“I would say this is unusual,” she said at last. “But the truth is that it’s unprecedented.”
I swallowed.
“We have never had a new recruit assigned to a post before completing basic training.”
Wait. What? I blinked at her, trying to comprehend her words. Had she said a post?
“However, I am assured—and from the highest levels—that your skills are already sufficiently advanced to render basic training unnecessary.”
We stood in silence again while she continued to survey me. After a long moment she shook her head.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. Not once I heard your name. My second lieutenant clearly hasn’t heard of you, but I am a great deal more senior than he is, Elena of Kingslee.”
I shifted uneasily, wondering what family she hailed from. What exactly had she heard about me?
The colonel sighed, her manner turning suddenly business-like.
“Elena of Kingslee, you may now consider yourself a full private in the Armed Forces of Ardann. You are to take up an irregular posting at the Royal Academy of the Written Word under the immediate command of the Academy Head. Your posting there will last until further notice.”
My mouth fell open, and I gaped at her. She was sending me back to the Academy? I felt nothing but a tingling numbness. This day had taken so many turns I had apparently lost the ability for emotional response.
When I neither spoke nor moved, she raised an eyebrow at me.
“You are dismissed, private.”
I jolted and began to move toward the door before remembering and turning back.
“Yes, sir,” I said, but I still hesitated. “Should I…leave for the Academy immediately?”
She shook her head. “That is the usual response to my orders, certainly. I assume you don’t need an escort to find your way.”
“No…sir.”
“Oh, and private? Do not forget your new rank. You will conduct yourself at all times as is befitting a member of the Armed Forces and obey all orders given to you by your new commander as well as any other officers you may encounter. Do you understand?”
I nodded, then quickly added, “Yes, sir.”
She regarded me for a final moment and then looked down at her desk as I rushed from the room. As soon as the door closed behind me, I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. Could it really be true? I had been here for only half a day, and already I was to return. Clemmy was free, and now so was I. I was to continue studying at the Academy.
It seemed too good to be true.
Sudden energy filled me, and my feet were racing down the stairs before I knew what I was doing. I sped across the training yards, bursting into the barracks.
Leila started at my abrupt arrival before rushing over to my bed. She looked as if she had been lingering, waiting to see if I would return.
“Elena! You’re back. I wasn’t sure…” When I said nothing, she continued. “Well? What did he want?”
I pulled open the locker and threw my cloak around my shoulders. Bundling my clothes into my arms, I turned to face her.
“It was the colonel, actually.”
“The colonel?” She stared at me. “The colonel wanted to see you?”
I nodded. “I’ve received a posting. I’m to leave immediately.” I paused. “But thank you for showing me around. I appreciated it.”
“Leave immediately?” She was still staring at me. “But you haven’t even completed basic training. You can’t be posted yet.”
I shrugged. “Apparently I’m already sufficiently trained.” I hesitated. “I don’t know how long my posting is going to be, but I hope we cross paths again, Leila, and that you don’t end up at the front lines.”
“I…” She spluttered, seemingly too confused to question me properly.
I smiled at her and took the opportunity to escape. I could only imagine the rumors that would soon spread through the training facility. But it didn’t matter. Because I was going home to the Academy.
I walked this time, instead of running, but somehow the journey seemed to take less time. Long before it seemed possible, I stood in front of the Academy gates. I paused for a minute, just staring at them. I hadn’t expected to ever see them again, and now here I was less than a day later.
The courtyard was deserted, as I would expect at this time of the afternoon when the trainees would all be in class. I passed the fountain and slowly mounted the stairs. It suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t know what to do now. Should I just join class as if nothing had happened?
But as soon as I entered the building, I found Damon waiting for me.
“I’m glad to see you made it back, Elena.”
I eyed him warily despite the smile spreading across my face. “Me too, Damon. Me too.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been instructed to take you straight to Lorcan the moment you arrive.”
My smile fell away.
“Yes, exactly,” he said. “And don’t expect to find him in a good mood.”
I winced and fell into step beside the head servant as he crossed the entrance hall and started down the corridor toward Lorcan’s office. I should have seen this coming. Lorcan was not going to be pleased.
But at least it hadn’t been Lucas waiting for me. Or General Thaddeus with a squad of the Royal Guard.
When we reached the waiting room of Lorcan’s office, Damon gestured for me to stay put as he knocked on the internal door before poking his head into the office.
“She’s here.”
I couldn’t hear Lorcan’s response. Damon pulled his head back out and crossed over to me.
“You can go in now.” He held out his hands. “But why don’t I take those? I’ll send them up to your room.”
I started. I had forgotten all about the bundle of clothes still clutched in my arms. I handed them over to Damon and reached up to straighten my hair before deciding I was only procrastinating and pushing through the door into Lorcan’s study.
Lorcan watched me in silence as I entered, the expression in his gray eyes harder than I had yet seen from him. His lean frame radiated both power and authority, a reminder that he was more than just the absent-minded academic he so often appeared. As the Head of the Academy and a member of the Mage Council, Lorcan was a powerful and important person in Ardann.
