by Alex Lidell
River’s fist tightened, a growl rumbling through his chest. Speaking of cadets, what the bloody hell was the girl thinking, not just going nose to nose with him, but doing it in front of an audience? How did she imagine the conversation could end? It was bad enough that Lera challenged River’s authority; she’d said things he couldn’t now ignore. As for how Lera had gotten hold of the disk in the first place, River dared not ask and hoped to hell she would not offer. These were dangerous times. Perhaps the damn thing had found her the same way it had found him, appearing one day in a locked drawer, calling to him with its preciousness.
Inhaling the crisp evening breeze, River savored its post-rain sweetness as he listened to the quiet squish and splat his boots made on the puddled cobblestones—though Lera’s light steps barely made a sound behind him, as if she knew precisely where to place her feet. In the lateness of the evening, most of the students and staff were indoors, the windows alight with lanterns and candles. Turning right, River chose the longest available path to the keep, giving Lera time to think.
The fear pulsating from Lera was so strong that River could scent it from several paces away, its tang making him queasy. With each step, River waited for the girl treading miserably behind him to change her mind, to stalk for the stable, to stammer explanations, to accidentally fall and twist her ankle so she could run and hide behind Shade’s infirmary wall. Except she didn’t. Leralynn was terrified and was keeping pace with River as surely as any warrior in a battle.
Yes, behind that small, exhausted body, heart-wrenchingly beautiful face, and chocolate eyes, Leralynn hid a will that would best a general. Unfortunately, her understanding of the dangers surrounding her fell far short of her courage.
Inside the keep, River led the way up the winding stairs to his study in the southern tower, notched archer’s windows at every turn letting in cold blasts of night air. He opened the door to let Lera precede him inside. As she did, the girl wrapped her arms around her breasts, the slight rise of shirtsleeves showing a shadow of bruises on her right wrist. A dusting of fingerprints, no more. Except that they were prints River had left. On a woman who looked and acted—and, stars take him, smelled—so like Diana that River still could not draw a full breath when in her company.
The door closed behind them with a final bang that River was not ready for, trapping them in the suddenly claustrophobic room. The fire River had finally gotten around to lighting a few hours ago still crackled softly. Now, Leralynn’s delicate scent of lilac and fear filled up every inch of air, and River didn’t know if he’d rather drown in it or open a window. He needed more time to think, to work his way out of this mess that threatened to take his soul and everyone else’s with it.
The disaster in the infirmary was Leralynn’s fault. The events leading up to it, however, those lay at River’s feet. It was River’s disk that fell, River’s guards who let the cadets cross the wall unmolested last night, River’s weak stomach that pushed off the duty of dealing with Lera’s earlier indiscretion to Coal. Most of all, it was River who so feared spending another moment in Diana’s—in Leralynn’s—company, that he would drive away from the Academy the one cadet who, by all appearances, had the potential to grow into a true leader. Maybe more so than any other student here, with the possible exception of Tye of Blair.
Yes, they were both at fault. And now it was time to fix it. Whatever it took.
Leralynn stopped in the middle of River’s study, taking in his neat surfaces and dark wooden paneling with wide eyes, her breath so shallow and fast that she had to be getting dizzy. River surveyed her carefully. Muscles tense, skin pale, a glistening of sweat touching her temple despite her obvious chill. Eyes wide and—despite all attempts to look at nothing in particular—darting about. Searching for whatever it was she expected him to use on her. Stars. Leralynn wasn’t merely anxious, she was utterly petrified.
River’s hand tightened into a fist, his nails digging into his palm, and flame flared through him. Someone had hurt the girl before. Not punished, but hurt. And she was willing to face it all again to protect others.
“Where do you want me, sir?” Lera asked. Her voice was impressively steady.
Sir. She was making an effort at the rules, thank the stars for that. “Just where you are.”
Walking around his desk, River pulled out his leather chair and sat down, taking out paper and ink. With a long glance at the girl, he wrote out a few lines, his neat writing filling the space with a small scrape of the quill. That done, River sprinkled sand on the ink before carefully blowing it off and finally folding the note in half.
Lera flinched when River returned to her, her eyes shutting tightly.
“I’m not going to hit you.” River set a steady hand behind Lera’s shoulder blade lest the girl fall, her soft warmth and lean muscles sending a wave of heat through his whole body. If River could rip the throat out of who had truly hurt her, he would. This very moment. River swallowed the sudden befuddling flash of fury. Yes, he was feeling protective, but surely he’d feel as much for any of the students. He was their deputy headmaster—he should be protective of them. Shaking off the thought, River focused on the still-trembling girl, who seemed not to have heard his promise. Or didn’t believe it. “Leralynn. Lera.” River lowered his voice, keeping it filled with command but softening the bite. “Open your eyes and look at me. There is nothing in my hands that will hurt you. All right?”
