Page 31 of Phixmery

He takes a step towards me. “But—”

Rozen grabs him by the throat. “Ravie said she’s not interested. Let’s respect that, shall we? Or shall I let Ember have a go with you? Because I guarantee she will get the point across.”

My nose scrunches at the nickname. “Come on Rozie, leave him be. Let’s finish up. You coming, Ember?” I ask and notice the soft expression she has towards Rozen, making my lips twitch.

She startles, and nods. “Yes, coming.”

We grab our wheelbarrows and hurry back inside with Rozen following not too far behind us, leaving a frazzled looking Bracken staring at us.

“You know, since you gave me a nickname, it means we are officially friends. Ravie. Not getting rid of me now,” he teases as his long strides push past us, winking at Ember as he goes.

Pink dusts her cheeks, spreading to the points of her ears, and I fight back a smile.

“What?” she snaps.

I shrug, letting a grin loose. “You like him,” I state.

Her yellow eyes widen, and her face grows darker in shade before her gaze narrows on me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she murmurs.

“Uh huh,” I tease before clearing my throat and realizing what I was doing. “I’m going to finish up. See you in combat,” I tell her, taking a hard left down one of the corridors in the stables. It’s so easy to forget to distance myself from them. I like them, but it’s all the more reason not to get close.

My gaze follows along the open doors as gryphons stride down the hallways, coming and going as they please while their riders are in lessons or haven’t arrived yet this morning. Their areas are massive, enough to hold the furry and feathered flying beasts with beaks so powerful they could snap bone in one bite. They’re magnificent, temperamental, and loyal to a fault. You do not want to get on their bad side.

A sigh expels from my lips. Only six more days of this and I’ll finally be able to sleep in again.

THEY, IN FACT, did not forget about what happened yesterday.

“Cadet Solace, you’re with me today,” Sergeant Craven growls as he gestures for me to follow.

Evera, Adair, Amos and Spade narrow their eyes at me. Yeah, this definitely isn’t helping the situation either.

“Sergeant,” I call out. “I’m content working with Sergeant Verlice. I feel like I was learning a lot from him.” I can’t work with Sergeant Craven if it’s just going to cause issues between him and his mate.

He halts mid-step and spins slowly towards me with a look that could cut dragon stone. “You will do as I say, cadet, unless you want another week on dish duty?”

I pinch my lips together, stopping the retort that wants to escape, unable to help the fact my eyes betray the annoyance at the wing leader.

“What? Nothing to say?” he goads, and when I don’t say anything he continues to where he was heading, about twenty feet away from my squad.

With reluctance, I follow, my gaze instantly searching out Nero who’s perched on the training yard wall, watching us carefully.

Craven notices where I’m looking and snaps his fingers. “Hey, pay attention. I could have killed you at least twenty different ways right then. It doesn’t matter if we are on the training yard, sparring or facing our enemies in a war. Pay. The. Fuck. Attention.” He scrubs his hand across the dragon tattoos along his skull. “Now, show me the stances Sergeant Verlice has shown you.”

My eyes narrow at his tone, but I need to keep my shit together, so I reluctantly go through the defensive positions Verlice drilled into my head before going over the offensive stances and maneuvers Ember, Roz and I have been going over before bed. As I move from one pose to the next his frown deepens.

“You’re as clumsy as an infant satyr. In fact I’m sure an infant satyr could put you on your ass. Bend your knees and widen your stance. You’re also leaving yourself open,” he states, pointing out even more flaws as he circles around me.

My blood is boiling with frustration and embarrassment. “Is there anything I can do right,Sergeant?” I seethe, spinning towards him.

He stills. “I was going to say, keeping your mouth shut while I’m instructing you, but it seems like you can’t even do that right. Stances, again,” he snaps.

With a huff, I start again. This time he corrects each position and movement as I go. Even if it’s the correct version he just told me, it’s somehow wrong.

Evera switches between glaring at me and laughing. This is fucking humiliating. “You know, I was actually learning something from Sergeant Verlice. I’ll be more than happy to work with him again instead, if I’m as pathetic as you’re making me out to be.”

One moment I’m sneering at his stoic face and then the next, I’m looking up at the cloud watching snow fall gently as I’m gasping for breath.

The fates are testing me today, I swear.

---