Page 17 of Great Falls Protector
Turning my back to the male, I hop onto the first of the impossibly long row of benches letting the cold rain keep me anchored. I don’t want Tye’s favors. Or words. Or anything to do with him. My wet boots pound the wooden steps, the slippery surface taking all my concentration. Overhead, thunder claps its hands as if urging me to move faster.
“Leralynn.” Running up with soul-deadening ease beside me, Tye shouts over the rain. “Stop before you hurt yourself.”
I run higher, thepelt pelt peltof my boots hitting wet wood echoing through my bones. Faster. Inside me, the cords of magic flail in their shackles, the occasional escaping lash of power sending out sparks, which sizzle and die in the rain.
The next time lightning strikes, it silhouettes Tye’s lithe form snatching for me at the top tier of the arena’s wooden bleachers.
“Go to hell!” I jerk away before Tye’s hand can connect, my boot catching a patch of slippery wood. My breath stops. My knee gives way, my body weight pulling me down to my right shoulder—except there is only air there. With a swallowed yell, I fall from the top of the arena bleachers to the earth below.
“Tiga!” Tye’s shout follows me down, the last syllable hitting just as my back lands on the wet ground, my arms slapping out on instinct to dispel some of the force.
The deafening thud ripples through my whole frame, the world blurring through stinging rain and shock.
For a moment, all I can do is gasp for air. As my lungs slowly refill, I assess the damage. Between the soft earth, my immortal body, and a head full of good fortune, I’m more dazed than hurt. As I blink myself back to awareness, I see Tye vaulting from the top of the bleachers to land beside me in a crouch, his emerald eyes fevered with a terror that my cotton-filled mind doesn’t share.
“No,” Tye whispers, his hands on my shoulders. “Not again. Please.”
“Get off me.” I shove him away, noting distantly that his lithe body gives easily beneath my push, the male coming to rest on his knees in a puddle. His shoulders shake, his breath as ragged and fast as the streams of water running down his cheeks.
In another world, I’d ask after him. In this one, I pull myself slowly to my feet and trudge away without a backward glance.
14
Zake
Standing by the window of a servants’ corridor inside Great Falls Academy’s keep, Zake—an invisible servants’ master inspecting his underlings’ pitiful work—watched the arena through the sheet of falling rain.
The stars truly had a wicked sense of humor. Every coin of golden fortune that had hit his palm in the past year had had a layer of muck on the other side, while the puddles of dung he’d stepped in had jewels beneath. The present situation was a perfect example.
Never in his life had Zake—the man destined for immortality’s kiss, the lord of the only estate daring to stand sentinel at Mystwood’s edge—imagined himself donning the rags of servitude now covering his muscled body. And yet, the disguised post turned out to brim with the one power that evened out all battlefields: information. Which Zake had gathered more of in the last hour than Owalin had in the past year.
First, the wench who’d led Zake on for years, abusing his kindness and generosity to steal his birthright from right underneath his nose, was here. Flaunting her—his—immortality as she scurried about like one of Han’s silly little racing pets. Second, and perhaps even more interesting, no one but Zake seemed aware of this fact. Even Han himself seemed to believe that both Leralynn and the redheaded male currently kneeling in the mud, of all things, were human.
Even without seeing the male’s pointed ears and ethereal beauty, Zake well remembered the bastard’s face from when he and his friends had shown up at Zake’s estate and robbed him blind. Given how that day had gone, Zake recalled the friends less clearly, but no matter. This in itself was interesting enough.
Initially, Zack had considered going to Owalin to discover just how much the revelation of Han’s incompetence was worth to the Night Guard leader. But that was an amateur move, something an underling who licked the immortals’ boots would do. Leralynn and that male beside her had some kind of magic that veiled the eyes and minds of everyone but him—and Zake would learn the how and the why of it before bartering such information, showing Owalin that Zack was no less than a peer.
But that would come later. Before Owalin or anyone else got their paws on Leralynn, Zake needed to have a private conversation with the girl to whom he’d opened his home and heart before she’d ripped it to shreds. They’d have words of reckoning. Of forgiveness, perhaps, if she repented truly and accepted the punishment due. And then, she’d tell him everything.
Knowledge was power. By the time the Night Guard was ready to descend upon the scurrying Academy mice, Zake alone would hold all the keys.
Tilting his head, he watched Leralynn stumble through the rain for a few more moments before turning away with a chuckle. So many times, he’d cursed the stars for the girl’s betrayal, and yet here that very betrayal was, bearing gifts.
Zake licked his lips, savoring the soon-to-come time when he’d get the wench alone.
15
Lera
Ta da daaa da daaa da dadaa!
The exhilarating call of the trumpet burst from the Academy gates, summoning a party of liveried servants racing to greet yet another royal arrival, a lapis-blue carriage with gold accents drawn by six pure-white horses. Another high-value target for the Night Guard’s picking. With the opening ceremonies for the Prowess Trials officially happening tomorrow afternoon, today is about greetings and logistics for the royals.
For the cadets, today is about the start of exams.
Arisha and I join the stream of students heading from breakfast straight toward the arena, all silent or murmuring quietly instead of the usual loud chatter. Even with each cadet presenting on only a single, randomly chosen question, the sheer number of students ensures the gambit will run for days on end—a side attraction for the visitors to enjoy between bouts of athletics. While a mere option for our royal guests, attendance at the first exam session this morning is mandatory for all students. Those who know they’re not facing exams today are visibly relieved, some even carrying books and notes under their arms so they can study surreptitiously during the exams.
Thanks to River, I’m near last on the list—though, despite Arisha’s urging, I’ve not bothered to eat anything this morning anyway. Even with each spare moment between Han’s training sessions spent in intense tutoring under either Arisha’s or River’s watchful eye, my chances of passing the exams are one in two at best.
