“If not for this training hang up, we would get along better,” she explained. “He’s not bad. I just think he’s unable to think outside his opinion. I’m ready, Nevyn. I know I am. Outside of training, I just don’t have any reason to see him, and he doesn’t have much reason to see me.”
“Accept Varon’s help on the music lessons though.” Nevyn grinned. “He’s very, very good.”
“Hell of a lot better than Senri,” Kian whispered. “Don’t tell her I said that.”
“I’ll stick with Senri,” she said again, smirking. “I like her more than any of you.”
“That hurts, but I don’t blame you. I like her more than me too.” Kian grinned.
3
Luykas
Luykas watched Mave fly away, desperately hoping she would turn around in the sky and come back. She wouldn’t—of that he was certain—but he always wanted her to. He just wanted to stare at her a bit longer, talk to her a bit more. Arguing was as good as anything. She wasn’t so bad anymore, though. They didn’t always argue. They didn’t always fight. She didn’t look at him like he was scum anymore.
Most of the time.
She was different than she had been when he first met her. Something had loosened up in her as if she was finally comfortable with all the radical changes to her life. He loved and hated watching it happen. He’d been right when he told her she was developing an attitude. She knew she was the baddest bitch in the mountains, just like she’d been the baddest bitch in the pits.
It’s beautiful and fucking terrifying. And she wants to get even better.
“Fuck me,” he said, rubbing his face. “She thinks she’s ready. Why do I feel like that’s going to come back and bite me in the ass?” Because it always does—everything I do comes back to bite me in the ass with her.
Luykas didn’t bother waiting long after she disappeared to take off and leave the small training field behind. He wanted to head to the village after her but resisted, turning at the last moment to land on his brother’s front yard.
More and more, he found himself standing outside his brother’s home. His house was too close to her. He could feel her through all the stone, edgy like him, ready for another day together. He spent most of his free time now with Alchan, who tolerated his presence, even when he didn’t want to.
“Hey, Luykas!” Rainev called from nearby. Luykas turned to see the young mutt, holding an axe on his shoulder, a log ready to be split in front of him.
“Hi, Rain! Who’s this firewood for? I’m stocked up for the rest of winter. I’m sure half the village is.” He pointed at the stack behind the male, who shrugged.
“Whoever wants it. Alchan thinks the hard labor is good for me.” With that, Rain swung, splitting the log in front of him in one go without much effort.
“Well, it’s helping you fill out, that’s certain.” Thanks to all the time Luykas spent out of the village, he saw Rain more than he normally did. He was beefing up, thanks to the punishment Alchan gave him for his insolence on their way home, and now he was thicker than when they’d rescued him from Elliar with Mat and Mave. He would never be huge because of his build, but the muscle he was putting on would prove useful one day.
“Yeah. My father is wondering if I’ll need new armor before the end of winter.” Rain chuckled, swinging the axe so it embedded in the stump he was using to hold the logs. “Coming in for lunch?”
“Is Alchan cooking it?” Luykas shoved his hands in his pockets. “You know I never pass up on eating my brother’s cooking.”
“Of course he is. You know, I was really worried about this punishment, but he’s not nearly as bad as I think I made him out to be in my head. He always has breakfast ready in case I haven’t eaten and makes sure I get lunch before I leave.”
Of course he does. Alchan is a fucking softie when he wants to be.
“He knows he’s making you burn precious energy in the middle of winter. Between you and me, I think he just likes to cook and doesn’t get the chance to anymore. He doesn’t want the entire Company at his door, asking for food, so he doesn’t tell or show many people.” Luykas patted Rain’s shoulder. “What’re your plans for the rest of the day?”
“I was going to see Mat, Zayden, and Bryn. They’re apparently drilling the village guards and want more hands. I think they just want to show off that I’m younger than most of them but can do the drills.” The young male smirked. “How was training with Mave?”
“The same,” he answered. Since he wasn’t keen on opening up to Rain about her, Luykas shifted the conversation. “Are you keeping up with your own training? I know you’re here every morning, which takes up a lot of your time. You’re getting stronger, but the techniques…”
“I’m fine.” The young male grinned, walking past him toward Alchan’s home.
They climbed the steps together, and he let Rain enter first. The moment they were past the threshold, Luykas could smell the cooking meat, spiced with everything Alchan could probably find.
“Tell me you have enough for three!” he called out. Rain beat him to the dining area. Luykas chuckled as his brother looked up from what he was doing in the kitchen, glowering.
“Yes, but not because I thought I was going to feed you. I was hoping to keep some for dinner tonight.” His brother groaned, waving him in further. “Sit down. Or set the fucking table so Rainev can get off his feet.”
Luykas smirked and did as his king commanded. It was interesting, hearing and seeing how Alchan was acting with Rainev, something he’d witnessed before with his brother. It wasn’t a side of Alchan anyone got to see very often.
Rain sat down as Alchan put the roast on the table, along with some bread.
“Enjoy,” he gruffly ordered.
Luykas chuckled and did just that, diving in before his brother changed his mind. Rain quietly ate fast, dismissing himself the moment he was done, not even there long enough for Luykas to start a conversation.
