Page 10 of Great Falls Protector
“Lady Leralynn,” River says, interrupting Briar midsentence, eyes as implacable as brushed steel. “You appear to have been planning on changing seats when I came in. You may as well come all the way up here.”
No. No No NO.
For a second, I’m certain that I’ve imagined River’s words, that he would not purposely do this to me. But then the reality of the silence and watching eyes seeps through, my limbs lead-heavy as I get to my feet.Bastard.My heart, which had stopped beating for a moment, now leaps into a gallop. River is a bloody bastard.
Walking onto the dais as if ascending the executioner’s block, I reach for one of the identical slips of parchment lying facedown on a small table. Heart stuttering, I pull out the one farthest from me and feel what little air is left in my chest leave it altogether as I hand it to Briar to read aloud.
Provided the measurements below, calculate the farthest acceptable point to place a catapult outside the castle wall to ensure the load clears it.
I can barely hear the master over my pounding heart, forgetting the numbers the moment he reads them. When Briar hands me the slip of paper, I stare at it with gut-sinking dread, willing for the words to rearrange themselves into something different. They don’t. Nor does the formula that I know exists condescend to make an appearance in my mind. River and I have worked out problems similar to this in the past, but stars take me if I remember where to even start.
Benches creak as the cadets shift in their seats, the air in the room turning from heavy with tension to full of confusion and curiosity. Apparently, I’m supposed to be doing something now. Writing. Calculating.
“If I were in that castle, I’d be feeling pretty safe just now,” Tye murmurs to Katita, his voice loud enough to ensure that I hear it.
Heat fills my cheeks, spreading through me as the rest of the class chuckles along with Tye’s words, and River lets it happen.
“Lady Leralynn?” Briar prompts. “There is a small slate and chalk you may use for preliminary calculations, if you wish.”
I pull down on my tunic, gathering whatever dignity I have left into my voice. “That won’t be necessary, sir, as I don’t know the answer. I will, however, be sure to study harder over the coming days.”
8
River
Having ordered Leralynn to wait for him in his study, River knew the rest of the mock exam would be difficult to stand through. But the breath-stealing tightness in his chest still caught him off guard. He wanted—needed—to go after her. To explain that he wasn’t being a bastard just for the enjoyment of it, but to make her understand the danger of the fire she toyed with.
His nails dug into his skin where he held his own wrist behind his back, his shoulders so stiff that they were starting to ache. The mock exams were still running, and it was taking every ounce of his willpower to appear to listen to the other students when, in truth, their words buzzed together in his mind.Stars,if one of them danced a jig in the middle of his answer, River probably wouldn’t even mark it just now—though, fortunately, his reputation was enough to keep the cadets in line.
At least the cadets who were not Lera.
When the class ended, three more cadets having decided to repeat the year rather than risk expulsion, River gave Briar an ominously ambivalent bow and excused himself to his study. He’d given away nothing about whether he was pleased with the class’s performance, for the simple fact that he couldn’t very well have an opinion after having paid zero attention.
Outside the windows that River passed with every twist of the circular stairs, the Academy was unrecognizable. In addition to the monstrous arena keeping dominion over the courtyard and flags of every color strung up posts and trees and rigged ropes, the grounds seethed with the unfamiliar faces of staff hired to support both the competition and the soon-to-arrive royals. Maids and scullery boys, guards and cooks, carpenters and seamstresses—it was an invasion. One that made the Academy a target for whatever darkness was at work in Great Falls. And one that River wanted Leralynn to have no part of.
The girl was so much like Diana that it dried his mouth. Not just the large chocolate eyes that saw everything, the hips made to fit his body, the luscious heavy breasts that peaked impertinently at a slight chill—but the fierce passion and bravery and the silk thread of concealed vulnerability that roused his every protective instinct. Their study sessions had slowly turned into a gauntlet for him, an hour each day that toed a knife’s edge between pleasure and pain—and left River aching all over for hours afterward. He’d controlled his body around her for two months now. Just barely. But his soul wasn’t nearly as cooperative, and the imminent danger of the Trials was only making it worse.
River’s heart stuttered, the irrational sensation of history repeating itself washing through him.
The morning Diana took the fall that ended her life, he had marked her horse’s unusual friskiness and known that Diana’s passion for riding was exceeding her skill. But he’d not stopped his wife from getting into that saddle. She’d have hated him for it. But she would still have been alive.
River would not allow himself to be the same coward when it came to Leralynn.
Taking the final flight of stairs, he found the girl sitting on the bench outside his office as wayward pupils were instructed to do. A bad sign that she hadn’t simply let herself in like she usually did. The sunlight flowing through the window caught on her auburn hair, making it sparkle with the same brazen life that radiated from her creamy skin. Blood rushed to River’s cock, spurring thoughts that very much did not belong in the upcoming conversation.
“Leralynn.”
“Sir.” Rising, Lera put her hands behind her back, her voice carrying nothing but cool stinging distance.
All right. They could play it any way she wished so long as she was packing her bags at the end.
Opening the door to his study, River stood aside to let Lera through, the girl taking all of five steps before stopping. Awaiting instructions. No emotion. No contact. Nothing. At least she wasn’t afraid that he’d beat her, River thought. They’d come far enough that she trusted him not to.
But then he looked into her eyes and realized it wasn’t trust he was seeing but a wall. A cold brutal wall. And no matter how much he wanted to protect her, he didn’t think he could stand this.
“Leralynn.” Coming to stand before her, River reached to brush his thumb along her cheek before his better instincts could stop him. It was smooth as silk, sending a frisson of heat up his arm. He longed to reestablish a connection, to chip away at the wall of hurt so they could speak.
“Don’t touch me.”
