Page 22 of Great Falls Cadet
“Your shoulder—” I open my eyes, remembering the blood from the initial contact, and reach for the male.
“Shade.” River’s ice-cold voice cuts between us before I can touch Tye, the command in it instantly summoning everyone’s attention. “Please examine Tyelor while Coal escorts Leralynn back to the Academy and places her chambers under guard. I will deal with them both tomorrow.”
As Coal’s callused fingers encircle my arm firmly, his familiar metallic scent surrounding me, I give one last glance at the shattered clearing, three precious males cleaning up with the calm practicality of seasoned warriors. And then, with a small shift of his face toward me, all I can see are River’s furious gray eyes. Lingering in my mind long after the night swallows them.
* * *
Part II: Crime and Punishment
1
River
River’s hands closed on the window frame of his high tower office, the grip tight enough to blanch his knuckles. He hadn’t slept. Had given up on even trying to do so, for each time he’d dared to close his eyes, he could see nothing but Leralynn.
Leralynn standing tall in the moonlight, her curves silhouetted against the sky. Leralynn meeting his eyes in a way that drowned out the rest of the world. Leralynn kissing Tye, pressing into an oak beside the very wall that students were forbidden to touch. River could still smell the woman’s arousal, see her hips undulating hungrily against Tye’s hand, her need and pleasure stirring River’s own body into rebellion.
Stars.Taking a shuddering breath, River focused his attention on the window. Outside, the vast courtyard was near empty. The students had liberty for the week’s end, and despite dawn’s arrival hours ago, the frostbitten grass and swept cobblestones saw no foot traffic except Tye jogging to his athletic training earlier. Normal. Ordinary. And after the strange beasts they finally put down last night, the Academy would stay as such.
River winced. Thinking of the night was a mistake, for the memories had started rolling over him again. Leralynn, as fearless as any warrior, her presence—her courage—so much greater than her size as she plunged her sword into the beast that no one could see. There was a moment there when River couldn’t understand why she wasn’t pulling back. And then it hit him, together with a wave of terror that slowed time. The woman was trying to mark the beast’s location for the others, even if it would cost her life to do so. It was the kind of courageous and reckless and intelligent thing that Diana would have done.
A fine rattle drew River’s attention to his hands, which had started to shake from their grip on the window ledge. Last night had been close. Too close. A heartbeat more and the world might have lost the fire that was Leralynn. Just as the world had lost Diana. River’s throat closed. Yes, that was the other reason he dared not shut his eyes again.
After months of seeing nothing but his late wife’s face, last night River saw only Lera’s. He couldn’t even draw Diana’s features in his mind without them warping to Leralynn’s long auburn hair and warm chocolate eyes, her internal glow that drew him in like a moth to the proverbial flame.
A rap sounded against his door.
“Come,” River called, turning his back to the window as he straightened his crisp red-and-gold tunic, rolling his shoulders into a posture befitting a commander.
“Sir.” Dressed in his signature black leather, blond hair pulled back tight, Coal strode into the office on silent feet and crossed his arms in silent endurance of River’s intrusive gaze. The man looked terrible—not that anyone beside River or Shade would notice the haunted shimmer behind the warrior’s icy blue eyes. Whatever had happened to Coal in captivity, it was still eroding him from the inside. The Academy was supposed to provide a place for him to put down those demons, but things were getting worse instead. As if a piece of Coal’s soul had been torn away and now the rest of him leaked out through the wound.
The analogy struck too close to what River himself felt.
“Lieutenant.” River nodded his greeting to the warrior.
“It’s frosty in here,” Coal said, looking around at River’s office with its stone walls and dark wood accents. “Are the visiting cadets not cowing quickly enough, or is it for personal masochism?”
It was drafty, River would admit, mountain air blowing through the old caulking, frost edging each windowpane. He’d not bothered to light the fireplace yet today, his mind on other things.
River straightened a stack of papers on his desk, ignoring the question. “Any more on last night’s invisible hogs?”
“I surveyed the whole perimeter this morning and found no signs of additional pack mates,” Coal said crisply. “I think we put this lot down for good, sir.”
Of course Coal had been out already. And, doubtlessly, alone. Maybe he and Leralynn were kindred spirits, both unable to walk past danger without sticking their noses in.
“I’ve also given the descriptions to Master Gavriel.” Crossing his arms, Coal leaned against the wall. “The librarian will look through his books to see if he can shed light on what the beasts were.”
“Good. The man’s intelligent and discreet—a rare combination.” River ached to rub his hands over his face, but locked them behind his back instead. There had been another execution in Grayson, the closest large town, last night—a laundress accused of using fae craft to make garments sicken their owners, or some similar ghastly nonsense. “Remind the students that anyone discussing the fae will find himself in my study. As much as I dislike banning a discussion topic, the last thing we need is for one kingdom’s nobles to start accusing another. Especially when last night proved that something unnatural is truly afoot.”
“And what of Tyelor and Leralynn? Shall I tell them they imagined the whole incident?” Coal raised a brow.
Leralynn. As if the woman’s name itself carried a curse, River’s heart stuttered the moment he heard it.Leralynn. Leralynn.River tightened his jaw. “Those two are another problem altogether.”
“The pair handled themselves adequately,” Coal said, picking up a glass paperweight on River’s desk, eyeing it skeptically and putting it back down again. It was the highest praise River had ever heard from the warrior. Which was probably why the man suddenly needed something to do with his hands.
“I don’t care how they handled themselves,” River snapped. “Leralynn came a hair’s breadth from death last night—because she decided that the rules all cadets live under don’t apply to her. A student who cannot be bothered to respect the Academy’s structure on her first damn day. I’ve said it before and I will again—we’ve too many young nobles who do not belong, and the faster we can set them straight, the better for all involved.” The words came out hotter than River wished, but Coal gave no sign of having noticed—though he doubtlessly had. Nothing got past the man. River had learned that long ago.
A pregnant silence hung in the air, then Coal shrugged. “And Tyelor?”
