Page 35 of Heart of Defiance

We’ve come a long way from Feldan. But if we want to stop the Darium army from terrorizing any towns or villages of innocent Veldunians in their rampage to end our rebellion, we have to be on the front lines. We’re at the eastern edge of the country here, only twenty miles shy of the border with Icar.

I hope the army the emperor is sending won’t take their anger out on the innocent civilians of the other countries they have to travel through. Although the thought sends a tingle of exhilaration through my veins—what if every country Dariu has subjugated found the courage to rise up against them?

What if the whole continent could be free again?

The touch of Iko’s hand on my side brings me back to the present with a different sort of tingle. The soldier leans close, adjusting my stance and the angle of my sword, his body warming my back.

“If you keep the blade tilted to the side, you protect more of you from attack,” he says in a low voice that makes me think of all the thrilling things we could be doing other than engaging in mock battles. “And always keep one foot at least a little ahead of the other for ease of dodging.”

His hand drops to my hip to nudge one leg forward, and heat flares between my thighs. His breath tickles over my neck.

I can’t help thinking of the press of his lips against thesensitive skin there a few nights ago. Of being enveloped by both of these men.

But this isn’t the time or place to be indulging in those sorts of thrills.

As Iko eases back, Jostein looks at him with a slight arch of his eyebrows. “If you’re done groping her…”

Iko laughs. “I don’t think Signy minds getting some hands-on instruction.”

My cheeks flush, and the look Jostein gives me, a smolder lighting in his bright blue eyes, makes me reconsider the whole “we probably shouldn’t make out on the training field” principle I’ve been following.

“I would also like to make sure I don’tdiewhen we’re facing an entire Darium army,” I say, pleased that my voice only comes out a tiny bit breathless. “So let’s continue the regular instruction.”

Jostein raises his sword, and a yelp rings out from across the field.

My head jerks around with a lurch of my pulse, but all I see is one of the new trainees rubbing his eyes frantically, an orange flower bobbing in a patch of weed near his feet.

“You need to flush your eyes with water to clear out the pollen,” I holler over to him. I had an unfortunate encounter with lissweld in bloom back when I was a kid, and rubbing only made the stinging worse. It took a few hours before I could see properly again.

As the man hurriedly gropes for a canteen, Captain Amalia rides by, surveying the situation with a frown. With the amplification charm she’s been using since our numbers started to grow, she pitches her voice over the entire field. “Remember to watch out for the lissweld flowers! We have enough enemies already without fighting pollen too.”

Chuckles pass through our crowd at her wry tone, and everyone takes a careful look at the ground around us. Wedidn’t have a whole lot of choice in where we stationed our line of resistance.

“At least we avoided that huge patch of the stuff back there,” I say, motioning behind us to where we passed a stretch of dense blooms that must have gone on for a quarter of a mile. I waggle my blade. “Where were we?”

Jostein swipes his sleeve across his forehead, sweat beading under the midday sun. “Let’s go back to that side-step and stab combo you were making progress with before. Every soldier needs to learn to lean into their strengths. You’re going to get farther with speed and nimbleness than brute strength.”

We run through the motions with Iko observing and offering a little commentary. By the fourth attempt, I manage to tap my sword against Jostein’s side.

A grin springs to my face. “You’d better not have let me land that blow.”

Jostein shakes his head. “What would you learn from that? You’re getting faster—and better at spotting the openings.”

He pauses to brush back a strand of hair that’s blown across my face, his fingers grazing my cheek. A renewed warmth blooms across my skin.

Maybe I should be training with his colleagues rather than him and Iko. These stunning men are way too distracting.

But I don’t trust anyone else here even half as much as I do them.

At that thought, my gaze moves across the field instinctively. I haven’t consciously registered who I’m looking for until my eyes snag on Landric’s well-built form in the midst of his own training.

His coppery hair has darkened with sweat, but he’s clearly putting his all into the brief sparring match with the soldierwho’s been helping him. There’s something pretty stunning about his face too when it’s set in that mask of determination.

I yank my attention back to the men I’m standing with. The apologies and promises Landric has made to me, the passion that reverberated through his voice, echo through my memory. They’re a distraction too.

“How long have the two of you been serving rather than training?” I ask as I raise my sword to resume our practice. Neither Jostein nor Iko look like they’re out of their twenties.

Iko lifts his chin toward Jostein. “Jos graduated from the military school at our duchy’s main temple of Sabrelle a year before I did—benefits of managing to be born a year earlier. It’s been six years of active service for him, five for me.”

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