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

front legs out in front of her, even flicking out her claws briefly before she opened her mouth wide to yawn, bearing her sharp teeth. Her tail twitched as she considered what they had ahead of them that day—and that night.

Drum beats began to thrum through the stone, a wake-up call that no one could miss.

Around Siray, the others were waking up rapidly now. Someone behind her snorted in amusement, and Siray twisted her head, although she had already scented who it was.

Zale raised his light-coloured eyebrows at her. ‘Forgetting something?’

Siray blinked at him, wondering what he meant. It was only when he stretched out a hand to slap at her long tail that she realised. She quickly Changed back into her normal form, giving Zale a sheepish smile. ‘Odd, I didn’t even realise I had Changed back during the night. And then it felt so natural when I woke up …’ She shrugged.

‘You Changed without realising?’

Siray turned slowly at the sound of Baindan’s concerned voice, trying to quell the sparks her body felt at the mere thought of looking into those stormy eyes. She rebuked herself mentally for being so distracted. ‘Yes,’ she managed to say. ‘Late during the night, I guess.’ Sometime after the conversation she and Baindan had had, obviously. ‘Why?’

Baindan shook his head, and it was clear from his grim face that his mind was definitely not on how close they had come just spans before to going that final step to committing to each other. ‘I’ve never heard of it before. But the fact that you didn’t realise this morning once you were awake … it sounds too close to instances in which the person has forgotten themselves.’

Siray’s breath caught. Kaslonians who forgot themselves while in another form usually allowed the animal part of them to take over completely. And it was notoriously difficult to fight your way back to conscious once you let go. As her eyes met Baindan’s, she knew he, too, was once more hearing that wild cackle in the dark.

She forced a smile and made herself glance around at the shadowy faces of the others, projecting a confident if tired facade. ‘I’m alright,’ she told them, despite the nervous clenching of her gut that made a mockery of her words. ‘I must have just Changed during the night to heal my shoulder some more and don’t remember doing it.’ She purposefully rolled it in demonstration and was surprised to find it did indeed feel alright now. She shrugged again when they all kept looking at her uncertainly. ‘I was pretty tired.’ Though her hands still felt rough from the mostly healed blisters from the previous day’s training.

It took a lot of Siray’s willpower not to look at Baindan, who was partly the source of her tiredness. They had continued holding each other’s hands as they had settled back down to sleep the night before, and as a result, it had taken Siray a long time to calm her pounding heart enough to doze off once more.

As she turned away from the others and headed towards the cell door, still affecting that same shroud of indifference, she sensed that Baindan’s eyes remained on her as she waited for Genlie to push open the heavy door and then stepped through behind her, the morning light streaming over them.

Tamot was just passing as they emerged, and after he let Genlie slip in front of him, Siray stepped in place behind him, and they all made their way down the stairs.

‘Thank you,’ he murmured as they both moved towards the growing formation of captives.

Surprised, Siray almost stopped walking, but she caught herself in time. She leaned closer to his shoulder as they walked, a light frown on her face. ‘What for?’ she asked quietly.

‘For stopping me from rushing out there yesterday,’ he said, inclining his head to the right.

Siray glanced over and saw Captain Raque striding through the yard, his armour gleaming. She shook her head. ‘I was just as close as you were,’ she told Tamot truthfully. ‘We helped each other.’

Tamot nodded.

Siray wanted to ask him how he was doing, even though she realised the question would sound like a foolish one—she knew, after all, just how well she was doing—but by then they had already reached the rows of captives, and the risk of being overheard by the guards was too great. So Siray fell into place behind Genlie silently, although she was slightly shocked when she saw Melora hurry past the front row, the bruises on her throat and cheek still evident from their fight the day before.

Shortly after the captives were all lined up, the Faction captain was before them, his usual grin in place.

How Siray wished she could slap that smirk right off his face. Right before she did other things, like—

‘Let’s hope you all perform much better today for Master Herrin. Your lives may depend on it.’ Captain Raque’s smile grew even wider, but they all knew there was no joke hidden in his words.

They followed the usual protocol of forming a single file before they marched off to the door in the wall. While some captives still appeared to be unhappy and rebellious about the events of yesterday, Siray made a special effort to control her expression to appear as if she had resigned herself to this new way of life. It was essential that Raque, Herrin, and any of their underlings did not suspect what she and her friends would be attempting that night—escape.

As she emerged into the bright morning light of the arena behind Genlie, Siray could see the captive at the head of their file making for the centre of the large space.

Where a lone figure stood, staff in hand.

‘Don’t bother forming up. Get your weapons and return. Quickly!’ Herrin’s voice was deep and cold, and his square body was rigid, as if made from stone. Definitely not in a patient mood. If he ever was.

Siray broke into a run towards the weapons. She made