“Does he always run off like that?” Luykas asked after the door had shut.
“Yeah. I think I make him uncomfortable,” Alchan answered, pushing his food around with a fork.
“He might be more used to you, but you are the king. He’s not going to stick around when he doesn’t have to.” Luykas took another bite of roast. He considered how to broach the topic with Alchan, wanting to tease his brother. If he didn’t do it right, he would piss Alchan off. “He said you aren’t nearly as bad as he thought you were. That counts for something.”
“That’s good. He doesn’t talk to me much.” His brother sighed, shaking his head. “Can’t get him to talk to me about anything, really. He shows up, follows my orders, and heads out.”
“Reminds me of someone else,” Luykas said gently. “And you remind me of the time someone else was the person running out of your presence like he was on fire.”
Alchan froze mid-bite. He put the fork down, not eating anymore, his hard, amber eyes locked on Luykas.
“He’s a good male. I’ve been training him after breakfast, then keeping him for his punishment until lunch. It’s a good schedule.”
“You’ve been training him?” Luykas sat up a little straighter. “Why didn’t I know this?”
“Because he asked that it would just be between him and me. He didn’t want to get shit from his father.” His brother broke into a small smile. “I don’t think Zayden would give him shit, but he was stepping out of his comfort zone by asking me to train him, so I accepted the terms.”
“Why?” Luykas gave his best confused look. He didn’t really understand. For three centuries, Alchan and Rain had kept their distance from each other. On Alchan’s side, Luykas knew his brother didn’t want to be so close to the young of the village and Company. He was the King, and that meant he needed some degree of separation. On Rain’s side, the young male had been intimidated by Alchan for his entire life. Alchan had a point about Rainev leaving his comfort zone, just asking for help.
“He reminds me of someone
too,” Alchan answered. “Ten was a good kid.”
“He was. Remember the day General Lorren forced you to take him on as a pupil?”
“I’ll never forget it. I was pissed. I didn’t want to waste time teaching some nobody to play soldier. I didn’t care to. It was a month before I was comfortable with the idea and another month before I was comfortable with Ten himself. He ended up training with me for a decade, probably one of the best decades of my life.” Alchan leaned back, no longer trying to eat. Luykas watched his brother carefully as his amber eyes grew distant. “He was nearly done with training when he became the first man to die for me.”
“And Rain reminds us of him.” Luykas knew the day Ten died, remembered it well. The three of them were away from camp, fishing in some mountain lake without their guards. It was thirty years into the war, and the area was supposed to be secure. A group of Elvasi scouts had stumbled on them, and it only took one lucky crossbow bolt to end a good male’s life.
It took my brother another decade to recover from that.
“Rainev can turn into a wyvern. Less chance of him dying because he happens to be the only one near me when an enemy tries to kill me. He’s not even a recognized pupil. He’s just here in the morning for training and punishment. That’s all.”
“I know. I just wanted to point out it’s been over a thousand years since you’ve had someone like that around for you. It’s good. Maybe you should make him a recognized pupil or the human word for it—squire, right? I think it would do you both good. A nemari! That’s the word I was looking for.”
“That would mean telling his father I’m training him. I want to respect his wishes.”
“You’re the King of the fucking Andinna. Zayden will get over it,” Luykas snorted, shaking his head. “They all think you’re an asshole.”
“I am an asshole,” his brother reminded him.
“On missions. When you’re stressed. When things have gone wrong, or people annoy you with petty things that aren’t your problem. Then you decide to respect the wishes of a mutt who is supposed to be here getting punished.” Luykas grinned. “Take him as your nemari. Your real pupil. It’s been too long since you let someone get that close. It’ll help your image.”
“I’ll think about it. How are things between you and your pupil? I haven’t spoken to her in a couple of weeks. I should get everyone over here for another dinner. She and I don’t see each other if I don’t get everyone together.”
Luykas narrowed his eyes on Alchan. “More of the same. She wants to learn more, Alchan, and I’m worried she’ll try for too much too fast.”
“With blood magic? Possible. Easy to do, but if you’re there, she’s not going to kill herself. I know you wouldn’t let that happen. Is there anything else you can keep her busy with until you think her work is secure enough to continue?”
“She won’t learn the small stuff that doesn’t interest her. She wants the advanced stuff, like empowering one’s self. Other than that? She wants to…” Luykas groaned. “She wants to try sparring with the bond, like when we fought the sorcerer.”
“Then do that. It’s honestly not a bad idea. It’ll give her—”
“I’m not comfortable doing that all the time in training,” he cut in quickly.
He watched Alchan shift from brother to commander to King in a matter of seconds—his posture, the way his eyes hardened. He was thinking about something, and if Luykas knew his brother, it was probably the Company and how useful it would be for Mave and Luykas, fighting together.
“Get comfortable. Get Nevyn and Varon and spar against them. She’s one of the best-damned warriors we’ve had come into the Company in a century or more. Having another fighting pair like them will only benefit us. They’re good with both ranged and close-quarters combat, but you have higher levels of magic. With a nightmare like her holding a sword, you two could be unstoppable.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Practice until it is,” his brother ordered softly. “Has she been complaining about not having enough to do? Not learning enough?”
