by Alex Lidell
Yet the moment he had, the woman from the islands appeared, the vision of her melding with the cadet in Coal’s hold. Fury had risen in Coal’s chest, the pain of abandonment spurring a flash of chains and questions. And then…then Lera had fought him like a cornered animal. The same girl who, a month ago, had stood up to River—despite the threat of a whipping that terrified her—all to protect Coal, now couldn’t bear to trust him in broad daylight before a class of others.
Lera’s fear of him, the breach in her trust, had unraveled Coal at last. Yes, the guard who’d brought Coal here was right. Coal was rabid. And the sooner he was put down, the better.
Sitting on the hard stone floor, Coal listened for the tower bell marking the passage of time. He little expected River to come for him today—the man liked to be in control before doing anything and would take time to calm down. Plus, it now fell to the commander to clean up the mess Coal had made, which—had the positions been reversed—Coal would have eviscerated River for.
The walls of Coal’s cell closed in on him, the edges of his vision blurring in preview of the too-familiar terrors. Knowing what was to come made Coal’s heart race no slower, however, his lungs stretch no less with bit-back screams. Pressing himself against the wall of his cell, he settled in for a long night of seeing chains and whips and heated iron. His mind did not disappoint.
Not until full dark settled and Coal suddenly smelled the scent of sweet hay and the lathered sweat of hard-worked horses. Felt helpless dread fill him as a large man with dark coiled hair loomed over him, blocking out all the light of the stable, twisting him as easily as if he were a child.
“Everything you are, you have, you’ll ever become is because of my good graces,” the man’s voice snapped along with a deafening crack of his belt. The strap ends wrapped around Coal’s ribs, making him scream loud enough that the horses whickered in discontent. Terror clawed at his throat—terror and a strange sort of resignation. “When I order a horse saddled, you saddle a horse. You don’t lie. You don’t pretend he’s lame to save yourself a bit of work.”
The whip fell again, and Coal screamed again, unable to stop himself. Tears blurred his vision of the rough wooden stable wall.
Each hiss and crack of the whip felt stamped upon his mind as much as his body. The whip fell again, again. Until the pain made darkness close around him.
9
River
Striding down the stairs of the dungeon corridor, River breathed in the damp air, the keys in his hand clanking with each step. His head pounded, the ache pressing on the back of his eyeballs and pulsating against his skull. He’d barely had time to piss since the brawl yesterday morning, much less eat, sleep, or wring Coal’s neck, as he was desperate to do.
The six guards still laid out in the infirmary—a dozen others falling into the walking wounded list—made unscrambling duty schedules alone a nightmare. That was before even considering who disobeyed whose orders, and how command needed to be restructured. Adding to that, the Academy’s top healer had chosen this time to bloody disappear, and Sage was in a rightful fit. At this point, River little cared for how the problem started—he’d gotten a mix of explanations ranging from cocks to women—a well-trained regiment of soldiers didn’t have a right to degenerate into a mob.
Which brought River back to Coal. And the cadets. River paused, running a hand through his hair. He’d forgotten to send word to Leralynn canceling the morning tutoring session, but she’d hopefully work out the reason for his absence from the study. More likely than not Lera would be glad for the reprieve—given that her disobedience of his direct orders to stay in the study was another matter to be dealt with. Another issue he was looking forward to very little.
One problem at a time. River started walking again, reining in his focus. In the shadow of what the islanders had done to Coal in captivity, leaving the man in lockup overnight hadn’t been ideal. But Coal had been in the heart of the mob, and anything less would have had the guardsmen revolting. How much further River would need to take discipline was dependent as much on Coal himself as anything else. Which meant River had to be very, very careful, especially when he opened the door, lest Coal did something to get himself into hotter flames.
Drawing a lungful of moldy air, River coughed loudly before turning the final corner, small empty cells lining both sides of the wall, the damp ceiling less than a foot from his head. The Academy had been a fortress once and still had the facilities to hold more prisoners than it could ever see. With Coal having no line of sight to the corridor, River little wanted to surprise the man who might well have spent the night punching stone walls to ward off nightmares.
