Page 23 of Mistake of Magic
“My scent should be my own bloody business,” I mutter. Sitting down on the leather sofa, I flinch at the crashes and grunts echoing from my bedchamber.
A few moments later, Shade—once more in his fae form—storms out of my room and exits the suite altogether, slamming the door in his wake. River and Tye walk out next, Tye bare to the waist and pressing a towel against his shoulder as he settles on the couch beside me.
I reach toward him tentatively, relief flooding my body when he permits me to brush my fingers along his skin. “Was that because of me?” I whisper.
“That was Shade’s wolf protecting his mate,” River says curtly. His face is hard, making me sink further into the couch.
Tye places his good arm on my knee and shifts slightly to break the line of sight between me and River. “I goaded Shade on purpose, River. It was the easiest way to show Lilac Girl what a wolf’s mating means.” He offers me a smile. “It may seem like I think with nothing but my cock, but occasionally a thought does visit my head.”
“Today was not one of those occasions,” River snaps, pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes survey the room, coming to rest on me in a long, stony stare. “Tye, wait until Shade cools off and then have him see to your shoulder. Leralynn, if you can manage without breakfast, I’d like us to claim the practice arena while the other trainees are still getting up and about. The senior quints have the authority to make us yield it, but I doubt anyone but Malikai will force the issue.”
“What exactly are we going to the practice arena for?” I ask, already getting up to retrieve my boots.
“To train your magic, of course,” says River.
I trip over my own feet.
14
River
The sun had just risen over the eastern Citadel wall, casting thin golden light across the empty square. A light breeze filled River’s nose with Leralynn’s lilac scent, making their walk from the trainee dormitories to the practice arena an exercise in self-control. She was in uniform, the fitted black trousers clinging to her hips in a sensual way that the tailor had never intended, her wine-red tunic slightly too large and showing the tops of her full breasts through the open V-necked collar. She’d braided her hair on one side, the neatly twisted strands like gleaming fire in the sun.
Just looking at the girl made River hard—which was not conducive to the day’s plans. River tried to take shallow breaths, but it little helped. Leralynn’s scent washed over him again and again. Potent, pulsing—and drenched with Shade.
Jealousy was not an emotion a good quint commander indulged in. River knew that. Agreed with it. Which did nothing to stop his heart from clenching rebelliously at the thought of Shade bringing Leralynn pleasure last night.
River hadn’t brought a female pleasure in three hundred years; he wasn’t even sure he knew how anymore.
“How long until Klarissa puts an end to this freedom?” Coal asked, surveying the Citadel’s manicured grounds as if walking through a battlefield. It was early enough in the morning that most of the trainees and guests were still finding their way to breakfast, and only the occasional quint strode along the walkways. With each quint unique in both its needs and timing, the council issued specific training instructions for each group instead of hosting a one-size-fits-all curriculum. “I half expected to wake to a demand that we attend a lecture on Citadel power and law.”
“I do not know.” River clasped his hands behind his back, his face a careful mask of mild interest despite the blood in his veins screaming for Lera. In truth, River was surprised he could do it—walk beside her, talk, breathe. Perhaps it was something he could thank his bastard of a father for, training his body to control itself no matter its needs. To have a shred more self-possession than that damn wolf shifter.
Shade.As if the five of them didn’t have enough problems in the Citadel without a half-feral and possessive wolf threatening to take over a trained warrior’s common sense. A small growl escaped River’s throat, making Leralynn flinch. Bloody wonderful. He made himself swallow a second growl that was already rising in his chest. River would deal with Shade later, when River could be certain that it was his brain and not his cock that was restoring discipline.
A hand clamped onto River’s wrist a second before the back of his head connected with a nearby tree trunk. An iron fist blocked River’s return blow.
“If you can’t train the mortal today,” Coal said mildly, even as the dull thud of impact still echoed through River’s body, “this would be a good time to say so.”
River raised his chin, his voice calm despite his pounding pulse. “Is there a specific reason for this new concern, or have you simply gone too long without attacking something?”
Coal snorted, releasing River. “You just made the earth tremble and didn’t even notice.”
River’s gaze jerked to the courtyard to find the few passing fae staring at him. Leralynn watched him with wide eyes, the fear there making his heart clench. An academic in long robes picked up books that River’s jolt of power had knocked from her arms. Bloody cursed stars. So much for that self-control.
Coal raised a brow, his blue eyes twinkling.
Stepping away from the tree, River picked up his pace toward the practice arena, his face hot. “Let’s move, Leralynn. The sun isn’t waiting on anyone today,” he called over his shoulder, leaving Coal to stand outside the arena and do what Coal did best: make anyone who wished to approach decide to do something less suicidal instead.
Leralynn made the climb up the stone steps and down the ladder rungs with little change to her breathing, something she never could have done before Coal’s work with her. An odd pair if there ever was one. River had smelled blood on the girl more than once after one of Coal’s “light combat” sessions, and yet Leralynn trusted the warrior. Certainly, she considered Coal more of a friend than she did River.
Leralynn considered everyone more of a friend than River.
His chest tightened. For Leralynn, the next few hours would be an exciting exploration of newly discovered power. For River, they’d be the first time he truly shared something with the girl, and his palms were as moist as a silly lad’s. His breath quickened as he watched her turn about the sand, her eyes brushing the arena’s circular wall, which rose fifteen feet into the air.
“So this is what standing at the bottom of a well feels like,” Leralynn murmured.
“Remember that the walls are warded to ensure that whatever happens in here doesn’t destroy the rest of the Citadel in the process.”
