Chapter 26 #2
“So I’ve heard.” In clipped strides, Lenya circled them, tucking his chin as he peered at the dagger still hanging by Lory’s hip.
“I can tell by Vednis’s posture that she’s been spending perhaps more than a healthy amount of time with Phantom Bleek and, by her tongue, that she’s had her fair share of training with Phantom Frier.
But I’d like to see you give her more attention, Falcrest. If you’d like your head to remain attached to your shoulders, you’d better deliver. ”
“Deliver what?” The thought burst out of Lory’s head, and the slight widening of his eyes gave away it went straight into Khayrivven’s.
“I’m on it, sir,” he assured, and Lory couldn’t help but feel left out yet again. There was always some secret going on with Khayrivven. Something she wasn’t supposed to be privy to in his humble opinion.
“If you don’t start talking, I’ll burn your ass, Falcrest.” She couldn’t help it. Now that she finally had this secret channel into his head, her thoughts just slipped out of her.
“You’d better be on it for another hour to brief Vednis on the best way to kill a nobleman,” Lenya rolled on, oblivious to the minuscule frown giving away the captain’s frustration. “I need to know if she has the stomach for it before I agree to an early elevation to tested.”
The blood in Lory’s veins froze. “Kill who?”
The malicious smirk on the Master of Whispers’ face was enough to make her regret she’d opened her mouth at all.
Beside her, Khayrivven shifted almost imperceptibly, but Lory noticed the way his shoulder moved an inch in front of her, his hands still relaxed by his sides, but she was very well aware he could strike so fast that no one would see it coming. Perhaps not even Espetto Lenya himself.
“I’m glad you asked, Vednis.” Lenya locked his hands behind his back. “It has come to our attention that someone close to the king’s court has been freely handing out information. This someone needs to be silenced.”
Guardians above. Vision a blurry mess, Lory attempted to speak, but her throat had gone dry like the desert sand outside Dunai’s walls.
“Now don’t waste your time on playing chase like two kids. A quick repetition of basic techniques of ending someone’s life will suffice, Captain. You’ll leave at nightfall.”
Just like that, Lenya turned on his heel, stalking away a few paces, then disappearing into thin air as if he’d never actually been there.
With a hanging jaw, Lory stared at the spot where he’d vanished. “What the fuck just happened?”
Forgotten was the prospect of killing. Forgotten the fact that Lenya had called them children. Forgotten the threat implied when the Master of Whispers had scolded Khayrivven.
Espetto Lenya had just disappeared mid-step.
“How do you think all the students out for your blood made it to the Amrin Mountains so fast for your trial?”
Nothing Khayrivven could have done would have stopped Lory from entirely ignoring their hierarchy or the facade they were supposed to keep up.
Fists balled, she shouted at him, “And you didn’t once think to tell me?
First, the astral projection, and now, this?
” One of her hands moved up, gesturing at the now-empty spot in the yard.
“GONE!” A part of her wished for more eloquence when this lone word came out like an accusation; the rest was entirely satisfied with the expression of horror on Khayrivven’s face.
“Keep your voice down.”
“Or what?” An indication of hands raised for placation wasn’t enough. “What other secrets are you keeping?”
“Lory.” The warning in his voice made her hair stand up at the back of her neck, but she ignored the urgency spreading in her veins.
“Master of Lies. That’s the title you deserve, Captain.” Shaking from head to toe, Lory made to turn and walk away, but Khayrivven struck with such speed she didn’t see it coming before he slammed her into the ground, one hand at her throat, the other on the hilt of his saber.
“If you catch your mark unawares during an assassination attempt, you won’t need to wet your blade. Crushing their windpipe will suffice,” he explained with such calm that Lory wanted to scream. But his eyes…
Oh, his eyes gave away a whole universe of opinions on what had just transpired.
“It also keeps them comfortably quiet.” The smirk on his face was nothing short of wicked as Lory fought for air. But that was only the facade—in his eyes, a storm of self-loathing and fury fought for the upper hand as he kept the mask of the ruthless captain in place.
“Can’t breathe,” Lory gritted out.
The smirk on Khayrivven’s face turned into a forced grin. “That’s the whole point, Thornling.” But his eyes said, I’m sorry. And the self-loathing won over rage and duty as he loosened his grasp.
Through gritted teeth, he hissed at her, “He’s still watching.”
