I sucked in a deep breath of the sweet air and then lost all coherent thought because standing in the middle of the moonlit courtyard was the man who’d shattered my heart.
Hyde’s attention snagged on me, lingering for a moment longer than necessary, and my pulse began to hammer in my throat like a live thing wanting to get out. Run. Don’t look at him. Don’t fall under his spell.
“You’re okay,” Harmon said firmly.
I licked my dry lips. I was fine. Totally fine because he was no longer looking my way.
Another man joined Hyde—slender and wiry, dressed in dark clothes that sat starkly against his pale skin. There was a twinkle in his emerald eyes and an amused tilt to his clever mouth.
“Venerick’s the name,” he said with a mock salute. “And whipping cadets into shape is the game.”
Hyde rolled his eyes.
“I saw that, Hyde,” Venerick chided. “Do you want to do this?” He placed both hands on his hips and mock-glared at Hyde. “Huh? You want to give the speech? You want to lay down the law?”
Hyde shook his head. “Floor’s all yours, Ven.”
“Good. In that case, line up, the lot of you. Let me take a look at what fate has served.”
He was fast-talking and younger than expected—couldn’t be older than Hyde himself.
As we lined up, I caught Brady’s eye. He was standing off to one side, his arms crossed over his chest. He lifted his chin in a gesture that I read to mean, you got this. The tremor in my gut retreated.
Venerick walked down the line, pausing here and there to comment. “Nice hair. Got the muscles for it. We’ll need to beef you up.” And then he got to me. “Oh, hello there, lady.” He smiled. “The female cadet. I’m honored.”
I offered him a skeptical look.
He let out a bark of laughter. “Yes. That’s bullshit. I don’t care if you have tits or not. You have the gene, so you belong to me. You belong to the knights.” He walked away. “And it’s my job to fast-track the fuck outta you and get you work-ready.” He joined Hyde again. “The shadow master has determined that you’ll be taking the gauntlet alongside the second years in twelve weeks.”
A murmur of disconcertion filled the air.
“Enough!” Hyde snapped. “Shadow knights do not doubt their ability.”
Venerick nodded, his expression suddenly serious. “If you doubt, you will fail. And failure isn’t the lack of a certificate. Failure in the gauntlet is certain death.”
Death, again. Nothing new there.
“Second year, is it? After that, you’re in deep. Feet in the lava, ass forever on the line. Got it?”
There was a stunned silence.
He cupped his ear. “Can’t hear you? Got it?”
“Yes, Master Venerick,” was muttered by all.
He grinned amiably. “You’ll be assigned to a second-year troop.”
As he spoke, more bodies appeared to the left, other cadets joining Brady. I spotted Lloyd, but he was the only cadet I recognized. The other two were unfamiliar. Leaders of one or two of the other troops maybe? Sulky, irritated faces.
Ven looked to Hyde. “You want to do the honors?”
Oh, God. Please, let me be with Harmon and Thomas. Please, let us be with Lloyd and Brady.
Hyde stepped forward. “Gimble and Mal, you’re with Leon’s troop.”
Come on. Please. Would he put me with someone else? Split me up from Harmon?
“Battersea and Underwood, you’re with Aaron’s troop.”
The knot in my chest eased. That left—
“Black, Carmichael, Justice. Join Faraday.”
I sagged in relief, and Hyde’s jaw flexed. Why did he look so annoyed?
“These are your temporary troops. Your troop leaders will help you settle in. Get some rest. We have a week to get you up to speed, but first, you need to make your own weapons. Tomorrow we forge. It’ll be hot, it’ll be exhausting, and you won’t stop until you have a weapon you can wield with pride.”
So, that’s why Vince had asked us to leave our weapons behind.
“Dismissed,” Venerick barked.
I tore my gaze from Hyde’s formidable form and fixed it on Brady as he made his way toward us.
“Come on,” he said. “I’ll show you to our quarters and get you settled.”
