CHAPTER FOURTEEN
M Y SHOVEL SCRAPES ACROSS THE stone and straw-filled stall as I scoop up more gryphon shit and dump it into the wheelbarrow. My face scrunches out of habit even though I’m used to the smell of feces and whatever else I’m shoveling. The smell is horrific and nauseating. I can understand why they use this as a punishment, but I push on, wanting to get this stall done so I can move to the next.
After the floor is cleaned and cleared, I grab the bale of straw and coat the ground with it before refilling the water and feed.
Just as I’m about to leave, a gryphon makes its way into the stall, giving me a nod before growling at me to leave its space. I almost trip over my feet to get out of its way, grabbing the barrow and pushing it hastily over towards the dumping spot. We were warned to be quick exiting an occupied gryphon stall; they may be more kind and patient than dragons, but not by much.
Bracken spots me and signals Gregor and Bren, his other friends from our squad, that he’ll be right back before making his way over to me.
Fucking fates. What in all the realms could he want now?
“I don’t know, but you say the word and his eyes are yours, Rav,” Nero reminds me as he hunches low on my shoulder, ready to attack on my cue.
He stops a few feet away, eyeing Nero with a look of distrust. Smart male. “Do you have a moment when I can speak with you, Ravina?”
My arms fold together against my chest. “We are kind of busy, and if we want to get to combat on time then I would make whatever you’re about to say fast,” I snap. I don’t understand. He ignored me the entire time I’ve lived in Shalo, only to try to communicate when we first got here, ignored me for two weeks—thankfully—and now he wants to talk?
“I just want to point out that I don’t believe you’re doing what Evera has said. Cresida and she are close, and she’s been feeding her false information about you. Just try to not get on their bad side, okay?” he says, leveling me with a look that says I enjoy causing problems.
I don’t; problems find me like fleas find dogs. “What do you think I’m doing?” I hiss. “Why do you continue to talk to me, Bracken? I think it would be better if you just leave me be, okay? You were doing so well with that.”
“Everything okay over here?” Ember calls out as she comes to empty her load of manure.
“Fantastic,” I drawl, going to move past him, but he grabs onto my arm, making me flinch before I knock his hand away.
He holds his hands up. “I’m sorry. I’m going about this the wrong way. It’s just, I like you, Ravina.” Bracken stares at me as he waits for his words to sink in.
I shake my head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”
He takes a step towards me. “But—”
Rozen grabs him by the throat. “Ravie said she’s not interested. Let’s respect that, shall we? Or shall I let Ember have a go with you? Because I guarantee she will get the point across.”
My nose scrunches at the nickname. “Come on Rozie, leave him be. Let’s finish up. You coming, Ember?” I ask and notice the soft expression she has towards Rozen, making my lips twitch.
She startles, and nods. “Yes, coming.”
We grab our wheelbarrows and hurry back inside with Rozen following not too far behind us, leaving a frazzled looking Bracken staring at us.
“You know, since you gave me a nickname, it means we are officially friends. Ravie. Not getting rid of me now,” he teases as his long strides push past us, winking at Ember as he goes.
Pink dusts her cheeks, spreading to the points of her ears, and I fight back a smile.
“What?” she snaps.
I shrug, letting a grin loose. “You like him,” I state.
Her yellow eyes widen, and her face grows darker in shade before her gaze narrows on me. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she murmurs.
“Uh huh,” I tease before clearing my throat and realizing what I was doing. “I’m going to finish up. See you in combat,” I tell her, taking a hard left down one of the corridors in the stables. It’s so easy to forget to distance myself from them. I like them, but it’s all the more reason not to get close.
My gaze follows along the open doors as gryphons stride down the hallways, coming and going as they please while their riders are in lessons or haven’t arrived yet this morning. Their areas are massive, enough to hold the furry and feathered flying beasts with beaks so powerful they could snap bone in one bite. They’re magnificent, temperamental, and loyal to a fault. You do not want to get on their bad side.
A sigh expels from my lips. Only six more days of this and I’ll finally be able to sleep in again.
THEY, IN FACT, did not forget about what happened yesterday.
“Cadet Solace, you’re with me today,” Sergeant Craven growls as he gestures for me to follow.
Evera, Adair, Amos and Spade narrow their eyes at me. Yeah, this definitely isn’t helping the situation either.
“Sergeant,” I call out. “I’m content working with Sergeant Verlice. I feel like I was learning a lot from him.” I can’t work with Sergeant Craven if it’s just going to cause issues between him and his mate.
He halts mid-step and spins slowly towards me with a look that could cut dragon stone. “You will do as I say, cadet, unless you want another week on dish duty?”
I pinch my lips together, stopping the retort that wants to escape, unable to help the fact my eyes betray the annoyance at the wing leader.
“What? Nothing to say?” he goads, and when I don’t say anything he continues to where he was heading, about twenty feet away from my squad.
With reluctance, I follow, my gaze instantly searching out Nero who’s perched on the training yard wall, watching us carefully.
Craven notices where I’m looking and snaps his fingers. “Hey, pay attention. I could have killed you at least twenty different ways right then. It doesn’t matter if we are on the training yard, sparring or facing our enemies in a war. Pay. The. Fuck. Attention.” He scrubs his hand across the dragon tattoos along his skull. “Now, show me the stances Sergeant Verlice has shown you.”
