Page 69 of Forcing Fate

“Yes, sir!” I barked, and dove to my hands and feet, dirt stinging my palms.

I dropped my chest to the ground and pushed up as Willhelm rose and backed away. My muscles complained, and I bit off a groan. I kept going. If this was my punishment for doing the last obstacle incorrectly, I would take it.

After the agonizing twenty, I weakly pushed myself up, brushing off my dress.

“I didn’t hear you, recruit.”

My ribs felt too tight, squeezing my heart, which thudded painfully against my chest. “You want me to count them aloud?” I cast a pleading look at Willhelm, who stood to the side, his jaw clenched. Why didn’t General Rafe say as much when I started?! My arms didn’t have another twenty in them.

“Are you dumb or just deaf? Sound them out, recruit,” he growled, glaring down at me.

I was going to kill him. “Yes, sir!”

I plunged into position and dropped my chest to the ground, pushing up with quaking limbs.

“ONE!” I yelled.

“Good girl,” he muttered, and I watched as his boots carried him away.

“TWO!”

I hadn’t assumed being a soldier would be easy, but I now fully understood why Elenor had called me naïve.

I stood on a training field as men pressed their backs to the ground. They pulled their knees up and laced their hands behind their heads. They had split up in groups of two, one to hold their fellow’s ankles, and another to start on sit-ups.

This thrice-cursed dress! Whoever held my ankles would get quite the show.

Willhelm returned to his duties after the obstacle course. I would get no help from him. Every curse word I’d ever heard burned through my mind as I scouted the recruits for one I might trust not to peer up my dress as I completed the exercise.

The blonde from earlier caught my eye as he settled down with one of his friends. Seeing me alone, a wide grin split his face. With a word tossed back to his partner, he leapt up and started my way.

Dread pooled in my stomach as I searched the field, but everyone seemed to avoid me like the plague.

“Hello there, young lady. You need someone to… hold something for you?” he drawled, looking at my chest obscenely.

I ground my teeth in annoyance. “No, thank you,” I bit out.

“Find a partner. Now!” Commander Dewal barked.

General Rafe lingered in the shadows, content to let his presence intimidate rather than use his voice.

Frantic, I grabbed at the sleeve of one of the last young men to partner up, and the boy had the nerve to jerk away from me. He looked at me as though I had some contagious disease that would infect him.

The blonde chuckled. “Name’s Victyr. I think we’ll be getting quite familiar with each other. Shall we?”

He waved ahead, and I bit my cheek. I had to do this. Regardless of my partner, I had to do this. He wouldn’t try anything in public, anyway. Woman or not, the Commander wouldn’t let a recruit attack another.

With a steadying breath, I followed him. When he motioned to the ground, I shook my head. “You first.” I glared, dipping into a crouch.

“As you wish.” His tone was snide, but he settled onto his back and bent his legs.

I sidled up to his boots, placing my knees on them and holding his ankles through his trousers. My face flushed. Aside from the General’s crude, stolen touches, this was the first real close-contact I had with a man.

I was blushing, holding some lad’s ankles.

Where had my self-respect gone? It was his ankles.

Victyr wiggled his hips to settle into position and looked up, winking at me. It was just his ankles.

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