Page 3 of Prowess Trials
River’s too-keen gaze bores into me. “Would there be some problem with our hearing Master Zake’s account, Lady Leralynn?”
“Master Zake is unconscious,” says Coal. The wave of relief rushing through me nearly pushes me off my feet. The blond warrior shrugs with immortal nonchalance, his perfect face expressionless. “I may have been overeager in my questioning. My apologies for the inconvenience.”
“I see.” River’s jaw tightens, his cold gray gaze raking Coal before cutting back to me. “In that case, I believe there is nothing more for us to discuss, Lady Leralynn.” The male offers me a small, too-formal bow. “Given your forfeit of yesterday’s examination, you are no longer an Academy student. Please be on your way this morning.”
“Yes.” Sage’s little eyes light up like candles, his excited words clinging to River’s before I can process them fully. “Commander River is quite correct! Lady Leralynn, for security reasons, we must limit the Academy guests to only official students, competitors, and their families. I thank you for your understanding and patronage. A guard escort will oversee your departure at once.”
3
Lera
My mouth dries. Caught up in Zake’s attack and the return of Tye’s memories, I’d given no consideration to little things like Academy rules. Rules that River broke for me once and has no intention of compromising again.
My gaze darts around the room, finding Coal tense against the wall, his blue eyes clouded with thoughts that no doubt parallel my own. As he stands with his hands behind his back, River’s chiseled face holds a mix of pain and resolve that’s thick as a rock wall. Sage bounces on his toes, all but vibrating with glee. And Tye…
Sprawled on one of Sage’s leather chairs, his starched Prowess uniform jacket folded carefully over one arm, Tye pours himself a glass of the most expensive wine in the room. As all eyes settle on him, he pops a piece of cheese into his mouth and salutes me with the crystal goblet in his hand. “Right. If you are all done talking. Will you marry me, Lera?”
“What?” I hear the word and am fairly sure I’m the one who said it.
Tye swallows his cheese. “I asked you to marry me. Say yes.”
“Yes?” I shake myself the same way Shade’s wolf does to dislodge a fly. “What—”
“The initial yes was sufficient.” Taking another sip of wine, Tye turns to the headmaster. “It appears Lady Leralynn is now a ‘family member of a Prowess competitor.’ Unless you’d like both of us gone from the competition, the lass stays where she is. Or in my bedchamber. That would be preferable, actually.”
For the first time since meeting Sage, I find us both equally slack-jawed while River blinks wide-eyed in a fair imitation of Arisha. Tye winks at me, his green eyes sparkling with feline self-satisfaction.
Putting down his glass, he rises smoothly to his feet and holds his hand out to me. “Shall we go, Lilac Girl? I am opening the Prowess Trials with an exhibition in a few hours’ time, and you can watch me get ready.”
Squeezing the male’s strong, callused hand, I finally find the spine I seemed to have lost last night. “I’ll join you in a bit,” I tell Tye, turning to face River head-on. “I hope to have a word with Commander River in private first, if he’s amenable.”
MatchingRiver’s straight back and powerful stride, I follow him out of Sage’s office into the same wide candlelit hallway I fled to yesterday, the portraits of headmasters and kings judging my every step. Yesterday, this false refuge led me right into Zake’s trap. I hope today’s foray will end better. I willmakeit end better.
“I should have come to you yesterday,” I tell River without waiting for his questions. “I owed you an explanation. Keeping the attack from you was wrong. And I’m sorry.”
River turns and grips my face, then my arms, his cheeks ablaze. “Are you all right, Leralynn?” he demands. “Are you hurt?” The unbridled fear in his eyes ricochets through my body, shaking me to my core. It’s everything he was hiding in Sage’s office and more. “Did that bastard—”
“He landed a few blows. Then I remembered I knew how to fight, but River—”
“Thank the stars.” River exhales, and hope fills my chest. Then he pulls away so quickly, I stumble. Ire saturates his woodsy scent, his broad chest, every sculpted angle of his face, rising between us as thick and impenetrable as any wall. “Why, Leralynn?” River asks. “You knew that the only thing that could drive me more insane with worry than watching you run off the exam stage would be the silence that answered each of those queries. Knew what it would do to me to hear—secondhand—that you were attacked. What have I done to earn so little of your trust?”
“I—”
“Have you any regard for me at all?”
Swallowing, I lay my hand on River’s corded arm, the muscles hard as steel beneath the heavy woolen jacket, but he flinches away. My mouth is dry, the words I’d hoped would miraculously appear refusing to cooperate. “I don’t know where to start. Whatever you think happened in the past day—”
“Stop.” River takes a step back, his quiet voice a punch in the gut. “I don’t want an explanation.”
I blink. A dozen yards down the hallway, a servant carrying firewood ducks out of one of the many passages and scurries into another. Somewhere above us, a carpenter bangs his hammer. All normal sights and sounds for a conversation that is anything but. “You don’t?”
“No.” Shaking his head, River clasps his hands firmly behind his back. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Do what?” I ask.
“Be with you.” River’s voice lowers to a near whisper, his storm-filled eyes fighting with all their might to conceal the vulnerability sparkling inside. “And before you say anything, I’m well aware that Tye’s proposal was simply a way to keep you in the Academy. And no, he isn’t the reason I need to walk away. It boils down to trust, Leralynn. I can’t be with someone who will not trust me when things truly matter. Whom I cannot trust in return.”
I clench my nails into my palms, the only thing I can do to keep myself from reaching for him again. “I trust you, River.”