River braced himself for that too. Braced himself for many things.
None of them included finding Coal kneeling on the floor, his hands braced on his thighs as if it took all his concentration just to keep breathing. Sweat glistened on his arms and tight face, matting his loose blond hair. Stars. The whole cell stank with acrid fear.
River paused to collect himself, hiding away the self-loathing he felt for making this happen. Then his cool voice rang through the bars of Coal’s cell. “Good morning.”
Coal stayed still, his gaze locked on the floor. “Let her go.” His voice was rougher than usual, as if he’d used it up talking—or screaming.
“Let who go?” Had Coal actually lost his mind overnight? River swallowed a curse. “Coal.” Shoving his own frustration aside, River spoke softly, as if soothing an anxious stallion. “I’m going to open this door now. Then we are going to walk out of here. Do you understand?”
Coal’s face snapped up, his blue eyes so dark, they seemed tinged with purple. “Leralynn. Let her free, and then you can deal with me as you wish.” Coal’s voice was strained but fully lucid despite the absurdity of his words. “She was caught up in the fray, nothing more. Punish me, not her.”
“Leralynn and Tye were released yesterday,” said River, a shiver running along the length of his spine. “They were left to sit a few hours in the questioning chamber, but no more than that. I assure you.”
“She is still here,” Coal snarled, uncoiling smoothly to his feet. His hair hung loose to his shoulders, matted with the same splotches of blood that covered his torn black tunic and bare arms. The knuckles on both his fists were raw and bleeding, as was his lip. His chest rose and fell with quick breaths.
Quickly calculating the path of least resistance, River decided that nothing he could say was likely to make an impact. Phantoms. Coal was imagining phantoms, he had to be. And you didn’t talk someone out of that. “I will make you a bargain, Coal. We go check the interrogation chamber, and once you see for yourself that no one is there, you and I will have a different conversation. One in which you will cooperate fully. Is that agreed?”
“Yes.”
River clicked open the lock, the intensity of Coal’s insistence making his heart patter in his throat. As Coal moved to stride out the door, however, River blocked the male’s path with his arm. “Have I your word?”
Coal’s nostrils flared as he pushed past River’s hand and sprinted down the corridor to the stairs, as if following some internal beacon. Down, down, down, the man’s soft steps took the crumbling stairs two at a time, River following close behind to the lowest level of the hold. The one where air was even more precious, from which not one sound escaped.
The heavy door to the questioning corridor opened with a screech of rust, releasing the sound of a girl’s whimpers into the dank air.
River’s face drained of blood. Quickening his pace, River rounded the final turn to find the questioning room not empty at all. Lera knelt on the floor, one of her arms in a too-high shackle, blood covering both the metal and her skin. As if she’d been pulling against the shackle all night, until her strength finally waned.
Her normally vibrant auburn hair hung in lank strands over her blanched face.
“Good stars, who did this?” The words spilled from River’s mouth before he could stop himself.
/> Coal’s ice-cold eyes cut River off at the knees. “You.”
Shoving past him, Coal rushed into the cell and crouched beside the girl with a slow gentleness that River had never seen in him. Instead of yanking Lera into his arms, as River would have, Coal shifted her just enough to take the pressure off the overstretched joint and examined the bloody manacle.
Leralynn whimpered but didn’t cry. Perhaps she had no tears left to shed.
River shifted his weight and felt Lera’s eyes lift to watch him over Coal’s shoulder. Fury and fear and pain saturated her chocolate gaze, though she was fighting like hell itself to put up a facade of strength.
It took all of River’s self-control to play along, keeping his face schooled and seemingly unaware of her state, all while bile rose up his throat, threatening to make him vomit.
He’d done this. Ordered Leralynn held without following up to ensure the instructions were executed as intended.
The pang of envy at watching Leralynn lean trustingly against Coal’s chest squeezed River hard enough to take his breath. Shuffling the key ring, he pulled up the small one for the manacle and took a step toward the pair. At least he had something to offer, late as it was.