“Best hurry,” Lloyd said. “Supper in less than an hour. Meals are served at specific times. If you miss a meal, you’ll have to coerce the hobbloods to get you some food, and trust me, that isn’t easy. They might work for the knights, but they don’t do it willingly. They’re bound by weaver magic.”
“Can you do that?” Thomas sounded wary. “I mean, that can’t be right?”
“Hobbloods are a subspecies of fomorian. They originated across the mist and evolved inside it. The knights captured them centuries ago.”
“Wait.” Thomas held up a finger. “You have fomorian creatures preparing our food.”
“Crazy, right?” Lloyd shook his head.
Brady snorted. “Time, Lloyd.”
“Oh, yeah.” He raked his hand through his blond locks. “Lead the way, big guy.”
It took everything I had not to glance back at Hyde. Ignoring the stupid ache in my chest, I kept my attention on Brady and walked away.
Seven
Lloyd fell into step beside me as we made our way across the courtyard.
“Did you see Minnie?” he asked.
“I … She was with Harper.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“No.”
He gnawed on his bottom lip. “Yeah, me neither.”
What? “You haven’t spoken to Minnie since she got back?”
“No time.” He sighed. “Not that she misses me. I think … I think she’ll be moving out next year. Mother said it was awkward over the break, that Minnie seemed unhappy. In the end, Harper showed up, and the mood lifted a little. I think they’re planning on getting a place together.”
Figured.
Brady had taken us around the back of the building and toward one of the towers. Stairs wound up to a door that opened to a first-floor lounge area with rooms shooting off it.
“This tower is second-year quarters for when we’re at the fortress,” Lloyd explained. “And this floor is our troop quarters. Aidan, Carlo, and Devon are at barracks four. You’ll be joining them next week if you complete the fast track.”
Damn. Into sector two in one week. “Are you staying with us?”
My attention was on Brady when I spoke, and something indecipherable crossed his features.
“Brady is,” Lloyd said. “I need to get back tonight.”
“Twin room there,” Brady said, jerking his thumb toward a door to our left.
Harmon and Thomas hoisted their packs and headed toward it.
“And me?” I raised both brows.
“The top bunk is free in my room,” Brady said gruffly. “Don’t snore.” He clomped off toward the kitchen area and the coffee machine.
Lloyd stared after him open-mouthed.
I nudged him. “What?”
He shook his head slowly and then looked at me searchingly. “Nothing.” He cleared his throat. “Dump your bags, and we’ll take you to the dining hall.”
Walking into Brady’s room was like hugging him. Not that I’d ever done that, but it smelled of his signature cedar aroma. A calming aroma that seemed to work on me every time he was around. He was gruff and could be short-tempered, and if you’d told me eight weeks ago that he’d be my go-to troop member, I’d have laughed in your face. But the solitude of his company was addictive, especially when my mind was teeming with questions and possibilities and things, so many things I needed to learn and do.
“Okay?”
I turned to see him standing in the doorway of the room. He filled it with the width of his shoulders.
I dumped my pack on the dresser. “Fine.” I shot him a smile. “Thanks for letting me bunk in here.”
He shrugged and then tu
cked in his chin. “Other rooms are taken.” He took a step toward me and then shook his head as if to dispel a thought before ducking out of the room.
Weird.
I unzipped my bag and pulled out my clothes. Time to unpack and change out of the armor.
* * *
This was the great hall? This vast chamber with vaulted ceilings, a cavernous roaring fireplace at each end, and three tables large enough to seat a small army? Right now, only one table was occupied with a mixture of older guys and younger second-year cadets. Tapestries hung on the wall. Old-style armor stood in slender alcoves—the perfect knightly decoration. All that was missing was a throne and maybe a king. Except, wait, who was the broad man with a heavy beard and deep-set eyes glaring across the room at us as if we were cockroaches scuttling in from the cold?
“Shadow master,” Lloyd said from the corner of his mouth. “Master Henrich.”
So, this was the big guy, the head honcho, the main man. He looked fierce. Angry. And it was all aimed at us.
