Page 13 of Lady of Darkness

Scarlett straightened. She hadn’t expected it. She had thought they’d come here, train, maybe piss each other off a bit, and do the same thing the next time. That he would actually take any interest in her was peculiar and wasn’t something she had bargained for.

“Why does it matter to you?” she asked curiously.

“It is odd in this—” he stopped and then started over. “It is indeed odd for a woman to be skilled in weaponry, is it not?”

“I suppose it is not a common thing for a woman of nobility, but I am not nobility. I believe you’d be surprised at the number of women who do need to know weaponry, especially those not privileged enough to live in this District.”

“I have no doubt about that, but youdolive in this District.”

“I have not always lived in this District, and I have no desire to stay in this District,” Scarlett snapped back. This was not her home. She hated the propriety and most of the people. She hated that these people had so much and seemed to not care about those hungry on the streets in the slums. If her world hadn’t gone to hell a year ago, she wouldn’t even be here.

“And where would you desire to go?” Ryker asked, his tone snide, finally getting into a ready stance himself.

“Anywhere but here,” Scarlett answered, returning to her position.

Ryker studied her for a long moment. Then he lunged. And for the next two hours, he knocked her on her ass, hauled her back up, growled something about her skills and what she needed to do differently, and attacked again. Scarlett was breathing hard as she leaned against the wall and tilted her water skin back, draining the last of it. The training quarters were dimly lit as they didn’t want to attract any attention. There were only two oil lamps lit, casting a faint glow around the room as the sun was setting in the summer night. They were both drenched in sweat, but she didn’t dare let her eyes linger, even if he was ridiculously attractive. She could admit that. She saw plenty of pretty muscles and handsome faces come through the Fellowship, but Ryker’s attractiveness was different. Wild but steady. A checked arrogance of someone who knew how skilled he was and didn’t need to prove anything to anyone.

“Did Cassius train you?” Ryker asked beside her, drinking from his own water skin.

“A great deal of my training is from him, yes,” Scarlett answered.

“But not all.”

“No, not even close to all.”

She heard the Captain sigh in frustration, then from between gritted teeth, “Then who else has trained you?”

Scarlett turned to face him and replied with a smirk, “Tutors. Masters. Friends.”

“The same who trained Cassius then?” Ryker asked casually.

Scarlett raised a brow. “Cassius is a member of the king’s armies. He was trained there as any other soldier.”

Ryker gave her a knowing look. “I have trained hundreds of warriors,” he replied blandly. “He was not trained as a soldier first. He is an exceptional fighterbecausehe was trained in different ways and not only as a soldier.”

Hundreds? He looked no older than Drake and Cassius. How could he have trained hundreds of soldiers?

“You can tell all that just by sparring with him?” she asked curiously.

“Who was your mother?” Ryker asked suddenly, again ignoring her question.

Scarlett gaped at him a little. “I don’t really think that is any of your business,” she replied. Ryker just stared at her, clearly expecting her to answer the question anyway. He was obviously used to being obeyed without question. “Where do you hail from?” she asked instead, crossing her arms.

“That is none of—” Ryker stopped himself and gave an exasperated sigh.

Scarlett just smirked at him. “So you get to ask me personal questions, but I’m not allowed to ask any of you? I don’t think that is how this thing shall work between you and me,” she said sweetly.

“There is no you and me. There is you, and there is me,” he growled. Annoyance marked every line of his face, and his shoulders were tense with irritation.

“I suppose you’re right,” she mused. “My tastes tend to not include broody, cranky pricks.”

Through gritted teeth he replied, “If you will not answer simple questions, then I suggest that at the end of every training session we each volunteer one piece of information about ourselves to the other. Not a question, so there is no pressure to divulge something neither of us wants to reveal.”

Scarlett blinked at him. A bargain? A part of her wondered why he cared about her at all, but another part of her was intensely curious about his own past. There was something about Ryker that drew her in, that intrigued her beyond reason, and she found herself saying, “All right. You go first then.”

Ryker shrugged. “I came to Baylorin two and a half years ago. When I met Drake and he learned of my skills on a battlefield, he convinced his father to have me help train the king’s armies. When Lord Tyndell saw my skills, he recruited me to train an elite group of soldiers. Your turn.”

“What kind of skills do you teach to the elite soldiers?” Scarlett asked.

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