Page 50 of Great Falls Cadet
Instead, the girl’s skin darkened as she struggled back into plank form, her jaw tightening with humiliation.
The amusement faded from Coal’s chest so quickly that he nearly left a welt on Katita’s unprotected shoulder for no reason beyond his own distraction. Surely Lera understood that soreness after yesterday’s ordeal was normal. Not a sign of weakness. Not a sign of anything beyond the effort she’d put in to withstand the misery he put her through.
The color of Leralynn’s skin said otherwise. She gritted her teeth as she started moving jerkily again, injured pride and frustration rolling off her in waves. Stars take him. What did the girl expect? Yet even knowing that Lera’s demands of herself were unrealistic, Coal could no longer take any gentle humor in her predicament. Or forgive himself for not having watched closer, for anticipating a reaction from a girl who was anything but predictable.
Especially after River told Coal what she’d done last night.
Lera had tried to protect him. Offered to face something terrifying, just to spare Coal—the man who’d just punished her. What woman did that? It had shaken River enough that he’d shared the conversation with Coal—along with his suspicion that someone had hurt Lera before. Having seen the scars Lera’s old master left on her, Coal knew River’s guess was right. When the time was right, when trust was rebuilt, Coal would need to work with her through that. A fighter couldn’t freeze up in terror at the thought of being struck—an echoing circumstance could too easily come up in battle.
“Rotate!” Coal called over the training grounds, turning his face up to the wind while the cadets scurried to new positions. He’d acted like an idiot.Again.He should have anticipated Lera’s unrealistic expectations of her body, done something to subtly defuse her pain. Instead, Coal had let the whole class watch her flail.
The bloody reality was that Coal deserved the very thing Lera had spared him from. He was an instructor. He’d been responsible for every breath she took yesterday. And instead of protecting the girl, Coal had let his cock do the thinking. Leralynn had been weak and hurt and exhausted. She hadn’t been thinking straight—but he should have been.
A rush of heat slashed through Coal’s core, making his cock twitch in memory of Lera’s blazing, clenching sex. He certainlyhadn’tbeen thinking yesterday; he’d been…reacting. The scent of Lera’s arousal had woken something primal inside him, the strength radiating from her matching the power coiled in his own soul. The bedding hadn’t been gentle. It had been raw and exhilarating and made him feel more alive than he had since escaping the islanders.
It was how Coal had imagined bedding the woman who’d helped him survive captivity would be.
“Nothing of consequence happened here today,”Leralynn had told Coal in the cave. That might have been true for her, but not him. Coal had wanted her so deeply that his soul howled with the need. Still did. Not that it mattered.
The sound of cracking wood and gasping students jerked Coal’s attention back to the corral. With a start, Coal realized that he’d not only taken a swing at a practice post, but hit the wood hard enough to shatter the practice blade. Stars take him. “Can I help you all?” he demanded, the students scattering back to position at once.
Grabbing a fresh sword, Coal snuck a final glance at where Lera was doing push-ups again. Coal had hurt her. Many times over. And now he could offer no comfort. Because it wasn’t his place to. And because he didn’t know how.
Putting distance between them was the only path to take. “Rik, Puckler,” Coal called, waiting for Katita’s bulky cousins to take a place before him. The twins had inherited much of the princess’s status and arrogance without the wits or work ethic to go with them. Bringing up the tip of his blade, Coal decided to see how many times he might make the pair blunder into each other before the bell rang.
7
Lera
It takes three full days before I can move normally again, and I’m surprised to discover how easily I’ve slipped into the invisibility that saved me most of my life before I met the males. Aside from the uncomfortable conversation about Coal, Arisha still seems to be keeping a distance from me, finding reasons to be out of the room whenever I’m there and reading through meals. I try not to let it hurt too much—but I miss her. Even in the short time I’ve known her, her easy, clumsy friendliness was a welcome balm against the coldness of the Academy. Perhaps she’s discovered that I attract too much trouble. I can hardly blame her there, especially since Tye, Coal, and River have plainly come to the same conclusion and stay clear of me as well. With no injury to complain of, I see nothing of Shade at all.
