Page 24 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
Aurelia gritted her teeth. “Unlike the street rat, I know how to stay on my dragon.”
My blood boiled. “If you think I’m going to trust her pompous ass, you have another thing coming.”
Kieran lazily waved his hand. “And therein lies the problem. We’re training today.”
“You said we had today off,” Ben protested. “You got my hopes up.”
Kieran bared his teeth in a smile. “And I changed my mind. It’s more important than ever we’re in sync. Tancred—that’s the southern king—”
“I’m not a fucking idiot. I know who the king of Andova is,” I retorted.
“Could have fooled me,” Kieran drawled. “His dragons have been spotted right by the border. He wants us to know he’s unhappy, and there’s no doubt in my mind he’s sent his assassins to come for you, little thief. Not to mention, there’s been increased gryphon activity. Both the Caddel and Benson Houses have reported sightings. Luther informed me earlier today that he’ll be sending Ben and Aurelia to investigate the reports. The rest of us are on call.”
Training was just as brutal as before. Kieran forced me to spar with him first, taking every opportunity he had to further beat me into the ground. By the end of it, my ribs burned, every inhale hurt, and my limbs throbbed. Asshole. A dark part of me almost wished Gareth hadn’t healed him. Then he wouldn’t be able to do this so easily. But I immediately shoved the thought down. He got hurt because he saved me. Even if I had no clue why he’d done it, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. Though it definitely wasn’t because he was coming around to me.
It was a relief to move onto sparring with the others. At least with them, it wasn’t a totally one-sided beatdown. I managed to get a few good shots in, though I always lost. After that, weran laps. It burned my pride when I came in last, huffing and panting while the others only had small beads of sweat on their temples.
“You’re a liability.” Kieran glared down at me from where I sat on the ground.
“Not all of us have been training since birth.”
His eyes narrowed. “So you’re content with your mediocrity then? Then I have a task for you.”
Said task included acting like a servant. While the others did their training exercises with their dragons, Kieran had me refilling their canteens using the nearby well—only allowing me to take one at a time. If I didn’t come back fast enough, he made me do push-ups until I collapsed and then had me run to the well and back.
The hell didn’t end from there. While the others practiced dropping knives from atop their dragons, Kieran used me as a gopher to pick up—and search for—the fallen knives and put them back in the bin. My cheeks flooded with heat, and I itched to punch him in the face.
It was all too obvious what he was doing. He wanted me to feel like trash, to feel lower than him. Per the rules, I should be on their level—be treated like their equal. A servant should’ve been tasked to this. Not me.
“What’s your deal?” I stalked over to him when he slid down Hesperos’ back, an annoying smirk on his face.
“Control your temper, little thief, or Aurelia will continue to think you’re nothing more than a wildbeast.”
I ground my teeth. “Continue talking down to me, and I’ll kick you in the balls.” I folded my arms. “Cut the bullshit. Why did you save me?”
“Not. Now.” Kieran’s gaze flicked to the others. I wanted to press him, wanted to shout at him, but instead I jerked a nod. There was something about this man that made me lose all sense.
“Fine, but you're not getting out of this.”
A faint smile touched his lips. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Later that night, as soon as I was certain everyone fell asleep, I stalked over to Kieran’s door. Before I could so much as knock, a shadow jumped out from the door and captured my wrist.
“Little thief,” Kieran’s voice said from behind me. A shadow teased my throat, and I fought a shudder, trying to ignore the way my body tingled at the touch. “I’m flattered you want me to… entertain you.” Another shadow curled under my chin.
“Shut up!” I swirled around and shoved his shoulder. “You said we would talk later. It’s later.”
Kieran vanished and reappeared leaning against his bedroom door with his arms crossed. “And yet you chose now of all times to talk.” His lips twitched. “Are you sure you’re not interested in sharing a bed with me?”
I scrunched up my nose and tried to shove down thejolt his words sent down my body. “Get over yourself. What I want is answers, not to get propositioned from a prick like yourself.”
He hummed. “Fine, but we’re not having this discussion here.” He held out his palm. “I can take you somewhere private where we won’t be overheard. But you have to trust me.”
I looked into his dark eyes. Trust, he said. I didn’t trust this man for shit. He made it clear he couldn’t stand me and that he wanted me dead. And yet… he saved me when he had the chance to let me die. “If you try anything, I’ll slit your throat.”
He grinned. “I'd like to see you try.”
The world fell away when I took his hand. Cool shadows pressed on my body. One second I was outside Kieran’s door and the next? The next we stood somewhere in the castle. I glanced around. It was a small, circular room at the highest peak of the castle. A small door led to a three-sixty balcony. But the oddest thing was that there were no stairs attached anywhere, leaving me well and truly stranded. “What is this place?” It was clearly lived in. Small little dressers lined the room as well as some boxes that had me dying to look inside.
