Page 29 of Enchanted Shadows
“It’s the only place I really feel at home,” Zara admitted. As if the thought bothered her, she quickly added, “I’m sorry I worried you.” She handed the flask back over.
“Zara, are you going to tell me who you are afraid of?”
“No.”
I took a pull from the whiskey flask. “And is this the part where you tell me that you aren’t leadership material and try to push me away?”
“Yes,” she said while moving to stand.
I followed her as we began walking back toward the barracks. “Keep pushing me away, Zara. That’s fine. I’ll still be here.”
I watched Zara walk into the barracks, the door shut behind her, and then I headed back to build the obstacle course in the training ring.
I was shocked to find that Emric had joined in.
“Em?” I asked.
“Hey,” he greeted. “I decided to come get in on this tenebrous project.”
Tenebrous?I would’ve gone with intricate. Keir had told us the reason for Emric’s blooming vocabulary. He’d been bored and wanted to try expanding the words he used in daily speech. A few of the words had just stuck, even years later. “The obstacle course or training the team of women?”
Emric laughed. “The obstacle course, but if you need me to help in a manner that sheds light on my chivalrous self, I could be convinced to help with the other.”
“Chivalrous is not the word I would use to describe you.” I laughed, taking another swig of the whiskey.
“It’s in the top three though, right?” he jested.
They refused to let me help for the first level, so I sat back and supervised. Theon’s magic couldn’t be back. I’d fought too hard for this life. I had a family I loved, a bonus family I equally loved, and friends like Miles and Emric who showed up without asking.
The Krewan Valanova reign was far removed from the Theon Valanova reign. And I’d give my last breath to keep it that way.
CHAPTER 10
Iwas giddy the next morning, though the sun came far too quick. The obstacle course was three levels of jumps, runs, and reaches. And I couldn’t be more excited for it. Outside the training ring, we had put the balance beams along with some staffs with padded ends. They would use those to spar with each other to work on their balance leading up to sword training. The next few weeks were going to be a lot of fun.
I loved the obstacle course. The physical and emotional high of making it to the top. And I loved watching people get knocked off time and time again, learning, adjusting, and eventually clawing for the top. What was life, if not one big obstacle course? It didn’t matter the amount of tries you took. So long as you kept attempting. Kept bringing it. Eventually you’d make it, even if from only sheer stubborn effort.
“Run first,” I told the girls, “Then we’ll get to this.”
“When did you even make it?” Fern asked.
“Last night.”
“I go to bed early one night,” Pippa said. “And the obstacle course from hell grows out of the ground.”
I mentally had begun calling her Pippa the Pepper. She was always snippy. I only hoped she could get beyond herself enough to work well with the team. Being brash wasn’t a crime, or I’d already be rotting in the mountain. Being so brash that you forgot to empathize, now that was an issue. While Zara was snippy too, she had also proven to be far more a team player than Pippa the Pepper.
“Move,” I commanded, more out of my own want to get to the course sooner rather than later.
Very few things in life could make me feel this way. The feel of a sword in my hand. Jorah’s cookies. Petting Shadow. The curves of a woman. In no particular order, of course.
I ran with the team, knowing that if I didn’t, I would go over and start doing the obstacle course without them. And though I needed to show them how, I needed for them all to be there to see it.
Roughly thirty minutes later, we gathered around the training ring.
I really couldn’t wipe the grin off my face, though I was trying to. “You have two weeks. Two weeks to get all the way to the top. This is the second trial. You will all try at least once a day. If you have not been to the top in two weeks, you’re out.”
Sam kept looking up at the top. “What do you call this thing?”