At least I’m not making things worse for everyone, which should count for something.
With dinner approaching, the keep has raised a rich gold standard in place of the morning red, marking the Academy’s daily shift from a military protocol to the evening palace court atmosphere. Around me, the manicured courtyard walkways are filled with cadets in attire suited for their high birth—long satin and taffeta gowns in every color of the rainbow, carefully made-up faces and gleaming hair. Clusters of young women move together toward the dining hall, laughing and whispering as they eye matching clusters of men in crisp evening suits. Lifting my face into the breeze that seems to forever course through the open spaces on this exposed hilltop, I inhale the scent of young grass and fresh-cut shrubbery, the satin magenta dress I’ve chosen sliding coolly over my hips.
I scowl at my choice of attire. The open back and thigh-high slit give the long sleeves no chance to offer protection against the elements, which take perverse delight in perking my nipples—a fact I notice the same time as a boy walking toward me does, his gaze sliding across my chest and hips. I hug my books to my chest, ending the show, my body too new and foreign for me to feel comfortable in.
If Autumn were here, she’d enjoy taking in the different fashions of the Continental Alliance kingdoms, from the billowing skirts with bamboo ribbing favored by the ladies in the north to the sensual, revealing silks of the southern kingdoms. If Autumn were here, she’d likely have me decked out like a new doll each day. Except, she isn’t.
“Perhaps Osprey is weak of mind?” a girl’s voice says. For a moment, I think someone is beside me, but quickly realize my immortal ears are a little too adept at picking up conversations—this one being carried from a group of ladies ten paces away.
“I believe she is bright enough,” the girl’s companion answers thoughtfully. “It’s something else.”
Ah, that would be the growing commentary about my class performance.
A third girl clicks her tongue. “She’s simply spoilt. Allowed to indulge in swords and horses with no mind paid to tutors—I’ve a brother of that same ilk. Too bad for her Master River will not put up with such nonsense for long.”
I quicken my step to get out of earshot, the mere mention of River’s name sending an uncomfortable shiver though me. I’ve barely seen him in three days, and when I have, he’s as remote as ever. I shudder to imagine his response when my lack of prior education does finally reach his attention. My attempt to sit in on one of Arisha’s tutoring sessions with Tye diffused any desire to try that route again—and not just because my body and mind couldn’t agree whether I wanted to kill the male or kiss him. The reality is that with math skills extending little beyond sums and only enough reading ability to make out instructions, the whole mess was as humiliating as it was useless. My failure to turn in an assignment for Master Erik’sUnderstanding Islanders’ Goals and Strategieshas already earned me extra work, which I’ve no way of completing. By week’s end, I’ll be in the same predicament with Master Briar’s mathematics.
How the bloody hell am I supposed to stay in the Academy long enough for Lunos to send help when I can’t do even the basic coursework? I want to tear off the amulet around my neck and grind it into the dirt. Why did it give me a student persona if I had no ability to be a student? Why not make me something more suitable? A scullery maid, perhaps, or a stable hand.
The dormitories are deserted by the time I make it there, with everyone already at dinner. Holding up my books as a ready explanation should any stranger wonder why I’m walking in the wrong direction, I climb the external stone stairs to my floor, then walk quickly down the torch-lined hallway to my bedchamber. Perhaps I might skip dinner altogether today, keeping the empty room company and sparing Arisha awkward conversation.
Sliding my key into the lock, I feel my body stiffen at the lack of resistance. The door is open. My heart quickens, my senses wakening. Arisha would have been in last, and sheneverforgets to lock a door. Or fold a shirt. Or anything except how to braid hair and swing a sword.
Reaching to draw the boot knife Coal gifted me back in Lunos, I find the sheath empty and swear softly. I used the blade in the stables to cut the twine, and after getting distracted with Czar throwing a fit over Sprite being in heat, I never tucked the weapon back. Damn it. Forcing myself to breathe, I slowly open the door and inhale the stench of undiluted terror.
Arisha.Rushing inside, I find the girl pressed tightly against one of the dorm room’s high white walls, her small freckled face drained of blood.