Lloyd led us to the bottom of the table, and we slipped into seats. Mal and Gimble were already here; they looked nervous as hell, and were keeping their heads down. Mal had a plate of what looked like raw vegetables in front of him. Gimble was spooning something like stew into his mouth, way too fast.
Brady took the seat next to me and placed a plate in front of me. “You eat the vegetables first, then you get blood,” he explained.
Okay. Weird. But whatever.
Mal picked at his vegetables, looking pained. Yeah, food wasn’t enjoyable to every nightblood.
“Eat!” Henrich snapped.
Mal popped a tomato in his mouth with a grimace and chewed.
I nibbled on a piece of carrot. It was fresh and sweet. Pleasant.
Movement at the door had me looking up to see Hyde enter. But he wasn’t alone. There was a woman on his arm. Pale, dark-haired, and beautiful. She was looking up at him in adoration, and Hyde … Hyde only had eyes for her.
“Deana?” Henrich barked. “What in the world …” He shoved back his chair and held out his arms.
“Uncle!” Deana rushed across the room and embraced the shadow master. “It’s so good to see you. Father sends his regards.”
Henrich’s harsh face softened. “You tell the old coot to come visit soon.” He looked up at Hyde. “Good to see you came back to your senses. Although I don’t think you should give the fool a second chance.” He chucked Deana under the chin.
She laughed prettily. “Oh, Archer and I have our understanding, Uncle.” She peered up at him from beneath her brows. “I’m a grown woman.”
“That you are, that you are.” He swept a hand toward the table. “Sit. Join us. Eat.”
I ducked my head, chest tight, mouth dry as they took the seats opposite Brady and me.
Brady ladled stew into his plate, and the meaty smell tickled my nostrils.
“Smells good.” I smiled up at Brady, making sure not to look across the table at him. At them.
Brady scooped up a spoonful and held it out to me. “Try it.”
I could feel Hyde’s gaze hot on the side of my face, and even though my stomach was as tight as a drum, I opened my mouth and accepted the spoonful. Brady’s eyes flared, silver sparks shooting across the obsidian depths, and for a moment, I was lost in the darkness, cradled in it, cocooned and safe.
Someone cleared their throat.
Deana.
I met her eyes, and she smiled a genuinely kind smile. “You must be Indigo. You’re famous out in the real world, you know? A female shadow cadet. How does it feel?”
“To be female?”
She laughed. “No. To be a shadow cadet.”
“Why don’t you ask Master Hyde. He was one once.”
Her smile faded a little. I picked up another carrot and chewed on it. I needed blood, and I needed it now.
Farther up the table, Mal had finished his food. He sat back and pushed his plate away.
I scooped up the last of my tomatoes and finished them off. Done.
“Who will feed our nightblood brothers?” Henrich said.
“And sisters,” Venerick added as he entered the room.
Henrich harrumphed.
Gimble pushed back his seat. “I’ll offer my blood to Mal.”
Wait, what?
Mal and Gimble walked across the room together and left through a door at the back of the room.
No blood bags? My pulse began to race. Beside me, Brady tensed. My gaze swept the room in a panic, looking for a way out, and snagged on Hyde. He was pushing his chair back and standing. Deana, his lover, looked up in shock.
“I’ll offer my blood to Justice,” Hyde said, his voice low.
A low growl rumbled in Brady’s chest, and Lloyd coughed loudly.
“No.” The word was instinctual.
“No?” Hyde canted his head. “Is Hyde blood not good enough for a Justice?”
Was he serious? What was he playing at? Why was he doing this?
Deana smiled uncertainly at me. “Maybe the cadet feels uncomfortable drinking from a tutor?”
Yes, good excuse. I nodded vehemently. “Yes. So uncomfortable.”
“Nonsense!” Henrich snapped. “We are shadow knights. We are one. And when it comes to blood, it is all the same.” He glared at me. “Get up and feed. I will not have my cadets weak and useless, and be honored your master has offered to feed you.”
Hyde locked gazes with me, his eyes glittering like gems. Was that amusement? Triumph? What was it?
I stood on shaky legs and followed him across the room and through the door Mal and Gimble had just taken.
