Page 58 of Great Falls Rogue
Tye pauses, but remains with his back to me. “For what—bathing before dawn?” Despite the derisive snort that accompanies the words, the tension vibrating beneath them is as clear as a violin chord. “Do you imagine another set of bruises from River will make any difference?”
“Not to River.” My mouth is dry, my gut twisting with each word.I’m doing the right thing.For the mortal realm. For the quint. For Tye himself. I have to be, because otherwise, I’m as reprehensible as Tye is about to think me. “I will report you to Shade as an injured cadet.”
Tye turns, water running down the grooves of his muscles, the storm in his eyes darkening as he works through the implications of the words. The greatest threat from River may be a thrashing, but Shade can do the one thing Tye truly fears—bench him from training and competition altogether.
When Tye finally speaks, there is nothing of the male I love lingering in his voice. “You wanted to make yourself an enemy, Leralynn of Osprey? You have succeeded.”
11
Lera
Ibolt upright in my bed, the deafening clank of shackles and the stench of pain still lingering about me. Air catches in my lungs, making breathing an effort of will. Beyond the window, sharply glittering stars fill the night sky, offering desperately needed proof of my being aboveground.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I brace my elbows on my thighs and cradle my head. My night shirt, a short slip of red silk that Autumn packed for me before I left Lunos, is damp with patches of sweat.
“You wanted to make yourself an enemy, Leralynn of Osprey? You have succeeded.”Tye’s voice pierces my newly freed mind, the loathing in the male’s face cutting as deeply as the whips from Coal’s night terrors.
I shudder. In my mind’s eye, Tye’s ire-filled face is replaced by Shade’s impassive one. He listened silently as I said the words that could end Tye’s imagined career, his gaze growing harder with each sentence. When I was done, he just told me he would look into it. And did not follow me as I ran toward the closest patch of trees to empty my stomach, my fear over what’s coming overpowered only by my grief at betraying one of my own quint-bonded males.
A small, pain-stricken growl escapes my chest. I’m out of ideas. Of options. Of hope.
“Lera?” Sitting up in bed, Arisha pats her table in search of her glasses. “Are you all right?”
Instead of answering her, I stuff my feet into my boots, knocking them against the floor to seat my heels.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I stand up. “I’m exhausted. I want to sleep. And Coal’s bloody nightmares are not letting me. So I’m going over to Coal’s damn bedchamber and waking him up.”
I need to fixsomething, or I think I’ll go insane.
Though a smaller voice inside me says I need to strike something, and Coal is the only available target.
Arisha pushes her glasses higher on her nose. “Are you certain that’s wise?”
It’s such an understatement that I almost snort. “Of course it’s not. But I’m certain that it is the only bloody thing I can do something about. And if all I get out of the mess is one night’s sleep, I’m ready to take it. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“The logic of blaming Coal for his nightmares aside, in what world do you imagine it would be a good idea for a cadet to sneak into the instructors’ wing of the keep in the middle of the night? Much less dressed—undressed—like that?” Arisha waves at my bright red slip.
I frown. “I’m not done dressing yet.”
“So…you put on your boots for the sake of walking two feet to your clothing chest to get pants?” She coughs and points to her ears. “Also…”
Right.The amulet. I would have forgotten to put it on.
Giving Arisha a glare that she in no way deserves, I remove my boots and pull on a gray training uniform over my night shirt. Not glamorous, but practical, as is the pinned bun I wrangle my sleep-tangled hair into before clicking the amulet into place. The heaviness settling over me is suffocating.
Finally dressed, this time appropriately, I stalk to the door only to stop with a hand braced on the doorframe as my common sense—or at least Arisha’s—finally registers. “There will be hell to pay if I’m caught in the instructors’ wing, won’t there?”
Arisha cocks her head in serious consideration, a move that’s so classically her, I almost want to laugh—though it would make me seem even more insane. “At the very least, River is going to pull you from Coal’s class. And I wouldn’t be surprised if you were back on stable duty until the end of the millennium.”
I tip my face back, weighing the situation in my fatigue-ridden mind, then turn and scramble out the window instead of using the door. Being careful with my paths, I can do—continuing the sleepless nights, I can’t. It’s not sustainable. Not for me. Maybe not for Coal either.
I stay to the trees for as long as I can, the fresh scents of pine and damp grass bringing me fully awake. Then I cut into the keep and let myself into the library with one of the keys Gavriel made for our group. Walking between the stacks of books is eerie without the others here, the words and knowledge seeming to watch me as I head to the back door and out into the sleeping corridor beyond.
Trailing my fingers along the stone walls, I work my way through the dark keep, the occasional scurry of a castle cat andall is wellcalls from guards the only sounds to break up the night. I rush through the pools of torchlight and linger in the shadows. It isn’t until I’m into the instructors’ wing that the full weight of what I’m doing settles on me. There is no explaining my way out of this if caught now.
And if I’m not caught? I’m not sure how I’m going to explain myself to Coal either. Whatever happens, it can’t be any worse than the disaster with Tye. Or maybe it can. I’m too tired to think. To truly contemplate that quiet voice that says I’m provoking a fight just to have something other than reality to focus on.
