Page 38 of Enchanted Shadows
“The loyalists already didn’t like this team of women. Tonight just fanned the flames. I’m not really worried about those four brats following us. The women handled them just fine on their own. I am worried about something more organized now though. Retaliation for tonight.”
“Damn.” He strode for the door of the kitchen. “I’m going to get dressed and pack a bag.”
“Thank you, Em.”
Twenty minutes later, we continued our quiet walk back to the barracks. I was up front, setting the pace and constantly scanning our environment, no one brave enough to walk with me. The women were behind me in clumps of two and three, Emric taking up the rear.
A few minutes into our walk, I heard some footsteps quicken before they fell in next to mine.
“General,” she began.
“Zara.” She looked different with her hair down and not in the usual braid. I again wondered if I had met her before on the streets of Nerede. “I’m not mad at you for punching him.” Realizing my magic was still holding the ice to the hand she’d punched Bram with, I let it fall. The ice had pooled into water and slid to the ground in a puddle.
She sucked in a breath and shook out her hand. “Good to know, but that’s not why I’m walking with you.”
“Why are you walking with me, then?”
“I got nominated because I’m not scared of you.”
Without slowing my strides, I turned slightly to look her in the eyes for the first time since the party.
She let out a sigh. “It is your disappointment they cannot bear. It’d be better if you just yelled at us already. I know you’re seething.”
I gave her a look of surprise. “Wait. You aren’t scared of me?”
“I told you, I’ve dealt with far worse.”
Now I was the one letting out a sigh. “Dammit Zara, you have to stop saying stuff like that to me.”
“Why?”
“Do you want me to dig? Do you want me to find out who it is that you are afraid of? Because I can, and I will.”
“There’s a list,” she joked. “So it would be harder than it may first seem.”
I cocked my head. “A challenge doesn’t scare me.”
She smiled, a real full one, the likes of which had been fleeting thus far into training. “Look. Wren knew about this party happening before she left for training.”
“You do not have to explain a thing. She can explain it herself.”
“Yes, but please know we were only planning to sneak out, prove to her what a piece of work he was, and then come back. We weren’t trying to break any rules, but we also were not about to let her go alone. She was going with or without us.”
“Except youdidbreak the rules. All of them, in fact. If you had the trainer I did, one of Theon’s Generals, you’d all be out. I can kick all of you out, make this the end of the road for this little experiment, if I would so choose.”
“But you won’t.” Her voice was laced thick with determination.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because you are the type of man that taught us how to throw our weight into our punches so that Icouldbreak Bram’s nose. You know this isn’t over. We messed up. So get angry. Yell. But don’t give up on us.”
We fell into a content silence the rest of the way, our footsteps the only noise.
As the barracks finally came back into view, Zara said quietly, “And thank you for the ice.”
I stood on the deck of the barrack’s entrance and turned to the women. “If any of you ever sneak out again, you are done here. I don’t care if it is all of you or one of you. Done.” I stood there, still so frustrated with the way the night had gone. They’d snuck out and also managed to fan the flames with the loyalists. “Be ready extra early for morning workout. Five bells.”
To give them credit, no one groaned.