For the first time since hearing he wanted to see me I felt truly nervous.
“I am disappointed in you, Elena,” he said. “Most disappointed.” He spoke quietly, but the words held more force than if he had shouted. “You arrived at this Academy—a commonborn girl in a more than unusual situation—and since then I have exerted my utmost influence and power to keep you safe. To keep you sheltered within these walls.”
His eyes pierced me, and I pulled up an image of Clemmy’s face to bolster me. Whatever he thought, I knew I had done the right thing.
“And now I discover that you have flouted me. Rejected my protection completely and left the Academy before your training is completed. A thing that is forbidden.”
“Here I am back again,” I said weakly.
His expression only grew more stormy. “Yes, thanks to the very great forbearance shown by Prince Lucas.” He shook his head. “I know he would never have let you leave willingly—he understands the stakes even if you do not. And I could feel your power lingering on him. You’re fortunate indeed he didn’t report whatever you did to Thaddeus. Which is just what we would have needed—yet another discipline getting involved.”
He paused, but I could think of nothing acceptable to say in my defense. I knew he cared nothing for my younger sister—that had been the problem in the first place—and would find my reasons less than convincing.
“And if it hadn’t been for the prince’s quick thinking, who knows what situation you would be in now? I hope you realize the depths of your indebtedness to him.”
I frowned across the room at him, and he raised an eyebrow.
“Who do you think had t
he idea to have you posted to the Academy? A neat bit of thinking. Outside the usual procedures but just close enough to be quickly pushed through before the general caught word of your foolishness.”
He paused to take an angry breath.
“You have no concept of the attempted interference I have protected you from. And all because I had the authority to do so. You were a trainee under my discipline. And now look at you.” He gestured at me, and I looked down to see my cloak had fallen open, revealing the gray uniform I still wore underneath.
“Now you are a trainee, of sorts, but you are also a private in the Armed Forces. You fall under the authority of two disciplines, and we can only guess at what consequences that might have.”
His words were true. But I also knew I had been left no other choice. Of course, that didn’t stop me wondering uneasily just what sort of interference he had prevented.
I bit my lip, but I couldn’t keep the words inside.
“You’re the Head of the Academy. I’m sure you’re not used to consulting with your trainees.” Lucas’s words at Midwinter rang around in my head. “And yet you said yourself that I’m an unusual case. About as unusual as they come. And I know you have some experience with making exceptions for unusual cases. You certainly seem to consult more with Lucas than with any of the rest of us.”
His eyes narrowed, but I took a deep breath and pressed on.
“Perhaps if you had ever considered talking to me, I might have made a different decision. Perhaps if you had told me of this attempted interference, I might have been able to make a more informed decision. I might have consulted you in return before acting. But the truth of the matter is that I did what I did not for you, or for Ardann, and certainly not for myself. I did it for my sister. And unless you could have guaranteed protection for her—something not even Lucas could do—then I would almost certainly have made the same decision.”
I looked him squarely in the face. “And I don’t regret it. Whatever the cost may now be.”
He shook his head slowly, letting out a long breath.
“I only hope you don’t change your mind about that, Elena. Because you haven’t just committed yourself to any discipline. You’ve committed yourself to one run by a Devoras.”
A shiver ran down my spine. General Griffith.
Lorcan sighed again. “You’re dismissed, private. You can resume classes in the morning.”
Chapter 21
Coralie teased me over the evening meal, clearly under the impression that I had taken an unexcused day off after my birthday celebrations the night before. It soon became apparent that none of the other trainees knew what had really happened.
None except Lucas, anyway. And after my attack on him, it seemed that we had returned to not speaking to one another.
I had to admit I was glad for it. Several times I tried to steel myself to approach him and thank him—both for getting me posted back here and for not reporting my attack on him—but somehow my feet always led me in the other direction whenever I got close.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I couldn’t see his face without remembering how his hair had felt under my fingers and how his lips had moved against mine. And then quick on the back of that thought always came the memory of his subsequent betrayal.
I couldn’t turn off my emotions where he was concerned, and if I was honest with myself, I had never been able to. But I could remind myself of how he had played with me, using those emotions against me. I might be learning to fight as well as one of them, but I would never match the sophistication with which he played the game—as he called it.
But I was determined to master the fighting, at least. I threw myself into my training with more focus than ever. With Jocasta returned, Walden offered to tutor me again, but to my own surprise, I turned him down. I had grown used to training on my own, and I suspected he might not approve of my focus on combat compositions.
I just wished I could practice in the arena where Thornton continued to pit me only against the weakest members of our class.
A week after my enlistment, Natalya strolled past Coralie and me as we all finished combat class on one of our regular sparring days.
“Nice work, private,” she said, her tone making it clear she considered the title humiliating.
Coralie frowned. “What’s she talking about?”
Natalya tittered. “Don’t tell me you haven’t told your friends about your new rank?”
