Page 11 of Rules of Stone
Grasping Lera’s slender wrist, Coal twisted it palm up. The calluses from what looked like weapons training were intact, but the skin on the sensitive middle of the hand was rubbed raw. Shallow but painful wounds that roused every protective instinct in Coal’s body to the surface. Which made no sense. “Your sleeves are too long.” Coal’s voice was flat. “If you were smart, you’d have pushed them down to cover your hands and prevented this.”
“I presumed the point of the exercise was to make me miserable, so thought I might as well be efficient about it.” Lera’s fingers curled over her palm. “Now, are you going to hold up your end of the deal…sir?”
* * *
Coal strodeinto Shade’s infirmary office, slamming the door hard enough to make the wooden frame shake in protest. “I want out,” Coal said without preamble, his blood simmering as it had since morning training. “I’m a soldier, not a bloody nursemaid for noble brats.”
“Do you?” In his neat white shirt and leather vest, long black hair pulled back, Shade looked every inch the civilized officer—though Coal had fought beside Shade for enough years to know the man was a vicious warrior when the situation called for it. Still, Shade seemed as content here at the Academy as when he, Coal, and River served together at the coast, fighting the hordes of islanders wanting to gain a foothold on the continent.
“I was unaware that you everwantedto be here,” Shade said with a hint of amusement as he rose from behind his desk and walked around to perch himself on its edge. “So, you see how the absence of the desire now fails to make an impression on me.”
“I’m not here to make an impression.”
Shade’s strange golden eyes strayed to the door, likely assuring the lock was engaged before speaking—this time in a low voice. Shade was a friend, yes, but also Coal’s military superior, a fact that Coal sensed was about to be brought up. “You are here because you were one bad night away from doing something stupid,” Shade murmured. “To put it bluntly, King Zenith invested too great a fortune in your training to let you get yourself killed in some suicidal outing. Until you’ve worked out…whatever is going on in there, Lieutenant, you aren’t going anywhere.” He gestured toward Coal’s head as if it were a messy barracks.
“It’s worked out.” Coal crossed his arms. In the five months since Coal had come here—since Shade and River had forced him here—things had only worsened. The nightmares. The flashes of darkness and groundless fear. Images of a woman who was never real to begin with, yet whose loss bled him raw. Coal’s spine stiffened. He was a soldier. He needed to fight, not sit shackled behind high walls. “I’m fine, Shade. What isn’t fine is this made-up world of Great Falls Academy, where brats play at soldiers and generals, safely away from anything that might actually take their lives. I want no part of it.”
“I see.” Shade’s words barely touched the air before the man was moving, his body low, his hands snatching at Coal’s unprotected elbow.
Coal shifted his weight, his mind waking to the fight. Twisting away from Shade’s opening attack, he crouched low, his breath even as his eyes took in the room. Lunging forward, his hands cut Shade’s knees out from under him, sending the dark-haired warrior to the floor.
Shade fell smoothly, rolling over his shoulder to reclaim his footing. Chest rising with deep breaths, he bared his teeth, his feet light as he circled Coal. With a soft growl, the man lunged forward again, this time ducking under Coal’s arm to grab his wrist. With a force few people had, Shade slammed Coal’s arm against the wall, his strong grip a living restraint.
Coal’s stomach twisted. The world rumbled in his ears.
Giving no reprieve, Shade captured Coal’s other wrist, forcing both against Coal’s sides.
The rumbling in Coal’s ears turned to roaring. The air seemed to flash, like lightning striking through the night, and the stench of pain and fear and blood from a dank prison cell vibrated through each fiber of his body. His heart raced, beating so hard, his ribs felt the impact. His muscles tightened, powerful and ready, his eyes widening to take in the slowing world he was about to destroy.
Because hewoulddestroy it.
Pressing his shoulder blades into the wall for purchase, Coal speared his heel into his assailant’s chest so hard that he felt ribs crack.
His captor flew backward, crashing into his own desk and sliding to the floor. Wood splintered, black ink spilling across paper, mixing with the thin stream of red blood dripping from the bastard’s cut brow. Shade’s brow.
Coal swore. Dropping to one knee beside his friend, he slid a hand behind the warrior’s back, easing him into a sitting position. “Are you insane?” Coal demanded, loosening the top of the man’s jacket to help him breathe. “No. Don’t move about.”
Drawing a hissing breath, Shade wrapped his arm around his ribs, his yellow gaze piercing Coal’s. Anyone less trained would have ended up with a broken neck, but Shade knew how to take a fall. Had known what was coming before he ever attacked.
“I will give you your medical clearance to leave when you can tell the difference between friend and foe—whether or not they are trying to restrain you.” Shade’s voice was tight with pain as he pressed his sleeve against the bleeding gash on his brow and frowned at the stain. “And River is fully with me on this. We’ve known each other for ten years, Coal. If you won’t tell us what the hell those bastards who held you prisoner did to you, then find someone else to talk to. Until you figure this out, you are not going anywhere.”
10
Lera
“Come. You’ll feel better after you eat. Maybe.” Shepherding me along, Arisha leads me into the dining hall, where high-backed cushioned chairs surround ornately carved wooden tables, each seating groups of four to eight quietly murmuring students. The shining marble floors reflect grand crystal candelabras hanging from the vaulted ceiling, the candles unlit in deference to the sun streaming in through tall, spotless windows. Fine woven runners in rich reds and blues mark the pathways between tables. The gray uniforms look as out of place here as ball gowns in a stable. “The dining hall is informal the first half of the day,” Arisha explains, “but we dress up for dinner.”
I nod, not trusting my voice. My breaths come heavy still, my muscles trembling from fatigue. My fae body will heal faster than a human’s would, but I still hurt. The physical pain is the least of my worries just now, though. Like Tye, Coal didn’t recognize me, didn’t so much as glance my way the entire time I worked. Not an act. Where does that leave our mission, then? Do the males remember why we are at the Academy at all? DoesRiver,our commander, remember?
Something went wrong after we parted ways on the forest path, and until I can get one of them alone, I have no way of knowing the extent of it. I shiver, remembering Coal’s icy gaze. No connection, no attraction, not even a curiosity. As if what I believed were unbreakable bonds of love are nothing more than a trick of magic. A house of cards that, with that magic’s disappearance, has simply collapsed.
Finding an empty table, Arisha motions for me to sit while she fetches two portions of hearty porridge and heels of steaming fresh bread, relief at training’s end hanging around her like a cloud. Even after Coal allowed her to stop running, Arisha had done poorly in practice, tripping over her own feet so often that Coal finally set her aside to work basic punches against thin air. She’d fallen doing that too.
“Coal always goes hard on new people,” Arisha says, pushing the bowl closer to me. “Don’t take it personally. Though maybe negotiating with Coal on my behalf wasn’t exactly the best strategic move.”
I blink, forcing myself to concentrate on her words. “I was the one who made you late. You were kind to wait for me when I—when we met Tyelor this morning.” I lean closer to the porridge, letting the warm scent ground me, and realize suddenly that I haven’t eaten a real meal since our noon break yesterday. Somehow, that feels like days ago. A different lifetime in which my males surrounded me, jesting with each other, running a hand over my hair or lower back on their way past. My throat tightens. “Fair is fair.”
“Not here.” Arisha’s freckled cheeks tighten. “In fact, once you know your way around better, you’d be better off not sitting with me at all. Everyone knows the physical training will force me out sooner or later, and you should be working toward better alliances.”
