Read Fantasy of Flight for Free Online Page A

doing this in the last few days.
    Shard fills six small glasses. Everyone grabs one and with no small amount of dread, I do the same. The men raise their drinks. I know what this is! It’s a toast. Adnan, one of the delegates, slurred his way through one at my belated birthday party.
    There’s no speech this time.
    “Tits and ass!” Ice shouts. As I watch in confusion, they turn to each other and clink their glasses twice. I turn to Blizzard, who laughs at me.
    “You clink your glass at the top and then the bottom. Tits and ass. See?” He explains as the others grimace from the taste of the drink. What a vile thing to say. However, I’ve come this far. I clink my glass with Blizzard’s, dutifully murmuring “tits and ass” to the hilarity of all, and swallow the liquid.
    My eyes water as the liquid burns its way down. This alcohol is about ten times worse than the stuff I drank at the castle. I cough a few times and thump my chest, holding up the empty glass. The room cheers. Maybe now I can go. I move to stand. Avalanche’s hand pushes me back down.
    I watch in horror as Flurry refills the glasses.
    Shard leans toward me. I realize his eyes are sparkling - even with the swelling. He is not masking them, for once, and intelligence burns out of them. In fact, for a person I’d initially dismissed, he’s turned out to be the most dangerous here.
    “Wishing you were back in the pits?” he asks.

Chapter Four
    I crack open an eyelid and the room is spinning around me. Bad. I feel bad. What happened last night? I rub a hand over my face and sit up, clutching my head so it doesn’t explode.
    So much drink. Too much. There was the second glass and then a few more. The alcohol had started to taste alright. My stomach lurches as I recall its smell. How did I get back to my room? Why is my memory gone? This can’t be normal. I groan and lower myself back onto the bed. Veni, what if I said something? Or revealed I was Solati? After a few more spins, I decide I’d have been thrown to the Watch by now if the others knew my secret. How did the night get so out of control? Not that I was given much of a choice and I had to admit the fighter’s acceptance felt good. Still, I could’ve said no.
    My assembly friends at the castle call this a hangover. Whatever it is, it’s not worth it.
    I’m never drinking again.
     
    I enter the mess room and find Crystal and Alzona with their heads together at the table. They look up and snigger at my appearance. I reach a hand up and realize my hair is a disaster.
    “First to bed and first to wake,” Alzona sings. 
    “So,” I say, breathing through the rising nausea. “What happened last night?” I reach up and braid my hair over one shoulder.
    “What didn’t happen?” Crystal laughs. “I hope to never hear you sing again in my life. I would drink some water if I were you.”
    I groan and rest my head on the table. It’s easier than holding it up. Maybe I’ll sleep here. I hear footsteps coming closer. The others have awoken.
    “I hope you’re not falling asleep,” Alzona says. “You’re still expected to train.”
    “What?” I hear Flurry ask. “Why?”
    “Because you’ve been slacking and it’s going to change. You get one day off per week. That’s it. And you had yours, two days ago. Get boozed before your day off if you can’t handle the hangover,” she snaps.
    “I only get half a day off.” I lift my head to give her an accusing stare.
    Alzona looks at me and shrugs. “Should’ve bargained better.”
    “You told me it’s all the fighters got!”
    She ignores me and turns to the men, who are cramming meat and bread into their mouths. I shudder, how are they eating?
    Alzona shoos them into the gym. “Go on. You’ve already started late.” She looks back at me and smiles. One of those smiles I don’t like. “You, too.”
    “I didn’t get a half day off this week because I helped escort you to Tricks.” This is a stretch of what happened, but I