Coal’s head snapped around, a low primal growl filling the room. River raised his hand to show the key, but the fevered glaze in Coal’s blue eyes was as clear a warning as a tiger’s roar. River wasn’t to come any closer. For any bloody reason.
Moving slowly, River slid the keys along the stone floor and backed out of the cell. He wasn’t welcome beside Leralynn. Not now, and very possibly not ever.
10
Lera
I am afraid to breathe too quickly; the rhythm of slow steady inhalations has warded off the night terrors for hours now. My body is numb. Separated. So long as I don’t move, the world feels distant, as if a curtain of thick cotton has settled around my senses. All I taste are mouthfuls of stale air. In and out. In and out.
Hinges squeak.
With excruciating slowness, my gaze focuses. The cotton keeping my senses at bay disappears as I blink at the figure rushing inside my cell, bringing unwelcome reality with him. A heady metallic musk fills my senses, drowning out my own stench of stale sweat and dried blood.
“Leralynn.” Coal crouches beside me, leashed violence simmering behind his devastatingly beautiful face. His usually bound hair hangs down to his broad shoulders, framing a strong jaw and blazing blue eyes. On the stone floor, lines of sunlight speak of morning well on its way. I’ve been here all night, and I wager Coal has too. No, I know he has—I felt him. Despite Coal’s slow movements, his muscles—the very air around him—vibrate with tension.
Our gazes lock, the connection powerful enough to make nothing else matter for a moment.
Then Coal reaches for me, sharply carved muscles moving with liquid grace beneath the thin black cloth of his tunic.
Without meaning to, I push back into the stone. With the exception of the ill-fated choke-hold demonstration, the male has avoided physical contact with me for a month now. The rest, the flashes of memories and pain, those took place in my mind alone. I have no reason to believe he sees me any differently now than he has in the past four weeks. Even with our gazes locked, my wary body doesn’t know what to expect from itself at the warrior’s touch.
“I’m going to take the pressure off your shoulder.” Coal moves slowly, lifting me off the stone floor onto his bent knee, his hands bracing my shackled arm. The shift releases compressed veins and nerves, blood flowing back into my numb limbs with scorching agony.
I bite back a scream, but Coal’s silent, intense gaze stays on me. I know, his blue eyes say. I know.
Once I am able to breathe again, I lean into the male’s shoulder while he checks the manacle holding my wrist. Beyond the world of the two of us, I finally mark another figure in the dungeon cell.
Still stopped at the open door, River stares down at my crumpled form. The patient male who helped me read is gone, a cold, powerful commander in his place. A commander whose orders I disobeyed. There is no emotion in River’s chiseled face, his back as straight here in a dungeon cell as on the parade grounds, his dark brown hair just as flawlessly neat. This is what happens to those who fail to abide by my word, each harsh line of his sculpted body enunciates in silence. I warned you, didn’t I?
My heart hammers against my ribs, my breaths quick through the streaks of pain raking my cramped muscles. River left me here to break me. Punish me. But stupid as it is to tempt his wrath just now, I still lift my chin high, not giving River the satisfaction of seeing me cower.
River steps toward me.
Coal growls, the sound anything but human.
Stopping, River slides keys across the floor instead and leaves without a word.
I hate the relief that washes over me with River’s departure, but savor it anyway. When Coal releases my shackle, the raw skin beneath stinging at the open air, I’m more than a little glad River can’t see my flinch or note how my fingers dig into Coal’s arm.
Giving the swaying world a few moments to settle, I go to stand. Coal catches my waist in time to keep me from landing back on the floor. It takes two more tries for me to conquer my buckling knees, but at least I never make a sound. Not that words seem necessary with Coal.
Coal doesn’t touch me as we wind through the dungeon hallways and step outside—blinking like newborns in the harsh sunlight and inhaling deeply of the fresh spring air—or as we cross the entire courtyard back to the student dormitory, but he stays close enough that I can hear the short puffs of his breathing. The few cadets out and about the courtyard follow the pair of us with their gazes, their eyes burning into my skin. Shutting out the stares, I focus my thoughts on the safety of my room, counting the steps until I can hide away.
