Page 29 of Great Falls Rogue
Lera
This… This is exactly what was not supposed to happen. I rub my hands over my eyes as Tye helps me back into my dress and pulls on his pants, his own gaze sliding everywhere but my face.
“Lera…” Tye says finally, forcing his eyes to meet mine. “This, you… It was genuine. Everything I felt. We felt. But the reality of my life is that—”
“You want to twist around a wooden bar that I couldn’t care less about,” I say flatly. Because there is no point in coating it with honey. I’ve things to do, magic to fight. None of it supports simpering around a male who is following a fiction. Despite the intensity of our coupling, the way it wakes my magic, there can be nousunless Tye wants to join my team.
And he doesn’t. Tye has other priorities. The best thing to do—the one thing I just failed at miserably—is to keep the intensity between us from interfering with our lives.
Tye hops up to swing himself on the dangling chains again, as if looking for familiar territory. The sculpted muscles of his chest, arms, and shoulders tighten with perfect control as he holds himself in the impossible cross position again. Then, he brings his legs up at a right angle to his body, his toes together and pointing. Belatedly, I realize he has no shoes on. He trained without them and didn’t stop to dress before the fight.
I sigh. Even with three lung-shattering releases behind me, watching Tye move threatens to arouse me again, and I quickly find somewhere else to be looking.
Instead of sanctuary, my gaze trips over the rack of whips, my stomach clenching reflexively. At least Tye didn’t try to include those in hisdistraction.
“I didn’t think you’d enjoy those no matter what I did,” Tye said, following my gaze without permission. Damn him.
My jaw tightens. “Would you?”
Tye turns himself upside down, his red hair flying in the low light, but continues talking as if both his position and the topic of discourse were normal. “Not for pain, no.” He frowns at himself, then shakes his head like a dog trying to dislodge water. “It’s the second time today I’ve felt certain about something I don’t recall ever trying,” he mutters. “Odd as it sounds, you make me feel as though something grand prowls just at the edge of my world.”
My breath catches, and I feel my gaze sharpening on Tye. In Lunos, even when I was mortal, coupling with my males tightened my control over magic. I wonder if as much might be happening in reverse, with the males’ essence strengthening when we join. Heart quickening, I lean forward, bracing my forearm on my knees. “Tell me more. How—”
I cut off as the door of our isolated corridor croaks open, inopportune footsteps tapping the stone at a swift, confident pace. Tye’s head snaps toward the sound, and he settles himself back to the floor with casual grace. By the time the visitor makes his appearance a few heartbeats later, Tye is lounging beside me, his body surreptitiously angled to cut off the path between me and the door.
For the second time today, a pair of cold gray-blue eyes sweeps over me with dismissal, a strange discomfort following in their wake, like ants crawling just under my skin. Han’s attention is riveted on Tye. Though of a similar height and build, the instructor’s short, combed-back hair and harsh gaze is at utter contrast to Tye’s mischievous red mane and feline grace.
“Have you met your new Prowess trainer yet?” I ask Tye under my breath.
“He has not,” Han answers, surveying the male with a disgust typically reserved for lame roaches. “If he had, I guarantee you he would not be here now.” Han unlocks the door, swinging it open. “Come with me, Tyelor. Now.”
Tye’s hand touches the small of my back. “You mean both of us, sir.”
Instead of replying, Han strides into the cell and grabs my wrist in a viselike grip. With a rough yank, he pulls me over to the stone wall, clamping my wrist in a bolted manacle. “Have I answered your question clearly enough?” Han demands, turning back to the male as if I no longer exist in his world. Han points to the door. “Whore on your own time, boy. Until the Prowess Trials, you are on mine. Move.”
Tye doesn’t move, his muscles bunching. I can practically see the thoughts sprinting across his face.Don’t do it, Tye.
Han sighs. “If I need to make the wench less attractive to you, I will,” he says, lifting the back of his hand. The intended trajectory of the blow is clear enough to make me press back into the stone. Han snorts. “Personally, Tyelor, I believe my expertise would be best used on the training pitch, directingyouractions. But we can approach this any way you want.”
“Leave her alone.” Tye’s words come out in a snarl that he checks with visible effort. “I am at your full command, sir. There is no need for further clarification.”
“Good.” Turning his back to me, Han waits for Tye to exit the chamber before following him out, the grated door left swinging open in their wake.
I wait until the pair’s footsteps fade before letting out the breath I didn’t know I held. Then I use my free hand to open the manacle.
It stays closed. I frown at the latch, realizing the damn thing was constructed to click locked without a key. Wonderful. With a frustrated growl—and too little thought—I yank at the metal with all my strength.
Click.
The sound comes from inside the mechanism, like a metal tooth snagging a new hold. The band around my wrist tightens, digging into my skin. The manacle may need a key to open, but apparently, it needs nothing to tighten down on itself.
Uncertainty slithers down my spine. “Guards,” I shout, despite knowing the chamber is designed to contain sound.
No answer. No steps. Only the slight creaking of the open door, still swaying on its hinges.
Right. Forcing my breath to slow, I lean back against the cold wall. River knows I’m here. However mad he is, however little he may want to lay eyes on me right now, he won’t leave me inside forever. In truth, it’s only been a couple of hours since the riot and someone has already come to get Tye. If River intends to come for me himself, it might be a couple of hours more until he has time for it.
My chest tightens at the thought, but this time, I’m smart enough not to pull on the metal again. I’ll deal with River when he comes, and when that happens, he won’t find me whimpering and cowering.
