the previous day.

Her ire rose at his words. She didn’t need an escort. But she forced her annoyance down and kept her face blank. ‘Good. I imagine we’ll be leaving soon.’

As if her words were the trigger, another voice from the middle of the room called out, ‘Gather around all.’

Drosni pivoted where he stood and moved a little closer towards the voice, but Siraay remained where she was. Across the heads of the gathering soldiers, she spied Pyron leaning back against the wall on the other side of the room.

He was staring back at her, dislike and annoyance written on his face.

She looked away from him and