Her eyes opened, deep brown pools that could drown a man’s soul. Narrowed. “Why?”
“Stars take me, you really want to argue this point?”
Lera swallowed and shifted her weight, but never pulled away from River’s supportive touch—which sent an inexplicable satisfaction through him. “Because it won’t accomplish anything,” he said truthfully.
Lera’s chin lifted. “Tye and Coal—”
Large-hearted, loyal cadet.
“I am keeping my word, Leralynn.” River handed her the folded message. “You will give this to the stable master when you report to clean out stalls an hour before dawn tomorrow. You will return for the same chore after dusk, this time working for two hours. This will continue for a month. Longer if I note a single change in the attitude I expect.” He waited until Leralynn took the note, her hand shaking slightly as her large chocolate eyes stared at him with such relief that River’s stomach turned. “This is my attempt to keep you too busy to get into trouble. Into more trouble. For stars’ sake, learn the rules.”
River stepped away, already missing the feel of her smooth back beneath his hand, as if the girl belonged against his body. Fit there.
Stop it. It’s bad enough one instructor lost his mind to his cock. The Academy little needs two idiots. Despite the reprimand, River waited for a pang of irrational jealousy. None came. Oddly enough, despite the pull Lera had on his soul, River didn’t begrudge Coal bedding her—oh, he was furious at the male, but the anger came from the impropriety of Coal having taken a student, not envy. Just as Leralynn’s protectiveness of Tyelor and the appreciative glances she snuck at Shade when she thought no one was looking roused no resentment from River’s heart. Which wouldn’t be unusual if River didn’t also feel like ripping out the throat of anyone else who might covet Lera.
River might chalk his feelings on Coal and Shade up to friendship, but why Tye? Stars. It made as little sense as the urges the girl stirred in him to begin with. And mattered even less. River was the deputy headmaster, and Leralynn a first-year cadet. No number of aching cocks or similarities with Diana would change that.
“Do you have any questions?” River asked.
“No, sir,” Lera said softly. “And… Thank you.”
River nodded. “And you as well. For reminding me of something important.” He jerked his head toward the door, and Leralynn left at once, clutching the work order.
With the door closed behind her, River took out the disk that had started this latest disaster. He couldn’t be sure how much Princess Katita saw of the obje
ct before he snatched it from the infirmary floor, but if she’d glimpsed the details, there could be trouble. Katita was ruthless and, given the princess’s envy over the attention Tye was paying Lera, volatile. River’s position in the Academy offered him protection from cadets’ wild claims—Lera’s did not. For her sake, it would be better if the relic never existed, lest it provide some proof for future accusations.
River swallowed. It was time he followed Leralynn’s own example and did the right thing, no matter how connected he felt with the disk, how inexplicably frightened the thought of its loss made him. Before he could reconsider, River took out the small axe he used to kindle firewood and brought its dull head down on the strange disk, shattering it into crumbling pieces before feeding them into the flames.
Continue the GREAT FALLS ACADEMY adventure with episode 3: Scent of a Wolf
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Also by Alex Lidell
New Adult Fantasy Romance
POWER OF FIVE (Reverse Harem Fantasy)
POWER OF FIVE
MISTAKE OF MAGIC
TRIAL OF THREE
LERA OF LUNOS
GREAT FALLS ACADEMY (Power of Five world)
RULES OF STONE
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
SCENT OF A WOLF
Young Adult Fantasy Novels
TIDES
FIRST COMMAND (Prequel Novella)
AIR AND ASH
WAR AND WIND
SEA AND SAND
SCOUT
TRACING SHADOWS
UNRAVELING DARKNESS
TILDOR
THE CADET OF TILDOR
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About the Author
Alex Lidell is an Amazon KU All Star Top 50 Author Awards winner (July, 2018). Her debut novel, THE CADET OF TILDOR (Penguin, 2013) was an Amazon Breakout Novel Awards finalist. Her Reverse Harem romances, POWER OF FIVE and MISTAKE OF MAGIC, both received Amazon KU Top 100 awards for individual titles.
Alex is an avid horseback rider, a (bad) hockey player, and an ice-cream addict. Born in Russia, Alex learned English in elementary school, where a thoughtful librarian placed a copy of Tamora Pierce’s ALANNA in Alex’s hands. In addition to becoming the first English book Alex read for fun, ALANNA started Alex’s life long love for fantasy books. Alex lives in Washington, DC.
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