Chapter 8 #2
She chuckled softly and looked over her shoulder. “This is quiet. Plus, no one is going to look. They are all far too interested in their own sore bodies. I promise.”
I looked around, and she was right. No one was looking at us. They were too busy dealing with their own aches and pains.
I glanced around one more time before slowly lowering my trousers to the ground. My shirt was long enough that it covered most of my body, and I pulled it up around my hips as I stepped into the water.
I hissed as the heat hit my skin, but as I sank deeper into the water, the warmth began to feel soothing. I let out a sigh as I dropped farther into the water, and I groaned as the heat bled over my shoulders.
You’re safe.
“I told you.” Wren leaned back against the rocks, closing her eyes. “These hot springs are miraculous.”
The heat radiated from my neck down to my toes, and I settled into the soothing sensation. My eyes fluttered closed as I nodded in agreement, letting out a comfortable sigh of satisfaction.
I felt like I was almost asleep when the sound of men’s voices drew me out of my trance.
I cautiously opened one eye and saw Dacre and Kai striding confidently side by side. They hadn’t noticed me yet; my back was angled toward them, but it was clear they were headed our way. My stomach tightened to the point of pain as they approached .
“Really, Wren?” Kai chuckled, and I sank down deeper into the water and forced my attention back on my roommate. “I heard that you barely got any sort of workout today. Yet here you are in the springs?”
Wren’s body went taut as she peeked one eye open. “Fuck you, Kai.” She stretched her arms over her head lazily, and I looked in his direction just in time to see the way he watched her body. “I get in a workout every day. But thanks for the concern.”
Dacre was quietly removing his boots, and the expression on his face was lethal.
I didn’t dare say a word to draw his attention toward me.
“You most certainly didn’t get a workout today.
” Dacre peeled off his shirt, revealing a lean torso sculpted by hours and hours of training.
His biceps bulged as he tossed the fabric carelessly to the ground.
I couldn’t help but stare, my eyes tracing the lines of his defined muscles with fascination.
He still hadn’t noticed me, and I forced myself to look away as his thumbs hooked into the sides of his trousers.
Wren was grinning at me from across the spring, and I shook my head at her so she would quit giving me a knowing look.
“I’m pretty sure you’d be better off with a training partner who had lost his legs in battle than her.” Dacre chuckled, and my chest hollowed at his words.
“Oh, yeah?” Wren cocked her head as she studied her brother. “Please tell me more.”
Kai stepped into the water beside me, and he let out a harsh chuckle when his gaze landed on me.
“Yeah, Dacre. What is it about this girl that has you so riled up?” Kai took a seat to my left, right between Wren and me, and winked at me.
He had led me here with my hands tied behind my back only a day ago, and now he had the nerve to wink at me.
“She doesn’t rile me up. I just don’t like her.”
I sat up straighter as Dacre stepped into the water and winced as the water moved up his calf. There were scars along his skin and fading bruises.
I wondered if those were simply from training or if the cocky bastard actually saw battle.
“Don’t worry. I don’t like you either.”
At the sound of my voice, Dacre’s attention snapped to me, and he paused for a moment. Our eyes met, and I felt a shiver run down my spine under his scrutiny. His eyes fell away from mine quickly, but they lingered on my breasts before traveling down to the dark water.
I felt a flush rise up my neck and quickly sank deeper into the water, trying to hide my body from his gaze.
“I didn’t realize you were here.” Dacre’s voice was low and dangerous and lacked the playfulness he had only moments before.
“No, really?” I looked up at him as if he hadn’t just been so cruel. “You’d think I might have picked up on that when you were talking badly about me so freely.”
I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore him as he moved farther into the water. He sat as close as he could to his sister, as far as he could get from me, although I could reach out and touch him with my foot beneath the water if I wanted to .
“Trust me, I wouldn’t have come if I had known you were here.”
“Likewise.” I crossed my arms just as Wren rammed her elbow into Dacre’s side.
“Don’t be such a jerk.” Wren moved across the small pool until she was sitting right beside me. “You were right.”