My eyes narrow at his tone, but I need to keep my shit together, so I reluctantly go through the defensive positions Verlice drilled into my head before going over the offensive stances and maneuvers Ember, Roz and I have been going over before bed. As I move from one pose to the next his frown deepens.
“You’re as clumsy as an infant satyr. In fact I’m sure an infant satyr could put you on your ass. Bend your knees and widen your stance. You’re also leaving yourself open,” he states, pointing out even more flaws as he circles around me.
My blood is boiling with frustration and embarrassment. “Is there anything I can do right, Sergeant ?” I seethe, spinning towards him.
He stills. “I was going to say, keeping your mouth shut while I’m instructing you, but it seems like you can’t even do that right. Stances, again,” he snaps.
With a huff, I start again. This time he corrects each position and movement as I go. Even if it’s the correct version he just told me, it’s somehow wrong.
Evera switches between glaring at me and laughing. This is fucking humiliating. “You know, I was actually learning something from Sergeant Verlice. I’ll be more than happy to work with him again instead, if I’m as pathetic as you’re making me out to be.”
One moment I’m sneering at his stoic face and then the next, I’m looking up at the cloud watching snow fall gently as I’m gasping for breath.
The fates are testing me today, I swear.
Craven leans over me. “Pathetic as I’m making you out to be? No, Cadet Solace. You are pathetic. You will be training with me until I say otherwise. Now, on your feet. You want to spar? Fine. Maybe you need to be brought down from whatever pedestal you’re on.”
I push myself up onto my feet, shaking off the snow covering my tunic. Why can’t I just keep my damn mouth shut around him?
A grin spreads across his face and I’m taken by surprise at how handsome it makes him look—if he wasn’t a controlling dragon turd, I may have even swooned. “Actually… Everyone gather around. Cadet Solace here has volunteered to show everyone what not to do while in combat.”
My face scrunches up into a wince. There’s no one to blame but myself for this. Fucking fates, this is going to hurt.
Nero flies down from where he was perched and lands softly on my shoulder. “ Do you want me to take his golden orbs from his head? It should be enough of a distraction to make everyone forget this, ” he suggests.
I shake my head at him. “ No, It will be okay. Go back to the wall, please. I don’t want you getting hurt. ”
His reluctance floats through me but I know he understands that there’s nothing we can do about this. He nods his black-feathered head and takes off, but instead of going to the wall, he circles over top of us, and I can’t help but feel loved that he doesn’t want to stray far.
With a steadying breath, I try to loosen my limbs as I step into the circle my squad has created around Craven, his wing watching on with mixed expressions of boredom and amusement.
He grins triumphantly as his eyes rake over my frame, his eyes quickly glancing up to Nero with what I think is a hint of confusion.
Evera takes that moment to yell, “You got this Talyn. Crush the mate-stealing bitch into the ground.”
His face hardens, fists curling in on themselves. “The rules are this,” he states, ignoring his mate behind him. “Magick is permitted. You fight until you tap out or get knocked out.”
I nod at his terms, knowing that if I fight back anymore right now, it will be worse in the long run. My stomach itches something awful, but I put it at the back of my mind. Readying myself, I get into a defensive position. I know I won’t win this, not by a long shot, but if I can at least minimize the damage done to me, then I’ll call this a win. My anger at this situation seems to fuel me and I feel a shred of confidence.
Confidence at being knocked out maybe.
As expected, he comes at me with his fist flying straight for my jaw, and thanks to my feet, seeming to move of their own accord, I narrowly miss the hit. But not the one aimed for my stomach. My breath blasts out of me as my stomach cramps.
Roz winces while Ember yells for me to get it together. An endearment from her if I’ve ever heard one.
Craven steps away and peers around at the others. “Never leave yourself open—the first hit is most likely a distraction from what’s to come.” He shoots his hand out towards me and a blast of wind knocks me clean off my feet, sending me flying back into Cadet Ellis, who shoves me back into the center.
Sergeant Craven turns towards me again, this time with a ball of water in his hand. So I do the only thing I can think of, not wanting to freeze in the snow for the rest of the lesson, and strike the flint and steel I was given in my Elemi magick lesson, summoning flame just as he flings the water in my direction. The field around us hisses and steams as the two elements connect, successfully canceling each other out.
Shock and amusement cross his expression so quickly that I feel like I misinterpreted it as his stoic guise falls into place again. He throws his fist, and even from the distance between us, the air carries his punch and my head snaps to the side. Before I can shake off the daze of the hit, he grabs the collar of my tunic and slams me on the ground, moving insanely fast.
“Fucking submit, cadet,” he hisses quietly, baring his fangs as his fist aims for his next hit.
So I do what any female would do in my position, and I elbow him right in the balls. “Never,” I hiss, equally as quiet as he grunts, his eyes widening in pain as I bare my teeth right back at him, our faces so close I can feel the heat of his breath coating my face. His eyes dart down to my lips and mine to his as I fall into a daze, needing something, but I snap myself out of it. He’s the enemy, and he’s betrothed, for fates’ sake.
But he recovers much faster than I expect, and the last thing I see is his fist before everything goes black… again.