“You know she has,” he reminded Alchan. The questions were absolutely rhetorical, but Luykas could never resist answering.
“This fixes it without the risk of her trying too much with her blood magic too fast. Just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s not useful. I have a lot of sympathy for you both…sometimes, but I also need the best warriors I can get, who are willing to do whatever is necessary to win.” Finally, his brother’s stony face cracked and softened. “I know this isn’t just about you.”
“I don’t think she realizes how bad it’s going to be once we start touching each other. On the mission, it was easy to ignore the emotional part of the bond because we were fighting for our lives. A sparring session? Everything I feel is going to be laid out there if I lose focus. She’ll hate me for it.” Luykas swallowed. “I’m not an idiot. I know if she learns I find her attractive…” He snorted. “If she hasn’t figured it out already.”
“That’s something you’ll have to face. Or you can teach her the blood magic she wants to know.”
“Yeah, that’s my problem.” He wanted to leave suddenly. He knew what Alchan’s feelings on it would be, even if he hadn’t thought of them before.
His brother had a single-track mind. What was best for the Company was best for everyone. What was best for the Andinna was more important than the pain and suffering of the individual. It was his upbringing as a member of the royal family. It was ingrained in him.
“Do you have feelings for her?” Alchan seemed a bit incredulous as if the concept had just dawned on him. “You’re as dominant as I am. Sometimes, I have to look away from you. I can’t fathom being with her. Are you considering trying?”
“I don’t have feelings for her. I find her attractive, and I think she’s…well, I think she can be a bitch, but when she’s not, she’s pretty decent. You have to remember, I’m not like you, Alchan. I’m dominant, but I’m not a bedru. I’m half-Elvasi. I don’t have some of your hang-ups.” He gave his brother his best look that said ‘you know that.’
“That’s never going to sink in. If it hasn’t in the last eighteen hundred years, it probably won’t today. I can’t wrap my mind around it.”
“I know. It’s hard to change the way you think. Skies, it’s hard to change how the Andinna think,” he smirked. “We’re pretty set in our ways.”
“We’re a stubborn people,” Alchan agreed. “Now get out of my house.”
“What?” He’d wanted to leave, but he didn’t expect to get thrown out.
“I don’t want you hanging around until dinner, just to eat more of my food.”
Luykas chuckled as he conceded to the demand, shaking hands with his brother before leaving. He was going to have to find Nevyn and Varon anyway if he wanted to follow his brother’s orders.
He took off the moment he was outside, soaring high into the sky. He’d wasted enough time, he didn’t think he would find them at the dining hall in the village, so he landed at their home, knocking politely.
Varon answered, giving him a silent look of curiosity and shock.
“I’m not here to talk to you as a priest,” Luykas explained. He never visited the lovers if he had any say about it. He didn’t put any stock in the gods before bonding with Mave, and that had always been something quiet between them becoming better friends. He knew better now, but it wasn’t a conversation he was ready to have with the priest. “I’m here with a different request.”
An eyebrow went up.
“Well, we can’t wait to hear it. She was right, you do look worse than she does,” Nevyn said, stepping up behind his male. “Why don’t you come in?”
Luykas held back a groan. Mave had already seen them today. He made no move to enter their home, preferring the quick escape of their cliffside porch.
“I want to start sparring with you two, teaching her how to use the bond for…combat and such.”
“You know, the bond is supposed to make love, not war,” Nevyn commented. “Then again, can’t expect there to be too much love between you and her. She was talking about stabbing you in the balls at lunch—before she complained you were holding her training back.”
“Thanks for the warning about future ball stabbings,” he snapped, baring his teeth. “I’m giving her this to work on because of those complaints. Please help me.”
“Stop lashing your tail around like a pissed off child,” Nevyn growled back. “We’ll do it. You two meet up right after dawn, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll come get you and show you where we’ve been practicing tomorrow morning.”
“We’ll be up,” he promised, then shut the door in Luykas’ face.
4
Mave
“You sit right there.”
Mave listened to Senri’s command and followed her point to a cushion on the family room floor. She resisted a smile as Kian snickered.
“Right here?” Mave asked, pointing at the seat as well.
“Yes,” Senri sighed, looking between her and her husband. “Kian, you said you met up with Mave at lunch. Would you like to elaborate why you’re both trying not to laugh?”
“She said she was going to stab Luykas in the balls,” he answered.
Mave tried her best, but a chuckle escaped.
“It’s not even a funny conversation. Promise. Your husband is just a fool, and I’m not sure why we haven’t stopped laughing.”
“He’s like that,” Senri said indulgently as if she suddenly realized what had happened. “He finds humor in everything if he can. Won’t grow up, my Kian.”
“Why should I grow up? Life’s boring when everyone’s stiff and adult-like. I’m too old to be taking everything so seriously.” The male grinned as he found a seat as well. “So, can I stick around and watch the lesson?”
“Mave?” Senri looked at her, implying it was her decision.
“I don’t have any problem with it. He can laugh at me too, and I promise not to gut him for it.” Mave dared to smirk. “I’ve gotten used to being bad at things.”
The Warrior's Assault Page 4
