Page 21 of Great Falls Rogue
He blows out a long breath. “Why are you telling me this now?’ he asks. When I keep silent, the grip he has on my chin tightens, a note of command entering his tone. “Look at me, Leralynn.”
The journey up River’s large muscular body to meet his eyes is one of the longest I’ve taken.
“Good,” he says as our gazes meet. Mine vulnerable, his commanding. I hate how much weight that one syllable of River’s praise carries. His eyes stay on mine. “Now. Tell me why you’re telling me this. I would have let you walk out the door.”
“Because… I didn’t know what else to do.” The truth rushes from me in a whisper.
He nods, as if that answer is somehow acceptable. “Who else knows? Your roommate, Arisha of Tallie, I presume?”
I shift my weight, but he does not allow me to escape his gray gaze, his control somehow frustrating and calming all at the same time. With no escape route left, surrendering the last of the truth is somehow easier. “Arisha believes I’m just having trouble keeping up with everything because I’ve been busy. She doesn’t realize the extent of…of what I don’t know.” I force a hint of a smile I don’t feel onto my face. “So, in other words, the Academy is about to see its first cadet who fails examsmultipletimes. A first time for everything, right? Now you know it will happen. In case you don’t like surprises and all.”
He shakes his head once, his sharp eyes cutting right past the fakeness of my smile. “I’ll help you.”
“What?” It’s my turn to stare at him.
“Reading, mathematics, the basics everyone here takes for granted. If you are prepared to work, to really set your mind to it, I will help you with all of it. In confidence.” He lowers his hand, leaning back on his heels as if to give me a bit of breathing room. “It will take all you have Leralynn, and I may—will—push you harder than you think I should. But if you trust me to teach you, I will.” He pauses, looking uncertain for the first time. “Do you trust me?”
I take a deep breath. “Yes.”
14
Owalin
The chamber fell silent as Owalin, Captain of the Night Guard, strode to the kneeling female. Beatrice’s wounds bled still, the copper scent of her blood and fear filling the air. She was right to be frightened. In the decade since Owalin obtained the key to Mystwood and led his regiment to the mortal realm, his warriors had never been compromised. Until now.
“Yori and I were certain the female was alone,” Beatrice told the chamber, her chin raised despite the slight tremble in her voice. Blood and sweat plastered long strands of silver hair to her face, her pale blue eyes twitching between the floor and Owalin.“Alone and young. It would have been a swift capture and valuable intelligence had the shifter not appeared.”
“You had no leave to engage,” Owalin barked at her before checking his tone. This was about planning and information, not punishment. Punishment would come later. After years of work at Great Falls, the threads in the tapestry shielding the mortal realm from magic were finally starting to fray. Already there were points where stepping in and out of the Gloom was sometimes possible. Just a bit more prying and Owalin’s warriors would be able to successfully tap into their immortal magic.
Once that happened, taking the Academy would be a swift matter. Any peoples who thought penning the children of ten royal kingdoms together was a bright idea deserved to be taken. Just as Owalin and the Night Guard deserved a realm of their own.
Owalin returned his glare to the kneeling warrior. “The wench saw you step into the Gloom?”
“Yes.” Beatrice flinched. “It was my only way of making it back alive. I judged that reporting the presence of other immortals was of greater value than keeping the Gloom a secret.”
Owalin drummed his finger on the table’s edge. Beatrice had a point. Any immortals outside the Night Guard would be under Council orders to protect the mortal realm—and once Night Guard warriors became able to access magic, so would the other bastards.
Ensuring no other fae prowled the mortal realm was the whole reason Owalin had funded the human inquisitors so actively scouring the continent. Owalin was rather proud of himself on that front. How many others would have recognized the hidden opportunity in a stray lord’s anti-fae movement and turned the silliness from a liability into an asset?
“Master Zake, why is there an immortal on my lands?” Turning to the only human sitting at the table, Owalin raised a brow. “I was under the impression that your people were combing the alliance to eradicate any hint of fae sympathizers. How the bloody hell did an actual fae immortal slip their grasp?”
“You are the one who’s been dumping experimental refuse into your own yard,” Zake said. Around forty, the lord was large and—by human standards—muscular. With a thick head of wiry brown hair, Zake had amassed a series of scars, including a long slash across his face that gave him a perpetually displeased expression. “If you shit where you dine, you can’t expect to keep from attracting those Lunos rodents.”
Owalin flashed the man a warning look. A year ago, he’d have done a great deal more than that, but the human lord had proved useful. Spurred by some personal slight, Lord Zake had half the bloody continent busy turning on neighbors and eradicating fae craft. Most of thecraftwas imagined, of course, but any occasional artifact or text that got caught up in the process made it right back into Owalin’s hands. By the time the Night Guard was ready to attack, the continent would be prime for the taking, the humans having no notion of what was happening until it was too late.
Which meant Owalin had to swallow an occasional insult. Keeping Zake was akin to keeping a hunting dog—you couldn’t expect the pooch not to lick its backside in public once in a while.
“Let me restate my question,” Owalin said harshly. “How has your network of fae-hunting inquisitors overlooked an actual fae intruder?”
“My people are seeded in the cities and towns, Grayson being the closest to here.” Zake’s tone finally shifted to something Owalin could tolerate. “We don’t comb the wilderness. So unless the wench and her shifter have taken residence in the forest itself, the only location I’ve no visibility into is the Academy itself. They will not allow outsiders, even my inquisitors, inside the walls.”
Owalin pursed his lips, mentally examining and discarding one possibility after another before settling on an approach that was as simple as it was powerful. “Very well, Master Zake. Then let us not be outsiders. Please discover what employment opportunities might exist at this prestigious institution. In fact, I’m confident we can assist in creating the appropriate vacancies as needed.”
Part II: Dungeons and Dreamers
1
Coal