“Oh shut it, Natalya,” I said loudly. “You really think you’re better than me? Then prove it. In the arena. I could beat you with my eyes closed.”
She swelled up, her eyes growing huge as I stared at her with a challenge on my face.
“We’ll see about that,” she managed to spit out before storming off.
I looked across at Thornton, the challenge still in my eyes. He looked from me to Natalya, his face thoughtful.
“Good to see that turning eighteen hasn’t sobered that ready tongue of yours,” said Finnian, wandering over. “I think I would miss your little outbursts.”
“Oh that wasn’t an outburst.” I smiled cheerfully at him. “That was entirely calculated. I’ve just been waiting for her to take a swipe at me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You fill me with curiosity.”
“Just you watch,” I said. “I’ll bet Thornton starts mixing up my opponents in the arena now.”
“Ah. I see.” Finnian bent slightly in my direction. “I bow before your mastery.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll never be as good at all this underhanded stuff as you lot, but I’m trying to learn.”
“Elena.” Coralie’s voice sounded slightly high-pitched. “What did she mean by calling you private?”
“What’s this?” Finnian looked between us, frowning.
“Natalya,” Coralie explained. “She called Elena private. That’s what started it.” She stared at me. “Where were you the day after your birthday?”
I grimaced. There was no avoiding it now.
“I may have gone down to the barracks and enlisted in the Armed Forces.”
“What?” shrieked Coralie. “How could you do that? And how could you not tell me?!”
“I knew you would try to stop me. You all would have. But I had to do it. If I didn’t enlist at eighteen, then my sister would have to. You know how conscription works.”
She stared at me, true hurt in her eyes. “And afterward? You couldn’t even tell me afterward?”
My heart sank. I hadn’t meant to hurt her by keeping it to myself.
“I guess I just wanted to forget all about it. As much as I could, anyway. There didn’t seem to be anything to be gained by talking about it.”
Finnian frowned and slung an arm around Coralie’s shoulders.
“Poor form, Elena.”
I bit my lip. “I know. I guess I can see that now. And I’m sorry. I truly am. Next time I’ll tell you, I promise.”
“Oh, you’re planning to sign up for a second term at the end of this one, are you?” Finnian couldn’t seem to resist turning it into a joke.
“Absolutely, definitely not.” I shook my head as fast as I could. “If I make it through the next three years, I want nothing to do with the Armed Forces ever again.”
“Except you’ll be a mage in three years,” he reminded me. “And only just started on a different sort of term at the front lines. I don’t think you’ll get out of that one. I suspect avoiding a term with the Armed Forces is the sort of thing you only get to do once.”
“Well, I haven’t exactly avoided it,” I said.
When they both gave me confused looks, I hurried to explain.
“I’m still a soldier. That’s why Natalya called me private, I assume. I’ve just been posted to the Academy under Lorcan’s command. And he’s commanded me to continue my studies…”
I trailed off at Finnian’s disbelieving look.
“That sounds like getting out of your term to me.” His eyes followed L
ucas who was walking back toward the Academy building. “And I suspect I know who managed to organize such a thing.”
I flushed.
“I can’t believe you would do that,” said Coralie quietly.
I looked over at her. “You would do the same, Coralie. I know you would. If it was your family on the line.”
Her brow creased as she considered that, and I held my breath, waiting. Finally she looked over at me and sighed.
“I suppose I might. Just promise me you won’t hide something that big from me again. You could have trusted me, you know. I wouldn’t have told anyone.”
I hugged her, murmuring another apology. She returned the embrace but didn’t regain her usual bubbly good cheer until the following morning when she demanded a full description of my brief stay at the training barracks.
I gave it to her between mouthfuls of breakfast, faltering only once when I recounted my run-in with Tobias. An angry hiss made me pause and glance behind me in time to see Lucas—who seemed to have stalled just behind me—start moving again toward his own table further down the row.
Coralie followed my gaze, so I quickly resumed the story, distracting her by describing being called before the colonel.
“You are so fortunate it worked out as well as it did,” she said when I finished.
“I know.” I inhaled the last mouthful. “Believe me, I know. I thought I was never going to see the Academy again.”
Her face fell at that, so I quickly changed the subject, musing instead on who might battle who in the arena that morning. It was the second year arena day, and I had high hopes of being assigned a good fight.
And when we arrived at the arena, it seemed my words had achieved their aim. Natalya and I were called for the first bout.
My chances came thick and fast after that. For the following three weeks, I battled Lavinia, then Calix, then Weston again.
And I won. Every time. Each week I pushed myself to learn from any mistakes, and to tighten my control so I could compose a greater variety of workings in ever shorter phrases. Coralie started to complain that I did nothing but study, but I couldn’t explain to her the fervor that drove me. At first I had only wanted not to be last anymore. But now I was determined to come first. I would keep pushing myself until I could defeat them all, without fail.
Voice of Command (The Spoken Mage Book 2) Page 19