“Lera!” Arisha opens the door the moment I start turning the handle, her wide eyes taking me in. Dressed in a yellow spring dress, the girl looks like an awkward sunflower with her frizzy brown hair making up the petals. “What happened?” She reaches for me. “The last I heard, a certain muscular idiot started a brawl and then—”
Coal clears his throat.
Arisha lifts her gaze, her body freezing in place.
Pushing me past Arisha into the room, Coal shuts the door behind us. The entire small space, with its neat white walls and tall sparkling window, suddenly feels filled to the brim with Coal’s presence. With his masculine scent and sheer size, he’s as out of place here as I’d be in the guards’ bathhouse. “Make yourself busy elsewhere, Tallie.”
Arisha’s face swings toward me in assessment, then back to Coal. Putting her hands on her hips, she glares up at the male who towers head and shoulders above her. “No.” Her soft voice mixes with the sharp tang of anxiety she always has in proximity with Coal. “But I think you should.”
Coal stays put.
Arisha narrows her brows and steps right up to him, like a nearsighted, determined goat, her pale, freckled cheeks tightened in anger. If I could move, I’d throw my arms around my friend and hold her forever.
Coal pivots out of Arisha’s way. “Did you just try to evict me. Physically?” he asks slowly. “To intimidate me into backing out the door?”
Arisha swallows but lifts her face high. “Yes.”
“Did you misplace your mind?” Despite the ferocity coming off him in waves, Coal sounds genuinely curious.
Arisha scowls at him. “It might have worked.”
“Very doubtful.” Coal sighs. “Lera is hurt.”
“Thank you for clearing that up—I was confused as to what all the blood was about.” Arisha pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “And you look little better, in case you were wondering.”
Coal’s blue eyes flash. “I wasn’t.”
Time to intervene. Yanking at its ties, I let the tattered dress slump to a pile at my feet, then, wrapping a blanket around myself, sink into the divine softness of my bed in my underclothes. “Coal helped me back to the room,
Arisha. The blood isn’t from him. I…I was wrapped up in yesterday’s fight at the barracks, and River had me held overnight. I’m going to get some rest now. There is little more to it.”
“There is—” Arisha and Coal say at the same time, stopping to glare at each other as soon as the words are out.
I glare at both of them. “I’m fine.”
“Like hell you are,” Coal snaps at me, just as Arisha shouts, “You are not fine.”
Turning back to Arisha, Coal crosses his arms. “I’m not leaving.”
“Neither am I.”
The warrior’s jaw tightens. “Fine,” he says finally, pulling his hair back into its usual tight bun as if preparing for battle all over again. “But if you repeat anything you see, hear, smell, or even bloody think in this chamber for the next hour, I will make your life so painful, your hair will have bruises. Do you understand?”
Arisha’s throat bobs, but she squares her shoulders toward Coal. “And if you harm Lera, I’ll work out a way to castrate you in your sleep.”
“This changes nothing when you are on the training pitch,” Coal says. “I’ll still expect you to do at least one halfway decent push-up. And punish you when you don’t.”
“Agreed,” says Arisha. “And any cooperation now is not a sign that I like you.”
“Agreed,” says Coal.
“Do I get a say?” I ask.
“No.” The pair answer together, this time not even bothering to exchange dirty gazes.
11
Coal
Crouching beside Lera, Coal suddenly realized he didn’t know what to do next. Everything about her filled his consciousness, from the racing pulse that made the hollow of her neck tremble with every beat, to the tightness on the side of her jaw where she clenched her teeth to conceal her pain. Her large chocolate eyes had a guarded look that tried and failed to hide the penetrating stubborn intelligence lurking inside her. Intelligence and pain, a hurt that extended a lot deeper than her strained arm. One day, Coal would find that man he’d seen in Lera’s nightmares and repay him in kind for every beating.