Chapter 35. Lessons of Obedience

“Obey nothing that forgets your name.”

The words didn’t leave the terrace. They folded into the morning and settled in the new metal at her throat. The seal warmed once, then cooled, as if tucking the sentence under its skin to see how it fit.

Airenna was already waiting in the corridor when Lora turned. She had the look of someone who slept in pieces and put them back together in the right order. “We start now,” she said. Not a question. She glanced at the ring of moon-steel. “Tell it you’re busy.”

“How?” Lora asked.

“By being busy,” Airenna said, and led her down the stairs that preferred quiet feet.

Volamed had training rooms that didn’t call themselves training rooms. The one Airenna chose smelled faintly of ground stone and lemon. No windows; a high slit of light instead. The floor was a soft gray that didn’t echo. On the wall, a grid of slim rods—wood, bone, metal—arranged by some logic she didn’t know yet. A low table held a bowl of water and thr