If there was one piece of credit Jordan could give to their assaulters, it was that they didn’t gloat about their victory.

  Well, besides Elida. But the smirk she wore as she had Liz strip off her gear and hand it over seemed to be for Liz alone. By Jordan’s appraisal, Elida genuinely didn’t care about rubbing the victory in to anyone else. To her, everyone else’s involvement—including her own team’s—was ial. This had beeween Beaumon and Parda-Halt.

  Jordan had known they’d be getting mixed up with something political, ing to Te. While maybe spared the full intrigue of a court, the campus was swarming with all yers of nobility, and from other tries, even. That she, Natalie, and Sofia had decided to team up with a Beaumo political sequences would be ing for them.

  Just, she hadn’t expected it to be so soon, and in such a dramatic fashion. What were the odds that the Beaumon’s aremesis had bumped into them on their first long delve out? Astronomically low, she would have figured, but here they were.

  All things sidered, their team wasn’t in horrible shape. All of them had been taken out of the fight, HP dismantled a stunned, but no acts had happened—and acts did, on occasion. HP wasn’t the most reliable resource when it came to ensuring someone’s safety, even if it usually saved your life, as long as you had the points to spare.

  But beyond some cuts, bruises, and bumps, their team hadn’t taken any grievous injuries. It was the kind of beating a night’s rest would take care of, thanks to their csses. Jordan had holy beeen up worse in spars.

  The emotional—and situational—damage was much worse.

  Elida and her group took, as she had implied they would, nearly everything they owned. Not just their earnings from the hours delving prior, like Jordan’s quiver and Liz’s wand, but the gear they’d spent putting together for the past week. Elida’s teammates at least had the good grace to look awkward about it.

  “We’ll leave you your ons,” Elida said. “Besides Lizzy, of course. And your supplies. So you fight your way out. If you five got killed, it would look bad on us.”

  The humiliati was at least short-lived. Jordan aeam were forced to peel off their relevant gear and hand it over, and the items went tucked into the opposing team’s monster cores, but with that done, Elida and her group departed, punctuated by a dainty wave of the red-head’s fingers. She had eyes only for Liz as her group departed dowrail of the Wispwood. The smirk was so btant—and well-earhat it grated even Jordan’s nerves.

  And so her team sat in a scattered circle, in a motley arra of mundane armor and pinclothes, stripped of their belongings—and more importantly, their pride.

  A cloud hung over them, and nobody spoke.

  Even Jordan wasn’t immuo the sour mood, and she usually could brush past this sort of thing. But this was a more infuriati than usual, because she held the lion’s share fault for the defeat. She had been the quickest to be downed, and the moment she’d failed to keep Elida’s attention, the enemy rogue had decimated her way through the rest of Jordan’s teammates.

  Rationally, she knew she couldn’t be faulted for that, not fully. Elida ossibly the best student of their year. That Jordan had crumpled in a direct duel against her was iable.

  She reized this from a practical standpoint. Still, like all delvers, she had a petitive streak, and would have liked to have held off her oppo for a bit longer. Maybe if she had, then one of her teammates could have won their bout, and when Jordan finally fell, it would have been a four-on-four. Instead, Jordan had sted all of half a minute.

  She could barely remember the fight, even. Elida was a demon. For all her poise and smirks, she was no less vicious with her daggers thaongue. Looking ba it, Jordan was almost impressed she had sted as long she had.

  Jordan sighed. It would be oo smooth this over, she could tell. Who else would try to rally the team after something so morale-breaking? And that did o be done. Sometimes delving wasn’t about bat. As with aure operating in teams, the huma couldn’t be disted.

  The heavens knew Natalie, Ana, or Sofia wouldn’t be taking care of it, trying t the team back together. Liz, Jordan figured, would usually do so, but she seemed to be in the worst mood of everyone. Uandably so. The pirl was slumped over and staring at the ground, fists ched on her p. Elida hadn’t eve her her on.

  Ign her own shame, Jordan stood and stretched, rolling out sore muscles and groaning in an exaggerated way.

  “Okay,” she said. “That sucked. But no point in moping.”

  Four pairs of eyes turo her.

  “What?” Jordan said. “It’s not the end of the world. Don’t be babies.”

  She received a few different expressions at that. Natalie was of course the persotention gravitated to first, and her best friend was, to no one’s surprise, practically seething where she sat—and the gre pivoted Jordan’s way at the dismissive words. Jordan could feel the heat radiating from her, and that disoriented her, even if she knew Natalie wasn’t actually mad at her. The girl was just someone who burned hot.

  Jordan rolled her eyes, whiatalie probably didn’t like, but she wouldn’t pull everyo of the slump by being timid. She turned her attention to the others, more worried for them. Natalie’s anger, while sm right now, would cool shortly. Liz’s depression, Sofia’s icy rage, and Ana’s—well, who knew what Ana was thinking, like usual—Jordan expected would be more difficult to handle.

  They all seemed irritated at her, which was good news, and had beeent at the goading words. Anything t their focus away from their thrashing and robbery.

  “It’s really not,” Jordan said. “And stop looking at me like that. Boo-hoo, we lost a fight.” She cpped her hands together. “e o’s start figuring this out. It’s a little setback, but what’d you all expect, being delvers? For everything to be easy?”

  That drew even more irritation, which, again, was what she’d been aiming for. Better mad at her than hunched over and depressed.

  “So,” Jordan said. “Seriously. Let’s talk it out.”