Dacre cocked an eyebrow at me even as his mouth stayed in a harsh line. “It looks like I wasn’t the only one talking badly about the other.”
“I called you an ass. It’s the truth.”
The corner of his mouth curved into a half smile. “And I called you weak. It looks like we’re both just telling the truth today.”
I clenched my fists under the water, willing myself not to react to his words.
“I don’t care what you think about me.” My voice was low and forceful as I met his gaze once again.
He held my stare for a moment before nodding almost imperceptibly. “We’ll see about that.”
I rolled my eyes because this guy was so damn full of himself. Wren’s brother or not, he was an ass, and I had no interest in spending any more time with him than was necessary.
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the warmth of the water, the way the heat soaked into my muscles, but I could feel his gaze on me even as the three of them began talking.
“There were three more recruits brought in today,” Kai spoke, and I finally opened my eyes to look at him.
“And?” Dacre leaned his head back against the jagged rocks, his neck muscles straining beneath taut skin. I couldn’t help but notice the lines of tension running through his body as he exhaled heavily.
“Two of them were devout followers of the king and chose not to join.”
He said it so simply, but I knew exactly what it meant. They chose to die.
“Did you even give them a choice?” I asked before I could stop myself, and Dacre’s eyes shot in my direction.
“We always give you traitors a choice. They knew exactly who they were fighting for, what they were fighting for, and that’s what they chose.”
“Have you ever stopped to think that the people of Marmoris aren’t fighting for anything other than their own safety, for their hunger?
” I sat up higher in the water as my anger fueled me.
“Not everyone is worried about the war between a king and this rebellion. They are worried about putting food in their bellies, about not being killed.”
Dacre’s gaze was as dark as the water that surrounded us, and neither Kai nor Wren spoke a word.
“In this world, you don’t have the option of not choosing sides.
King Roan has been draining this kingdom dry for years, and no one can survive under his rule.
Those who don’t join us are a danger to us because they are still paying that man the tithe.
They are making him stronger just by him sitting in his palace while we kill ourselves every day to make this kingdom a better place.
” The muscles of his neck and shoulders bunched as he clenched his jaw.
“Don’t speak about things that you have no knowledge of.
You spent your life in that palace. You can’t possibly know anything that was happening outside of it. ”
Panic clawed at my chest until I remembered that he only knew what I told him.
But there was a part of me that wanted to tell him the truth. I wanted to spew it in his face, consequences be damned, until he realized that he couldn’t possibly know what life was like in that palace, in that cage.
But I couldn’t.
“You shouldn’t speak of things you don’t know of either. You have no idea what growing up in that palace was like. You think the king is a monster, yet have you ever met him? Have you had to face him every day of your life?”
The next words that left his mouth shocked me. “Maybe you’re right.”
His gaze dropped away from my eyes, and I could have sworn he was staring at my mouth. I bit down on my bottom lip and forced myself to sink beneath the water before I did or said something stupid. The water moved over my face as I slipped below the surface, and I clamped my eyes closed.
I stayed below the water for as long as I could handle before my lungs begged for me to surface again.
My body begged me to get out of the dark water.
But there was something about me that felt stronger than before—now that I was out of my father’s kingdom and out of his reach. Dacre was a force, but I would not cower as he demanded.
I sat back up, coming out of the water until the tops of my shoulders were exposed, and as soon as I opened my eyes, all I could see were Dacre’s eyes still on me.
Wren was grinning as she looked back and forth between me and her brother. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” I nodded and pulled my attention away from him. I climbed out of the spring, forcing myself not to cover an inch of my body as I did so.
I reached for my discarded clothes before glancing back at Dacre. His eyes were lingering on my almost bare body, and they slid down until they landed on my ass.
Chill bumps formed on my skin as I grabbed my clothes and boots in my dripping wet hands.
I wanted to get as far away from him as I could.
“I’ll see you in the morning for training. Don’t be late,” Dacre said gruffly.
I turned toward him and saluted him with the hand holding my trousers. “I’ll be the weak one. You can’t miss me.”