Page 44 of Great Falls Cadet
1
Shade
Shade woke to the smell of grapevines twining around the gazebo and small stones digging into his ribs. Overhead, the sun was breaking through a blooming orange horizon, as if the previous day’s storm had never happened. Shade drew a shuddering breath and rose to his knees, rubbing his face. The Academy’s reflection garden spread away from him in both directions, with beds of dew-covered hyacinths and giant cone flowers, their tall stems and light green leaves holding up bright yellow flowering heads.
Yes, Shade was outside. But how the hell had he gotten here? From the slight ache along his ribs and memories of a dream where he’d chased a deer, he’d fallen asleep here. Fortunately, his presence would unlikely raise suspicion—the garden was large and filled with thick concealing greenery, lacy fern beds, and stone-walled nooks designed to give refuge to students seeking solitude amidst the Academy’s bustling life. He wasn’t the first or last of the garden’s overnight visitors. But all the others knew how they’d gotten here.
Shade didn’t. He’d lost time. Again.
Shade forced his mind to sort through the last memories he had. He remembered the infirmary last night, when Coal brought Leralynn of Osprey in to be seen after a punishing run that had plainly morphed into more than discipline. That was when his body first started playing tricks on him. The girl’s lilac scent and deep brown eyes—not to mention her supple, creamy skin under his hands—had driven him insane, made it an effort of will to keep himself in check. To remember his duty. To remember that she was astudent, for stars’ sake. To ask the right questions, make the right decision, use the right damn salves.
Leralynn’s pull on him made as little sense as waking here did. Perhaps it was the state she was in, just on this side of misery, that brought out a healer’s natural instincts to protect. Or the scent of coupling that had clung to her and Coal both—a scent that would makeanyman hard. That had to be it. Plus, Leralynn reminded him of another auburn-haired, chocolate-eyed woman who’d once owned his soul.
Shade shook himself before the memory could pull him in deeper. The problem of Leralynn of Osprey was the simplest to solve—keep the hell away from her. Incidentally, that was the same advice he’d given Coal last night—and that man usually had the better restraint of the two of them. Fortunately, the girl was planning to leave the Academy.
Infirmary.Shade forced his mind back to task as he walked to the nearest garden exit—a stone archway nearly hidden in the hedgerow, covered densely in rustling green ivy. He’d been in the infirmary, tending first to Lera, then Tye, when all hell broke loose over an odd fallen disk that Shade knew instinctively was important. The cold, restrained fury in River’s face had been enough to send a chill down Shade’s spine, despite having known the man for years. Shade had seen kings with less internal power than what always simmered beneath River’s cultured manners and speech. The man could wield more authority with a look than others did with a whip or sword. Even Shade, who considered his commander a friend, knew there was a line not to be crossed. Everyone did.
Except one Leralynn of Osprey.
Stars,the girl had no self-preservation instinct. Shade didn’t know whether he was more relieved to have missed River’s tearing her into shreds or more afraid of how the duel might end. He blinked. After that, he recalled emotions and smells more than events. Yes, he’d been afraid for Lera, had wanted to see whether she was all right. But he’d wasn’t some idiot to stand and watch the door to the student dormitory—he’d gone back to his own quarters.
Hadn’t he?
How, then, had he gotten here, to the reflection garden? Had he been drinking?
Reaching behind him, Shade pulled his hair into three parts and braided it quickly, creating the appearance of an officer up and ready early in the morning instead of one who’d passed out beneath the stars. Whatever was happening with him, Shade needed to get to the bottom of it quickly. And quietly.
“Shade?”
Spinning toward the sound of River’s voice, Shade found the impeccably dressed commander striding out from the keep as if unaware of the hour. The tallest man Shade knew, River always kept his dark brown hair neatly cropped, his black boots mirror shined, and his storm-gray eyes unreadable. Eyes that seemed to have the eerie ability to focus on every place and person in the Academy at once. A pair of guards hurrying to their duties snapped to attention at the sight, their faces pale though River did nothing but nod courteously to them. At the moment, Shade knew how they felt.
Straightening his rumpled, damp gray sweater, Shade joined River at the edge of the courtyard, where he stood rock still, eyes trained on a point in the distance. “Waiting for something?” Shade asked.
“Someone. I issued some orders last night I would like to ensure are followed. Ah—there she is.”
Following River’s gaze, Shade saw the one person he was really hoping to avoid. Leralynn. Trudging out of the cadets’ barracks, her smooth skin and long auburn braid glowing in the rising sun. Despite the breathtaking curves that made even a gray uniform look delicious, Lera’s curled shoulders and stiff shivers against the chill spoke to undeniably sore muscles. Shade straightened his back. “I thought she was leaving us.”
“She changed her mind.” River’s voice was tight. Disapproving—almost beyond what the situation seemed to call for, though when it came to Leralynn, Shade wasn’t one to judge well.
“I see.” Shade’s stomach clenched. “And what do you have her doing?”
“Mucking stables for three hours a day for a month.” The utter lack of emotion in River’s words cut Shade’s hearing. For whatever reason, the punishment made River uncomfortable enough to put effort into burying his thoughts. For all his stoic masks, River saw entirely too much, which boded poorly for Shade’s own predicament.
Shade cleared his throat, finally working through what River had said. “You are taking three hours a day from her for a month?” With the Academy’s workload, that would leave a first-year cadet with no time to sleep. “Isn’t that a bit severe? A simple thrashing would have done.”
River’s face did tighten then. “I couldn’t,” he said quietly. “And I need her too exhausted to get into trouble for a while.”
Shade rocked back on his heels, saying nothing—he didn’t trust himself to keep from uttering something that might expose his own turmoil to River’s too perceptive eyes. As for River… In the whole time Shade had known the commander, River had never hesitated to punish a student or soldier, male or female. River was never cruel, but he was efficient. And fair. And consistent. Until now.
What was it about this beautiful cadet? First Tye. Then Coal. Shade himself. Now River. Leralynn of Osprey was touching souls. Which made her as tantalizing as it did dangerous. A fact that should have made Shade turn away, and made him hard instead.
2
Lera
“Touch your ear,” I tell Coal, my heart quickening. I can’t help it. I needto show Coal his true nature. Need to try.
Coal glances at me, his metallic scent mixing with the lingering tangs of sex and sweat. Shirtless, the male is pulling his blond hair back into a bun, the muscles coiling beneath taut skin. “My own ear?” he asks.
