Hall of Games [ REWRITE ] | The Varya Chronicles #1

Chapter Forty

Cadence was still dressed in white infirmary robes as she scoured the recruits quarters for her brother. She must look terrifying—white robes, pale skin, platinum hair. What she looked like was the least of her worries now. She could always dye her hair back to gold, powder some color into her cheeks and change into recruit robes.

She found her brother leaning over the balcony she had slid down during the Great Tradition. His shoulders were hunched, his weight placed on his right leg.

"Hey." She sidled up next to him.

Her brother did not speak. Instead, he swept her into a tight embrace and placed his head on top her hers.

Panic clouded her thoughts.

This is not Taras, not Taras. This is Cole, he won't hurt me.

Cadence hugged him back, feeling his heart flutter against hers.

He was alive. A small smile tugged at her lips. Alive and well.

Cole smoothed her face with his thumbs, running his eyes over her face.

"What have they done to you?" he whispered.

"It's over now." She focused on her brother's eyes.

Your brother might be alive, but he isn't fully alive. You have turned him into a monster.

Cadence tried to find a flicker of darkness in his eyes, anything that might prove Ales right. She couldn't find it. In the swimming brown light of his eyes, there was only concern and relief. Cole was still there.

"You brought me back." Her brother's hand went over to his chest were Taras had stabbed him.

"I should have told you what I really was," she said. "I-I shouldn't have lied to you. There are so many things you need to know. I was scared."

Her brother's expression did not change. "You know you can tell me anything, right? We're siblings, siblings don't hide secrets from one another."

Unless it is a matter of life and death. Cadence looked away. "Do you remember the Rakasha that broke our home?"

"Until the day I die," Cole said. "What about it?"

Cadence told him. She didn't stop; she couldn't—the words flowed from her mouth. She told him about how she had made a deal with a Polong, about her dreams, her Affinity, and what the Walker Hunters truly wanted. She told him about Ales and Taras, she did not leave out Khazaria's death or the torture in the dungeons where her flesh was cut from her body, piece by piece, her bones broken and sealed back together again.

When her story ended, there was stony silence.

"I wish I couldn't feel anything," Cadence said. How she wished it was true—her nerves ripped out, or she could take a drug that would take away her emotions, anything to prevent from feeling the intense sickness in her stomach whenever she saw a blade in someone's hands. She wanted to be able to hug her brother without recoiling at the prospect of touching another human being, it was as if her body had been wired to defend itself from further harm.