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Book 2: Chapter 54: Tying Loose Ends

He was woken by Carley barging in and throwing open the curtains he'd pulled across the balcony, letting in light. He would have been angry, but she brought with her a plate of sandwiches.

His stomach rumbled and he instantly forgave her.

After eating—and of course secreting the extra sandwiches away in his Personal Space. Carley had brought more than he could ever eat in one sitting, but he wasn't going to let it go to waste— and making sure he was semi-presentable, he asked directions to Marion's room.

Turned out he had been assigned a room just down the hall from Arthur. One of Marion's snooty minders answered the door. When the man bowed Arthur inside, he strode in and stopped dead.

"Did they give you a whole library?"

One entire wall was filled with books. Top to bottom, left to right. More shelves than Arthur had seen in one place other than in the scholar's guild. Only there wasn't any smell of rot. Each visible spine was free of dust.

Marion sat on a chair to the side, a small book in his hand. "Of course not," he said offhandedly. "They're mine. I had them brought from Wolf Hive. Took them long enough," he muttered, flipping a page.

Arthur gaped. "You just... travel with all these books?"

"Of course," Marion said, looking at Arthur as if he was being ridiculous for asking. "They're mine."

Arthur couldn’t begin to wrap his mind around the logistics involved. Marion must have paid a purple courier — or likely several couriers — for the duty. And a shimmer green to open a portal to the other hive.

"Must be nice being a prince," he muttered.

"It has its perks," Marion allowed. He stood and easily plucked a red-spined book off the shelf as if he knew where it had been all along. "This is the one I told you about last night. It goes over the theory of hand-to-hand combat. There are even pictures to help you along," he added with a smirk.

"Are you two going to spend the entire day reading?"

Echo's exasperated voice drew Arthur up short. He turned to see the girl sitting primly at a table by the balcony. He had been so surprised by the shelves he hadn't noticed her.

Penn sat with her.

Their gazes met. Penn was the first to look away.

Then, just as abruptly, Penn stood and determinedly walked up to Arthur. "Kane."

"Penn."

"You're... looking well."

Arthur felt his lips curl in a sardonic smile. "The stab wound wasn't that bad."

His eyes narrowed. "I know. Now."

There was a beat of silence and Arthur could feel Marion and Echo's worried gazes on them.

Arthur decided to be the bigger man. He had, after all, wronged Penn several times by now. "Congratulations on fourth place."

Penn's tense shoulders relaxed. "It should have been third, but Francis Orchardtree charmed me, and I lost two ranks."

"He didn't charm me

," Echo called, smugly.

Her words broke the tension between them. Arthur cracked a smile, and then, so did Penn.

Neither apologized, or held out a hand to shake. Instead, Penn cocked his head to the table. "We're just sitting down to eat. Join us?"

Despite Arthur having just eaten, he found he couldn't say no.

And even though they were all four competitors, and by all rights should be spending the last day in feverish preparation... The meal stretched long. Conversation was light.

Echo seemed excited about tomorrow and her enthusiasm was catching, even though Arthur spotted Marion giving her concerned glances when the girl wasn't looking.

"Have you pledged yourself to a hive?" Echo asked the rest. "If you link the dragon, I mean."

Penn shrugged. "I suppose it'll be this hive."

"Worm moon," Marion said. "It's closest to Amberlion—my city—, so it's expected."

"Yes," Echo sighed. "Strawberry Moon for me."

"Wolf moon," Arthur said.

Penn cleared his throat, "I suppose your Barony will be glad... if it's you."

Arthur recognized the olive branch, but didn't want to give Penn the wrong idea. "For the boon from the king? No, that won't go to my father's lands. I'll take that to Wolf Moon, too." The others looked shocked so he added, "You've been there — you know it needs all the help it can get."

There was an uncomfortable silence. His declaration not to help his family had shocked the nobles, but from their glances it seemed no one wanted to press. They’d heard what the inquisitor had said about 'his sister'. Even brash Echo had fallen silent.

Marion cleared his throat and stood. "Well, Arthur... there's the matter of business we need to discuss?"

Echo grinned. "You paid him to take the fall in the last match, didn't you?"

"Was it that obvious?" Arthur asked.

"Yes," Echo and Penn said at the same time.

Arthur, of course, needed to stock up on every tool, bit, and bob he could think of before he made use of the card. That meant a shopping trip.

Marion was happy to oblige. They spent that afternoon exploring the Buck Moon hive commissary. Then Arthur made use of the Instant Competence card.

He only had it for fifteen minutes. But in his Personal Space, that time stretched for hours.

That evening he spent in his room, reading the book Marion had loaned him.

It was the first time he had truly experimented with the Mental Bookshelf card. It's capabilities had been overshadowed by the enhancement to his Personal Space card, in the same deck.

He read a few pages of the book, closed his eyes, and mentally visited the bookshelf in his mind.

There it was — an exact copy on the shelf waiting for him. Though the contents of his mental book was still slim as he'd only been through a few pages.

Arthur grinned, flipping through it to check the contents. He found when he "held" the mental book in his mind, he could recall exact sentences and where they fell on the page.

This was a book on combat and wasn't exactly the same as leveling a skill... but he'd take any advantage he could get.

"I'll never have to look up a recipe I've read again," he remembered, and his grin broadened.

Overall, it was a calm evening. Exploring the capabilities of his card helped keep down the building nervousness and the knowledge that tomorrow, if things went wrong, he could die.

He could see his friends die.

The dragon could very well choose someone else.

Maybe it would decide not to hatch out at all.

Arthur shook his head, banishing the thoughts. No. He wouldn't dwell. He had a feeling, deep in his heart, that the dragon wasn't the type who liked to wait. Though he couldn't put a finger on why.

Stressing over something he couldn't control wasn't productive.

The dragon would find him worthy, or it wouldn't.

One way or the other, the wait would be over tomorrow.