The Tower and the Tears by Cecilia Tan

Author:Cecilia Tan [Tan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-62601-140-3
Publisher: Riverdale Avenue Books LLC
Published: 2014-12-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Kyle's test was set for four in the afternoon on the same day his prophecy paper was due. At 3:45 he found himself running across campus to drop the paper off on time, then running back to try to get to Sassamon by four. Great, I'm going to be late for my own orgy.

He hurried down the stairs, through the ritual chamber where the cracked stone lay so accusingly and up the hallway to smaller chamber where Ciara had been accused. He burst through the doors to find Dean Bell, Master Brandish, and Professor Hart all huddled together on the dais. Master Brandish looked up in relief.

"Sorry I wasn't here sooner," Kyle began, but she waved him to silence.

"Just get prepared," she said.

Kyle looked around, wondering where the women were. Oh, but of course they wouldn't be letting him see them. They'd blindfold him first. "Right." He could hear Dean Bell muttering to Professor Hart about ritual preparations and musing that perhaps Kyle had slept through the class on the value of meditation beforehand. Hart was stroking his mustache and nodding, but something gave Kyle the impression that he might not have been listening to what the dean was saying.

That heartened him a little. He stripped out of his clothes, folding them over one of the chairs in the front row, glad they had made the room comfortably warm. He took a deep breath to center himself and looked up.

Dean Bell was glaring down at him, a strip of black cloth in his hand. "You two may be seated," he said.

Hart stepped down off the platform, but Master Brandish snatched the cloth herself and made a shooing gesture. Kyle could almost imagine the sparks sizzling in the line between their eyes as they glared at one another, but neither one said anything, and Dean Bell went and took a seat in the front row as well.

"Kyle," Master Brandish said, her voice gentler than he expected.

He walked to the center of the padding where she indicated.

"You might want to sit before I blindfold you," she said, "so you don't lose your balance when you go to lie down."

"Lie down?" He looked her in the eye.

Her eyes narrowed. "Is that a problem? We decided on one of the slightly stricter forms of the test."

Kyle pressed his lips together, fighting to keep his expression neutral with Bell and Hart watching. "I thought you were going to put mittens on me."

She shook her head. "You won't have the use of your hands at all. But you won't need them."

"Are you going to tie me down?"

He must have looked or sounded more distressed than he thought he was letting on, because she put a hand on his upper arm. "We were going to, but if that's too much, you can keep them behind your head."

"I'd much prefer that," Kyle said.

"It's easier to be bound," Master Brandish advised softly. "If you forget and reach for—"

"I won't forget."

She searched his face for a few moments more. "Very well.

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