Page 29 of Great Falls Cadet
Terror rushes through me, the world darkening around the edges. My lungs hurt, my body desperate for air that’s somewhere. Not here. Not anywhere. I feel my limbs flailing against the rushing water, the muscles stiff and desperate and unable to find purchase. To remember what to do. Faster. I need to move faster. No time. No time. No—
Coal jerks me up by my tunic, and I fall to my hands and knees, my own coughs tearing through my chest.
“That’s right, Leralynn of Osprey.” The male’s soft voice is as cold as the stream. “You don’t deserve this. You need Great Falls no more than you need manure stuck to your boot soles.”
I blink, lifting my pounding head to meet Coal’s eyes, my sluggish mind struggling to understand. “You want me to leave? Is that what this is all about?”
Coal leans his face so close to mine that drops of water from my shivering body land on his chest, his familiar metallic scent filled with a bitter tang of fury. “Yes,” he says, a muscle ticking along his jaw. “And I’m not the only one.”
I recoil as if struck, the words hurting more than the cold, cold stream. “You’ll have to keep waiting.”
The ticking muscle in Coal’s jaw quickens, but he says nothing. His icy blue eyes crackle in the thunder-charged air, something in him about to break as surely as a gathering storm.
Overhead, a fleeing hawk swoops close, the forest around us silent in anticipation.
Coal wants me gone. And not just him.Heat rushes through me despite the chill, my chattering teeth gritting. The mask I’ve seen River don so many times slips over my face as I grip the stones on either side of the stream and lower myself right back into the water.
Whatever happens, Coal won’t get the satisfaction of seeing me surrender.
7
Arisha
Two scoops grain, one scoop sweetfor three dozen of the horses, for four weeks with each feed sack holding—no, wait, with the spring weather breaking, fresh grass might come soon. Arisha crossed off the calculation. Would the extra green grass mean the horses needed less grain, or would the extra running they did on soft ground lead to them needing more?
“Should we tell her?”
“That would be a full-time job, Nolan, and I need to watch Tyelor’s training. He needs someone to keep him honest.”
Arisha buried her head deeper into her book, ignoring Princess Katita and her royal cousins.One and a half scoop of—something rough hit Arisha between the eyes, sending her sprawling onto the ground. Glaring up, Arisha saw the tree she’d just walked into. A few paces away, the group of royals broke into ill-concealed chortles. Brilliant. That was the third—no, fourth—time this month alone she’d walked into something. Was someone moving the damn trees and building in the middle of the night? At least when the stunning Leralynn stumbled into something, the something inevitably turned out to be Great Falls’ top athlete.
One who Princess Katita believed to be her property.
Scowling, Arisha gathered her books and hurried into the sanctuary of the library. She needed to alphabetize the books. Or count them. Or maybe regroup everything by time period instead. Anything to keep her mind off whatever torment Master Coal was inflicting on Lera. The girl was brave and kind and as unaware of her own mortality as a fourteen-year-old boy. Pitted against Coal’s creative sadism, the combination could end in nothing but utter disaster.
The chime of newly attached doorbells startled Arisha free of her thoughts. “Uncle Gavriel?” she called, stepping into the great circle of the library’s entrance hall. The librarian’s desk where Gavriel usually sat was empty, though the sound of a cane tapping the polished marble floor echoed from somewhere in the room. “Uncle?”
“Arisha.” Stepping out from behind the far stacks, Gavriel limped toward her with more energy than she’d seen in him lately. The extra glint in his brown eyes was downright contagious. “Are you quite all right, my dear?”
“Yes.” Arisha picked a stray leaf from her braid and adjusted her glasses. “You, however, look like a cat with a bowl of cream.” Despite being alone in the library, Arisha dropped her voice. “Has the Guild welcomed you back?” Gavriel’s vocal disagreements on both the interpretation of the fae prophecies and the Guild’s rules surrounding them had gotten the man put out the door a year ago. Gavriel, being Gavriel, immediately got himself hired into Great Falls Academy, negotiating a spot for his niece along the way.
“Not quite, but they will.” Gavriel set his books on a table and went to pull out the pot of tea and platter of sweets he always kept for Arisha’s visit. Sugar-powdered scones with raisins, by the smell of them. “They truly will have no choice but to acknowledge my theories.”
With a sigh, Arisha neatened Gavriel’s books into an ordered stack and glanced at his newly placed door chimes. Gavriel wanted to know if anyone invaded his space, which meant he was planning to be more reckless than usual. “You’ve discovered new evidence?”
“Better.” The man returned to the table, handing Arisha a tea tray. “I’ve proven my theory correct. I found the Protector.”
The tea tray slipped from Arisha’s hands, Gavriel rescuing the pot before it could spill. Arisha’s heart quickened. After a lifetime’s work with no acknowledgment, her uncle deserved a bit of recognition. “Are you certain? Where is he?”
“She. And right here in Great Falls Academy, just as I predicted.” Gavriel winced. “She isn’t what I expected, I grant you. A bit rough around the edges and not quite ready to accept her role, but I will work with her through it.”
A familiar thick dread settled on Arisha’s tongue. There he went again, the reason Uncle Gavriel was cut off from his life’s work to begin with. “What do you meanworkwith her? The Sentinel Guild is very clear—watch, record, don’t intervene. Prophecies tend to go awry when people start sticking their tongues and pens in them. I believe you taught me that.”
Gavriel adjusted his glasses. “This is different, Arisha. And vital. The danger arrived in advance of the Protector, and she… I fear that left to her own devices, she is going to be chasing young men instead of saving the mortal realm. Sometimes prophecies need a bit of guidance, eh?” He poured Arisha a cup of tea. “The Guild will come around once they see.”
“Are you going to tell me who it is?” Arisha asked, letting out a heavy breath. She’d seen Gavriel here before and knew when there was no talking reason into the man. The best she could do was manage the damage and ensure his noble intentions did not dig a grave for him.
Despite the empty library, Gavriel dropped his voice before speaking. “Leralynn of Osprey. She wears a veil amulet, of course, but it is her.”
