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Chapter 107 - 107: The Academy Test XVII

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"What are you doing," Linnet asked, interested now.

"A stitch caught," Fartray said. "Nothing."

He took a breath to settle himself and felt heat bloom at his back hip. It was small and treacherous. The coat had touched his sash knot —cloth on cloth, like an old friend / enemy (Frinemy) sharing secrets.

The sash woke with it.

Fartray's face did not move at first. But his mind did, very fast. He set his wine glass down without looking and turned toward the antechamber with the careful loose steps of a man pretending he is not walking away from a problem.

"Excuse me," he told the people in front of him.

He reached the corner table and set both hands on it as if he were deciding between two appetizers. He pressed his elbows to his ribs. Heat wrote its name under his coat, under the belt line, in letters he could feel.

"Do you smell—" said a girl in a lemon dress behind him, light voice sharpened by interest.

"Spilled lamp oil," supplied her friend, also wrong.

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