The Silver Siren (Iron Butterfly, #3)(36)

Like I had been.

A sour taste filled my mouth and I bit back the bile that wanted to rise to the surface. I’m stronger than this. I’m stronger than all of them. But I needed to do something useful until the adepts had news. Pax, Lorna, and Breah had all left that morning with a couple of the journeyman students. Hopefully, the next time I saw them they would know something.

Joss had fallen back into the routine of attending classes and studying. Kael had disappeared, and Hemi and Fanny were out in the city, quite taken with each other.

I didn’t want to attend classes like Joss, but I felt useless standing around. In my wanderings, I made my way back to the kitchen. I entered and tried to stay out of the way of the servers and kitchen staff. Having worked here, I knew how crazy it could get. I found myself pitching in, washing dishes. It was busy work and I let my mind wander.

I had probably been washing dishes for a few candle marks when strong hands wrapped around my waist and lifted me into the air.

“You’re back!” Donn yelled out happily. “I’ve missed you.”

I grunted from the strength of Donn’s awkward hug, but I put up with it until I was set gently back down on the ground. “Look at you. You’re skin and bones! Here, I bet you’re hungry. Come eat, come eat.” I was pulled into the side kitchen and Donn started to make me a plate full of eggs, sausage, and bread.

I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until my mouth started to water. Eating back there felt like old times, so I stayed and chatted with him until lunchtime. Happily, I grabbed a tray and started out to the tables to serve the students. I couldn’t help but think back to how embarrassed I’d been to be a servant in the kitchen.

Now I couldn’t care less. When I put the tray down and unloaded the roasted chicken, I noticed how quiet the room was. Students were eating, but it was obvious from the mood of the room and from the table on the dais with five empty chairs where everyone’s thoughts were. Two more students had been found to be missing just that morning, and even more guards and teachers patrolled the halls and city.

A few hushed whispers and panicked looks flickered between the younger ones, but then an older Denai would lean over and give them a pat on the back to relax them.

On my second trip out of the kitchen, I carried a jug of cider to pour at each table. I was about to hand a cup to a young Denai boy when someone knocked the cup out of my hand.

“Don’t touch or eat anything the freak serves you. She’ll turn her evil eye on you and you will disappear like the others.” Syrani spouted loudly. My hand still stung from where her hand slapped the drink out of my grip.

I watched as the Denai boy looked at Syrani and then looked back up at me. It was then that he noticed my eyes. He shrunk back from me in fear and began to shake.

“How dare you spew lies and instill fear into them!” I turned on her angrily. “I have nothing to do with those missing children, and you should know better.”

Syrani smiled wickedly. “I think you know more about the missing students than you are letting on.”

I was taken aback. Was she bluffing, or did she actually know what happened to me? Syrani must’ve noticed my hesitation.

“I thought so.” She leaned in close to me and whispered. “I’ve heard things about you. None of them good. Everything I’ve heard proves you to be nothing more than a freak. You should leave now! And not just the room. Leave the city and don’t come back.”

I felt everyone’s eyes on me. “I have nothing to do with their disappearances. I wasn’t even here when they happened. So lay blame where the blame lies, and that’s not on me—but on whoever took them.”

“So you too believe they were taken. No one else has said anything about kidnapping.” The room erupted with the sound of Denai talking, yelling, and a few crying.

My whole body wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor and disappear. I had caused this.

“Who’s next? Am I next to be kidnapped? Are you a spy sent here to lure us out into the night?” She pointed to the young Denai boy I had tried to serve. “Is he going to disappear next? When will the madness stop?”

“It’s not like that. The Adept Council will find them. They will save them.” But my words fell on deaf ears. No one could hear me over their own fear. The room had turned into a terrified mob.

It was time to tell the truth, no more lies. I stood on a table and whistled loudly. It took a few moments for the room to quiet down, but I had everyone’s attention.

My hands shook with nervousness, and I tried to hide them in my skirt. “Do you want to know the truth?”

Heads nodded, and I glared at Syrani, daring her to interrupt. “Then, I will tell you the truth, even though it could put me in danger.” I sighed and prayed for wisdom before I spoke. “Yes, there is a possibility that they were kidnapped by the Septori. The Septori wear red robes and are branded with a circle and slash mark somewhere on their body. They follow the directions of their leader, known only as the Raven. I know, because I was once taken in the middle of the night by these men, from my own homeland. I was imprisoned with others.”

“What happened next?” The young boy who’d been so afraid of me moments before asked. A movement by the door caught my eye, and I saw Joss enter quietly to stand by the back wall.

I looked at him and smiled. “Well obviously, I escaped. The people who kidnapped me are still looking for me. I know for a fact they are not done with their plan, because more and more Denai are disappearing, and none are reappearing.” I looked at Joss pleadingly.