Chapter 119

After the dueling competition, with Natalie’s head still spinning over the whole Sofia debacle, Liz pulled her to the side. She asked Natalie to head back with her to her dorm room, and since Natalie didn’t have anything else to do that night—besides Jordan—she accepted. The group split apart, with Sofia and Jordan heading for their shared dorm, and Natalie and Liz to Liz’s.

“So, what’s up?” Natalie asked as they plodded down the Tenet pathway. The sun was setting, though night hadn’t quite arrived.

“A few things,” Liz said. “And if there wasn’t, what, we can’t just hang out? I know we’ve got tight schedules, but that doesn’t mean we can’t relax. Good for team bonding. It’s actually bad to focus too hard on progress. Even my uncle says that—and he would know.”

“Uncle?”

“The King of Valhaur,” Liz said amusedly.

Natalie paused, having almost forgotten just who Liz was. The girl was so normal that her status as literal royalty, not even just ‘nobility’, slipped her mind sometimes. “Then yeah,” Natalie said. “He would know. But that wasn’t what I meant. Hanging out sounds fun—it just seemed like you had something you were worrying about.”

“Worrying? That’s not exactly the right word.” Liz rubbed her elbow, seeming hesitant, then shook her head, setting her short black hair—and its single lock of blue—bouncing. “Don’t rush me. We’ll get to that later.”

“Sure.” Though Natalie would admit some curiosity. What did Liz have to talk to her about? She could imagine several things, obviously—whether related to the team, Elida, the dungeon, or Natalie and her class.

“Oh, and just a warning,” Liz said. “I’m rooming with Johanna. She’ll probably be there.”

Johanna Valeria? The top fighter in their year? That was Liz’s roommate?

“Right,” Natalie said, slowly remembering. “You mentioned something about that, I think. Being friends with her.” House Beaumon, the royal family, and House Valeria, a house absolutely stuffing the upper ranks of the military, were famously interconnected. So it made sense Liz and Johanna were close.

“She can be a little intense,” Liz said. “I’ve got the feeling she’s gonna pull you aside to have a talk.”

“About?”

“Feel you out. She wasn’t super happy that I didn’t group with her.” Liz wrinkled her nose. “I feel kind of bad about that, still.”

Liz had originally joined up with them because she wanted to distance herself from the name Beaumon, in some part—to make her own legacy. Natalie hadn’t known Johanna, one of the top names of the year, had been one of her original planned teammates, though. Natalie and the rest of the team seriously had their work cut out for them if they wanted to surpass what Liz’s team could have been.

“But that’s not the point,” Liz said. “She’s protective. Like, a bit annoyingly so. She thinks she’s my older sister or something. And she is, in a way. Anyway, that’s why she’ll probably try to get a feel for you.”

“Sounds fun.” Honestly, she was a bit amused by the situation. Being scrutinized by the ‘older sister figure’ of Liz’s—as if the two of them were dating.

Though, after recent developments, Natalie wasn’t sure whether just friends was a perfectly accurate description. Especially with how things were shaping up in the future. Natalie had a suspicion that topic was one of the things Liz had pulled her aside for to talk about in the first place.

Arriving to Liz’s dorm complex—a different one than Natalie’s, more expensive looking—they climbed up to the second story then trekked down the hallways. Liz unlocked her dorm room, then ushered Natalie in.

“We’ve got a guest!” Liz called out.

The warning meant Johanna didn’t know in advance she had been coming, Natalie noted. And also that Liz hadn’t originally planned to bring her back to her dorm; it had been at least a somewhat spur of the moment invitation.