Page 88 of What Fury Brings
Olerra trained alongside her soldiers, running, fighting, sweating. These days, Sanos had to leave most of the training to other men, as he was in the war tent planning their next move. But Amarra wasn’t at war, which meant Olerra was free to spend her time as she saw fit.
He envied that. Sanos was so sick of war. At least this detour to Amarra had spared him from the gore of the front lines. He’d also had more full nights of sleep than he could ever recall in his life.
When Olerra saw him watching her troops at their drills, she asked, “Would you like to join us?”
He must have nodded, because his chains were removed. He was handed a wooden training sword.
He learned quickly, watching the women around him and learning how to move as they did. Kick. Thrust. Slash. Pivot. Block.
The drills were different from the Brutish stances of combat, but he liked the idea of knowing how the Amarrans fought. It would only serve him well the next time he had to fight one.
Olerra moved from the front to stand beside him, letting Ydra lead. She didn’t say a word to him, just continued the drills at his side. Right swing. Left swing. Spin. Jump. Duck.
They were dancing, and Olerra was the most captivating of all of them. She moved with a grace that he couldn’t take his eyes off of. Her limbs were fluid, her sword steady. He wondered if she could beat his father in a bout.
Sanos tired faster than the others, unused to the hours of training with his new palace life, so he excused himself from the rest of them to stretch. A eunuch offered him water.
He wasn’t required to wear the chains for the rest of the day. At night, however, eunuchs returned them to him. He was strapped to his bed yet again, though in the more comfortable way, where he could roll over in his sleep if needed.
Olerra let herself into his room. She wore a loose nightdress made of a very thin material. He could see her nipples through the fabric.
Gods.
She didn’t make any move to approach him.
“You seemed happy today,” she said.
“I enjoyed myself,” he corrected.
“I’m glad. Would you like to come train with us tomorrow as well?”
“Yes.”
There was another pause. Just as there was last night. As though shewaited for him to say something. He didn’t know what she wanted from him.
“Good night, Prince.”
She left as quickly as she’d come.
Olerra felt like an idiot. She wanted to instigate more intimacy between them but knew that ultimately it needed to be his choice. By his request. So when he said nothing—requested nothing of her—she’d left. But not before ensuring she’d see him again tomorrow on the training yard. She liked seeing him at peace. Shelovedseeing him out of the chains and with a weapon in hand, even if it was a harmless one. Her troops didn’t speak to him, but they accepted him, because he was hers.
Maybe things could begin to be friendly between them. Andrastus liked her. He didn’t like that he liked her. She knew that. She knew he had so much to figure out for himself. There was nothing to do but give it time.
In the meantime, she continued to stretch herself with the next biggest phallus in the kit. She would have thought this was a pain her body would get used to, but it didn’t. So she made her mind think of other things. She thought of how she and Andrastus had bolstered the people with his presence, handing out coins and letting everyone see him. Her troops would grow to like him as he garnered their respect while training with them. It was an unforeseen result that she was quite happy with.
All that was left was winning over the nobility after the… setback.
Andrastus was well-behaved at breakfast each day, but the damage had been done. Apparently it was so obvious that her aunt eventually summoned her.
Queen Lemya was scratching her quill against parchment when Olerra was admitted to her rooms. Toria read a book on the settee, lounging with her long legs in front of her.
“Auntie,” Olerra said, giving a short bow, even though the queen wasn’t looking.
“You’ve lost Cyssia and Usstra.”
“I know.”
“Only a quarter of the nobility—at best—are in your corner, and it has just been decided that the heir will be named at the anniversary of the Goddess’s Gift.”
