Page 56 of Great Falls Rogue
I bite my lip, searching for a new tack. “What about Han? Don’t you have the sense of something beingoffabout him? He broke Coal’s arm. How many humans do you know who are capable of that?”
River swears under his breath, his face tightening with sudden intensity. “Please never—ever—make a similar statement again, Lera.”
“Because—”
“Because you just more or less accused someone at the Academy of fae craft. I recallyoubeing accused of the same, and your very words cast Coal under similar suspicion. What if someone hears you—or worse, believes you? Just imagine a fae hunt on Academy grounds, with rival royals making accusations against each other. It would be a greater threat to the continent than any magic.” River runs one hand through his hair so the dark strands stand up adorably, defying their usual pin-straight neatness. “As for Han and Coal… I see no more mythical force behind Han’s skills than I observe in Coal himself—or in Shade, Tye, and myself. And you too, Leralynn.” A hint of a smile brushes River’s face for a heartbeat. “My refusal to allow a cadet into the front lines doesn’t make me blind to your own skills. And with the darkness we both know Coal swims in now, I can’t help wonder if a part of him allowed himself to get hurt.”
“I know,” I whisper, so quietly that I’m not sure whether I mean the words for River or myself.
With a sigh, the male braces the heels of his hands on his thighs and leans closer to me. “I share your concern with the Trials, but there is no evidence of an actionable threat from magic, while there is a known danger from the islanders. Gut feelings aside, the Academy is a fortress, and likely the only place on the continent that can gather the kingdoms without political bickering. In that light, there is no better place to hold the Prowess Trials.” River shakes his head. “Unfortunately, having the heads of ten kingdoms in one place is dangerous no matter what.”
“So there is truly nothing we can do about this?” I ask.
“So long as Sage and Han have a competitive team to field—and with Tye here, they’ve that, even if the others are barely able to qualify—the trial will happen here. And to that end, I will bring in so many guards that even an invisible foe won’t get through their line.” River’s voice has the confident timbre of someone who has already worked through the problem. Of course he has. It’s River. “The Academy is a defensive fortress, and I’d be a poor commander indeed if I couldn’t figure out how to use it as such.”
“Sometimes I wish you weren’t so bloody logical.”
“Indeed.” A corner of his mouth twitches toward a smile again before his beautiful face schools itself to its usual piercing attentiveness. “Now, if I’ve passed your evaluation of my defensive operations plan, I recommend we return to studying. We’ve worked too hard to waver now.” River cocks his head, watching me as he pushes away from his desk. “Leralynn. Did you hear what I just said?”
I nod absently, his reference to exams and studying suddenly a distant buzz against his earlier words. Sage can field a Prowess team—and thus bring the whole of the continent into the jaws of crumpling wards—for one reason only.
Tye.
And that is what—who—I need to stop.
10
Lera
For three nights following the revelation River doesn’t even know he made, I wake up in a cold sweat, fending off Coal’s worsening terrors with my arms and legs and sometimes Tye’s fire magic. And for three days, I stalk Tye.
The affair reveals itself to be a great deal more time consuming than I could have imagined. With Tye downright avoiding me during the day and never appearing without the Prowess team around him—who are often surrounded in turn by a sea of buzzing, excited cadets—lying in wait at the bathhouse is my final option. River’s words, spoken so casually and accurately, continue sounding in my head.
The whole Prowess Trials fiasco hangs on the one male who shouldn’t be competing in human games to begin with—Tye. If he withdraws, the whole thing just might collapse like the house of cards that it is, making my life—and the Protector’s Guild’s job—a whole lot easier.
And that makes getting him alone my number one priority.
Now, wedged between the thick branches of a shadowed oak, I rub my eyes and squint at the dark horizon. Crickets sing in the grass of the training yard, and down in the valley of Great Falls, a lone dog barks. No first rays of dawn to be seen, meaning I might finally be here early enough to catch Tye as he finds his way to the bathhouse before anyone sane is up. Unless the male has given up bathing at all, this is the only time of the day I’ve narrowed down the possibilities to.
Dong dong dong.
I jerk as the Academy bell calls four in the morning, cursing myself for having nearly dozed off at my post. The last thing I need is to actually have one of Coal’s nightmares while I’m up here and fall off a tree branch. Stifling a yawn, I focus on the outline of a male figure finally striding down the path to the baths. Tye’s large body and lithe muscles move with a feline coordination that send a wave of heart-squeezing familiarity through me. The slight slump of his shoulders and heavy gait, on the other hand, are nothing like the male I know. He looks exhausted—defeated.So this is what you’re like when you think no one is watching.
Stopping before the bathhouse door, Tye takes a deep breath and turns the handle, sticking his head inside before finally walking in. Ensuring that the place is empty? That’s my only explanation for his choosing this hellish hour to bathe at in the first place, but Tye has never been shy before.
Feeling only slightly guilty, I wait until my prey is well inside the door—and has likely had time to get himself undressed—before sliding down from the tree. Whatever slight guilt I feel over the intrusion pales beside the rising excitement of finally,finallyhaving cornered the elusive rogue.
As a human, the capture might have felt entertaining. As a fae, the sensation of hunting and trapping is magnified manyfold, making my heart speed and muscles tingle with addictive energy.
Brazenly opening the door to the male baths, I breathe in the immediate moist heat of the pools, hear the gentle bubbling of natural springs, my memory unable to stop from brushing over the things Tye and I have done on their stone lips. Even as I stride forward, my thighs clench at the phantom feel of Tye’s hands brushing my skin with sinful lightness, his callused thumb parting my sex.
There is no sign of that male now, however, not in the muscled figure hunched at the edge of a large heated pool across the room.
“Tye?”
Despite having surely heard me coming, Tye doesn’t look up. Doesn’t even answer.
My nostrils flare delicately as I stalk closer, his pine-and-citrus scent mixing with the lavender soap and the slight sulfur tinge of the water. And copper. Blood. Tye’s blood. The irony of Shade catching me hurt only a few days ago isn’t lost on me as I stride to where Tye sits on a pool’s edge, a small tower of healer’s supplies laid out at his side.
