Page 16 of Soul Forge

“You might still need to fear for it,” she sighed.

Persephone’s fingers raked through her hair gently. “Why?”

“I start my training as wielder at dawn, whatever that means. I think Sypher intends to kick me up and down the courtyard for a few hours.” She folded her arms across her chest and scowled at the floor. “He spoke to me like I was an annoyance.”

“Then be in the courtyard before him. Surprise him. Give him no excuse to treat you that way.” Persephone finished with the corset and stood to fetch a nightgown.

“What if I can’t?” Elda mumbled. “My hand-to-hand fighting experience is minimal. All I know are the basic drills Reiner taught me.”

“Youcando this. You were chosen for this.”

“And if the Spirits made a mistake?”

Persephone smiled. “The creators don’t make mistakes.”

A knock at the door woke Elda well before dawn. She stumbled across the room to open it, blinking sleep out of her eyes to find Reiner standing on the other side with a bundle of fabric under her arm. She didn’t wait for the princess to invite her in, striding across the room and laying the bundle on the unmade bed.

“Bathe,” the captain commanded.

“Good morning to you too,” Elda mumbled, but she trudged towards the bath chamber and leaned over to study the basin. She found the intricate rune carved into one of the flat stones and laid her palm over it, watching heated water begin to pour from a slit in the wall to tumble down into the bath. When it was full, she scrubbed the sleep away with lavender soap. By the time her damp hair was braided, Reiner was pacing.

“Get that on.” The soldier was already clad in her armour, her mace strapped to her back and her black braids pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. “Once you’re dressed, eat.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Elda muttered irritably, but she followed the instructions. After a restless night, she felt like the walking dead, but she knew the captain well enough to know that she wasbehaving in such a way for a reason, so she dutifully donned her new gear.

It took a while to lace up the unfamiliar armour, but eventually, she was dressed in a tunic and trousers tailored to fit a woman, with a brown leather cuirass, bracers, and matching boots to protect her.

“What’s all this for?” she asked, looking at her reflection. The woman staring back didn’t look like a princess. The thrill that ran down Elda’s spine set her heart racing.

“You can’t train in a tunic that doesn’t fit,” Reiner replied. “Get your bow.”

“It’s broken,” Elda admitted. When the captain arched an eyebrow, she dipped her head to hide the flush in her cheeks. “I smashed it when I found out my only choice was Horthan.”

Instead of mocking her, the captain nodded. “We’ll get you one from the armoury.”

“Why are you helping me?”

“Because somebody should.” She unwrapped a roll of bread and a hunk of cheese from a cloth napkin, holding it out. “Eat.”

Following her out of the room, Elda did as she was told. The bread was still warm from the oven. By the time they travelled the many twisting hallways to reach the courtyard, it was gone. Reiner handed her a waterskin and disappeared in the direction of the barracks.

The sky was still velvety and dark, spattered with thousands of winking stars. A half-moon hung above the palace, its waxy light turning the stonework silver. Elda peered up at the rising towers, breathing in the cool air.

Reiner returned, handing her a standard issue recurve bow and a new quiver of arrows. Elda accepted it, hooking the leather strap over her shoulder.

“Sypher will probably take you to the sparring ring behind the barracks. Let’s be there before him,” the captain decided, alreadyturning towards it. The princess followed in silence, drumming her fingers against the grip of her new bow. It was heavier than the one she’d painstakingly carved, but it was balanced better to compensate.

Still, knowing that her favourite bow was unusable stripped away a small piece of her soul. She’d carved it at night, by the light of a single candle, to avoid alerting the guards outside her bed chamber. She’d snuck out to the forest to find the wood and stolen a book from her father’s library to learn how to make it. She’d risked discovery and being punished by confinement to make her weapon. She’d decided to create it after her first forbidden foray into the trees brought her face to face with an angry boar.

Crafting it had given her hands something to do when the walls started to close in around her, and carrying it made her feel like she had some modicum of control over her life. Like she could withstand what the world had to throw at her. It had been her escape from the rigid rules impressed upon her since birth, and it was gone.

Reiner’s hand on her shoulder dragged her from her thoughts. The captain made Elda stand and warm up for a while, stretching her muscles until she was prepared, and then she had the princess running through some simple drills for close combat, the kind Elda had seen the soldiers do a hundred times. She’d practiced these drills with Reiner under the safety of the night sky before, keeping her training a secret from her father. Even so, the drills were harder to execute than they looked.

Sypher arrived when the first rays of sunlight split the horizon, approaching the training grounds and cocking his head. He was dressed in a navy tunic, the hem tucked into his dark leather trousers and the neck open. A long, silvery scar bisected the base of his throat, several more nicking his collarbones where dark runes snaked across his skin. A leather cord hung around hisneck, the pendant hidden from sight beneath the fabric of his shirt.

Nerves coiled in Elda’s stomach, but she forced herself not to meet his gaze, concentrating only on the captain’s instructions. When Reiner switched her to archery, she focussed on her target and tried to keep her spine locked.You’ve done this a million times before, she reminded herself.

The Soul Forge drew closer, studying her posture. It was almost impossible not to look at him, but she fought through the prickling sensation crawling over her skin. His attention was like a shroud, settling over her just heavily enough to distract her.

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