Beyond the door was a long room with alcoves covered in thick velvet drapes. Feeding rooms. They had these at exclusive restaurants and venues where nightbloods hung out. My heart began to pound. I hadn’t fed from the vein since I’d killed the human, but for the first time since that night, it wasn’t fear of bloodlust that gripped me but fear of another kind of lust.
Hyde pushed back the drapes to the feeding room. There was a leather booth but no table to obstruct a feeding. Hyde took a seat, settling down, legs splayed.
He leaned his head to the side. “Feed.”
“Why are you doing this?” My voice trembled. Gums aching where my fangs begged to be free.
His blood was rushing through his veins, a tsunami on the inside, whereas he was calm and collected on the outside. He was afraid, excited, he wanted this. Wanted me.
“You need to feed,” he said, his voice husky.
But it was more than that.
He wanted me to feed. I’d been overthinking this, us, for too long. But in that moment, I stopped listening to his words and listened only to his body. To the rush of blood and the hammer of his heart, to the hardness that strained the crotch of his pants.
There were so many ways to do this without invading his space, but where would the fun be in that?
I straddled him, lowering myself onto the bulge in his pants and reveling at the low hiss as he sucked in a breath.
“Fuck.”
I laved his neck with my tongue, tasting him, clean and salty and mine.
His breathing grew faster, shallower. Anticipation.
I leaned in and applied my mouth to his skin, creating the seal needed, and then I released my fangs. They slid out of my gums and straight into him.
He tensed, moving beneath me in shock as I began to draw from him. Oh, sweet God. Oh, fuck. He was nectar and honey and everything that glowed.
His blood filled me, completed me, hit my senses like a sledgehammer and knocked all control out of me. I gripped him tighter, reveling in his groan, and began to undulate my hips against him. His hands gripped my hips, and he angled himself up, grinding into me. I was wet and swollen and throbbing for him. Fuck this.
I withdrew my fangs, laving the spot to seal the wound, and then claimed his mouth. He opened for me, sucking on my tongue, tasting himself on me. We rocked together, moaning into each o
ther’s mouths as the sensations built, as we ached to join for real.
“Archer?”
Hyde froze beneath me and then broke the hungry kiss, his eyes blazing like twin flames in his head as they raked over my face.
“One moment, Deana,” he called. He sounded cool and businesslike. Nothing like the wanton guy who’d been grinding beneath me a moment ago. “I’ll see you back upstairs.”
Upstairs. He was sharing a room with her. Of course he was. She was his lover. Not me.
A lump formed in my throat, and I slowly extricated myself from him and straightened my clothes. “Thank you for feeding me.”
“Indigo,” he said softly.
I closed my eyes as pain lanced through my chest at the sound of my name on his lips.
“Deana and I have history,” he continued. “She’s … She’s what I need.”
I looked down at him. “Then here’s a little tip. Don’t get hard-ons for other women. Don’t suck face with them. And definitely don’t dry hump them till you almost come.” I yanked back the drapes and strode out of the feeding room.
Fuck him and his complicated emotions. I was done.
Eight
I got as far as the courtyard when Hyde intercepted me. He grabbed my elbow and drew me up against the side of the second-year tower.
“Listen to me,” he said.
My anger was a bubbling, seething thing. “No. I have nothing to say to you. Get your hands off me.”
He released me immediately and took a step back, palms up. “I did you a favor.”
A favor? “I could have fed off someone else.”
“Who? Brady?”
“Yes, Brady. Why not Brady?”
He frowned. “Do you know what he is?”
“What he is? Don’t you mean who he is? He’s a feyblood. A scary one.”
“He’s ogre-tainted. Rare, dangerous, and fucking nuts when it comes to their mated females.”
“And what the hell has that got to do with me?”
He ran a hand over his face. “Did your parents not teach you anything?”
I gave him a flat look, and he had the grace to wince. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. But I’m concerned. I think Brady may be vetting you as a potential mate.”
Shadow Weaver: The Nightwatch Academy book 2 Page 5