Page 42 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
“No one is foolish enough to do that.” Aurelia rolled her eyes. “Those men were delusional. They probably thought by taking you out, one of them stood a chance of claiming Umara.”
“Someone hired them,” I insisted.
“I bet it was Andova.” Nimue frowned. “They didn’t want to send their men, so they found some poor suckers to do it.”
“I don’t think so. Not unless they live here.” But looking at everyone else, I knew they doubted me. I wanted to scream. Nobles were so fucking out of touch. They couldn’t understand what it was like to struggle to survive, to be forced to forfeit your life so your family stood a chance.
Gareth tilted his head. “Why do you think that?”
“Because you have to live here to know who’s that desperate. A plan like this—if it got out, it’d be a surefire trip to the gallows. It has to be someone from here who ordered the hit.”
“You mean a noble?” Aurelia asked coolly. “Which House are you accusing?”
She wanted me to condemn myself. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. “I’m just saying, I don’t think it’s Andova.” I’d been so blind, thinking that the nobles would be forced to accept me now that the bond was completed. But they were too greedy. They’d rather the country be at a disadvantage than give a nameless commoner power.
“We’ll investigate it,” Gareth said.
I didn’t sleep a wink that night. Or the night after that. It was still early, but their investigation proved nothing. As I expected. I knew the slums better than they did, but they were too privileged to consider that just maybe, I knew my shit better than they did.
I thought after the attack, we’d stay indoors. I was wrong. Dead wrong.
“Get. Up,” Kieran barked. He hovered over me from where I lay on the ground. We’d flown to Petralis today, and Kieran had pushed us all to hell and back during training.
My muscles ached because of the demon standing over me. I wiped the sweat from my temples. Thank the Mother I’d had the sense to braid my hair today, so it stayed out of the way. “You're trying to finish the job, aren’t you?” When we first left, I’d been glad to get out of the castle. That changed fast. It was like the man was trying to break me.
Kieran didn’t laugh. His expression hardened even further.Damn.You’d think I’d pissed in his oatmeal. “I won’t allow your weakness to be your undoing. Not when I can train it out of you. Can’t you see how important you are?”
On the surface, the words sounded sweet, but he only said it because he was a manipulative asshole who wanted to use me for everything that I was worth. I scowled and forced my screaming muscles to stand. I hated that he was right. My attackers had gotten the jump on me. If it wasn't for Umara, I’d bedead.
“Everyone—twenty laps. If someone walks, we add another lap.” No one groaned. We learned from that mistake—a punishment of short interval runs until Ben actually threw up. The Family, Kieran had a stick so far up his ass, it must’ve hurt him when he ran along with us.
But at least I’m not last place.Ben lagged behind.
Nimue finished first. “Gods have mercy on us,” she panted.
“There are no gods here. Only that demon,” Ben muttered as he chugged his canteen.
“If you have time to sit around and talk, then clearly we haven’t worked hard enough.” Kieran sauntered over to us, a sadistic grin on his face. Ihatedthis man with every fiber of my being. How the hell was he not exhausted? He’d ran the laps with us, did the strength training with us,andthe dragon training maneuvers.The Mother curse him.No.The Father curse him.Or gods, even the Child. The Child could be sadistic when they wanted to be.
Training dragged on. We did more strength training drills, then sparring matches with dulled weapons. By the time I went against Kieran, I was exhausted and barely able to stand. It took him under a minute to swipe my feet out from under me and pin me to the mat.
“Are you even trying?” he snarled. “The others are giving it their all. I can’t say the same about you.”
“You’re pushing her too far,” Gareth said. I could’vecried with relief when he stepped between us and helped me up. “She’s not used to training as hard as the rest of us. She’ll get stronger with time, but you can’t brute force it, even if you are worried. And besides, this time you’ll be there to protect her.”
I looked up at Kieran’s stormy eyes. His jaw flexed, and he lowered his knife. “Assassins won’t give her time.”
“Then you’ll have to stay by her side in the meantime to protect her. Let us handle the majority of the investigation.”
And here I thought Gareth would be my savior. Didn’t he realize he was dooming me by setting this demon on me? Asshole. I should’ve known behind Gareth’s smile lingered something sinister. No one could be that nice.
Kieran exhaled. “You’re right. None of you are performing as well as you should. We’ll return for a break, but we will be training after dinner in the gymnasium.”
This time, we did groan, and blessedly, he ignored it.
“Perhaps we could relax in the bathing chambers,” Gareth suggested, and I didn’t trust the twinkle in his eyes one bit.
“Sounds lovely.” Ben grinned. “I can’t wait to show off.”