Automatically, Lory’s eyes darted around the yard.
“Focus only on me.” His voice wasn’t more than a whisper, but it ensnared her all the same. “My eyes and mine alone.”
Something tugged on the inside of her chest like a string of pure fire, and a groan escaped her mouth as his fingers lingered on her throat, no longer squeezing, but a light, almost tender grasp that made her want to follow the direction of the nameless pull.
“What now?” She didn’t dare speak the words aloud, shame about her overreaction staining her cheeks crimson. With a few non-deliberate words, she might have just ruined everything.
“Now you get to your feet, Thornling, and show me that you can put the fear of Eroth into your victims.”
Lory didn’t question him when he drew his saber. She merely pulled her dagger and attacked.
Bruises on her elbows, her forearms, and her ribs were the least of her problems when she entered Anees’s secret dressing room three hours later, freshly showered and hair coiling at the ends from the humid heat already stifling the city.
Tears of the Gods was still a day away, but the air had changed with the wind sweeping over the city that afternoon, and the promise of rain made her want to rejoice. She’d be able to breathe again.
Khayrivven followed her into the room, shutting the door behind him, and headed straight for the dresser to the left.
Not a word had passed between them since they’d left the training yard, where Khayrivven had explained to Lory in detail the anatomy of the human heart, the lungs, and the veins transporting the largest volume of blood.
Nothing she hadn’t been made aware of in Medica classes, but instead of understanding how to use that knowledge to help someone survive, she now saw breaking points whenever she glanced at the brooding captain.
His neck—exposed. One slice of a knife could cut open his aorta and spill his fire-laced blood on the sandy streets of Dunai.
One stab to the gut in the right place—he’d bleed out.
A slice through the tissues between the ribs—he’d suffocate on his own blood while his lungs would refuse to expand, no matter how hard he breathed.
Cruel. Cruel to know how to hurt him the easiest, no matter how upset she still was with him.
“You can speak to me, you know?” With more force than necessary, Khayrivven opened a drawer, digging for what Lory at first thought was a silken gown, but turned out to be a set of underthings.
A sand-colored, lace-trimmed camisole and loose underpants in the same style that she knew wouldn’t fit under her uniform.
“Are you sure no one is watching?” The moment his hand had slammed into her throat wouldn’t leave her head for a while—as wouldn’t the slight bruises already forming on her skin where his fingers had dug in. “I’m concerned you’ll throw me into a wall next.”
Much to her dismay, that painted a half-grin on Khayrivven’s lips. “Oh, I have quite some ideas what I could do with you against a wall.”
“Not funny.” Lory put her mental foot down, not trusting her voice as her heart started hammering like his tone had been a summons. Her hand wandered to her throat, covering the imprints of his strength, and the grin vanished from his face, replaced by shame.
Putting down the set of underwear, he took a casual step closer.
Then another, his fingers tracing the back of hers where they lay against her skin, and had Lory not already known how much he regretted playing the hardass instructor when they were under scrutiny, she would have been convinced now.
“I don’t enjoy hurting you, Lory.” His touch, so light yet so intense it drove a shiver along her spine, he hooked his index finger beneath her palm, pulling her hand off her throat and leaning in to kiss the purpling stripes one by one until Lory’s heart was ready to leap out of her chest, the tug on her heart so solid she might have cried out a little from the sensation, and no matter if he’d used that little word ‘no’ before, she couldn’t help wanting him.
“If I had a choice, I’d worship every last part of you until all you know is bliss. ”
“Don’t say things like this.” Lory dug in her mental heels. He’d told her he didn’t love her. How could he speak words like that? Was she nothing more than a distraction for him? An opportunity to follow his carnal desires? Was any of it real?
“So real I could devour you right here, right now.”
Fuck—and once more her thoughts had run away from her mind and fallen right into his.
His lips followed the side of her neck, fingers tugging the collar of her shirt aside.
She needed to focus. Needed to—“Stop.”
Immediately, Lory bemoaned the absence of his mouth on her skin as he stepped back so fast she hadn’t even finished the word in her head.
“I didn’t mean to…” He fished for words. “For a moment, I got carried away.” The thread in Lory’s chest burned like fire. “We should get ready for the mission.”
Without taking his eyes off her face, searching for Lory didn’t know what, he reached to the side, retrieving the underthings and handing them to her. “Put these on, and the dress that’s hanging behind the screen.”