Page 49 of Great Falls Rogue
His muscles dance under his damp skin, sculpted to perfection. I’d enjoy the view if I didn’t see fury in every twitch. If I didn’t know the idiot was doing greater damage each time he struck.
“That’s Coal being Coal,” I murmur, dread starting to sink into me in cold waves. Something has changed between last night and this morning.
“Do you think he is trying to prove his arm isn’t actually broken? Or that broken bones don’t matter?” Arisha winces, a long whistle-like sound coming from her lips. “Ow, ow,ow. Stars. Who does he imagine is daft enough to believe either anyway?”
Watching moisture bead on Coal’s temples, I shake my head. With the morning chill, the sweat is from pain alone. “He’s proving himself to himself,” I say very quietly. The other gray-clad students now crowd the fence, taking in Coal with wide eyes. “Coal doesn’t tolerate any kind of shackles well.”
“You don’t think he knows you…” Arisha makes a running motion with her fingers.
“No. Of course not. I mean, I don’t see how he could.” Not even Arisha knew I’d left last night until I was back. Is it possible that, somehow, in spite of evading my ownroommate’snotice, I still didn’t manage to evade Coal’s?
“I heard Lieutenant Coal started a b-b-brawl with the guards,” says one of the male cadets, a lean red-haired boy named Kirill who rarely speaks when the royals are around. With Katita, Puckler, and Rik all now training with Han, the cadet seems to have found his courage. “No one could stop it, until River himself came onhorseback.”
“I’ve always known Coal isn’t fully sane,” Vivian confides in a whisper loud enough to be heard across the continent. “You can see it in his eyes.”
“I didn’t realize you’d ever looked up enough from Coal’s britches to notice that the man had eyes,” another boy calls from behind us, inciting a ripple of laughter that strikes my hearing distantly.
The more I take in Coal’s taut tendons, the harsh lines of his face, and the glistening beads of pain-spurred sweat, the louder a cold ringing in my ears becomes. One thing I’m certain of is that whatever is happening, it will get no better with time.
Might as well get this over with.
Without waiting to see how Vivian’s conversation continues, I vault over the railing, landing softly on the sand beside Coal. Thethump, swat, thumpof his strikes fill the metallic-scented air between us, the sound appearing to be the only greeting I’m going to get.
Fine.We’ll do this on his time. Tugging down on my gray uniform shirt, I take a step to the side of the corral.
“Osprey, pick a sword,” Coal orders, never slowing his assault on the post. “Everyone else, circle up.”
Arisha raises a questioning brow at me, but I can only shrug in reply.
Gritting my teeth, I walk over to the weapons rack and run my hands over the offerings, looking for the balanced practice blade with a small chip on the handle that I’ve come to favor. With it in hand, I turn to find the rest of the class—now slightly more active without the royals present—already formed up in a large circle around the perimeter of the corral.
Vivian gives me a suspicious look as I brush past her to get into the middle, the other fifteen sets of eyes staring at me with similar uncertainty.
Coal spins a final time, knocking the training post clear off the ground, the thick rope-wrapped wood dropping with a thunk to the sand. Kicking the log out of the way, Coal grabs an hourglass from the top of the weapons rack. He still hasn’t so much as looked at me, and his cold inattention is far worse than shouting would be. “Everyone will have up to three minutes to land a killing blow on Osprey. Anyone failing to do so will run a lap around the Academy. Two laps if you allow her to kill or disarm you before the time is up. Osprey will likewise owe me two laps for each killing blow she receives—though I will wait to collect on that until after the rounds.”
My jaw tightens. There are sixteen cadets standing around me.Sixteen.
“What the bloody hell did she do?” Vivian murmurs to Kerill, who gives her a bewildered shrug.
“Osprey.” Coal strides to stand in front of me, finally meeting my gaze with so much force that I almost take a step back. His devastatingly beautiful face is as coolly unreadable as the first time I saw him on the Academy’s training pitch. At least in that instance, his battle of wills hadn’t been personal. “I recommend you end your matches quickly, or our time together will get long quickly.”
Before I can tell him thatour timetogetheris already too long, Coal jerks his chin to Vivian. “First in. Grab a weapon and go.”
5
Lera
Giving Coal one final glance, which I infuse with all the ice I can, I focus on the obstacle at hand. Though trained in a similar style to Princess Katita, Vivian is a weaker fighter than the princess—one that I could finish swiftly.
Could. But should?
Whatever happens, I don’t intend to give Coal even the vaguest notion that any of this is anything but a welcome workout. He might think this a lesson to show me the error of my ways, but it isn’t. The bloody real lesson is one I’m about to teach him: I’m strong enough to handle myself, no matter what comes my way.You can take your broken arm out on me all you want, Coal. It’s not changing the fact that I’m a warrior in my own right. And I deserve to be treated that way.
Unless Coal fully understands this now, our time working together is only going to get worse.
So I will ensure he understands, will own every moment of this challenge, and turn Coal’s intended punishment into a favor.
I nod to myself. Coal has just granted me a whole morning of personalized training, and I’m going to behappyabout it. In this light, my classmates are here for my sword-swinging pleasure, and Vivian—she is warm-up fodder.
