Shade shifted, his golden eyes carefully impassive. “The infirmary.”
“No, you didn’t.” Coal snatched Shade’s wrist before the man could move away. “I went looking for you afterward, and no one had seen you there. You might have gone to the infirmary, but that’s not where you ended up.” Coal paused at a slight tic in Shade’s jaw. For a moment, they locked gazes, their silence filled with the sounds of an oblivious dining hall. Then Coal slowly released Shade’s wrist, leaning away from the higher-ranking officer. “You’ve a bloody big problem, Shade. Let me help you.”
Leaning forward into the space Coal just vacated, Shade bared his teeth. “I will tell you what losing time is like, right after you lay out the details of being held captive. Unless you want to put that on the table, stay out of my business.”
Coal kept the man’s gaze, letting silence trickle between them.
“Is everything all right?” River asked, his approach bringing Coal and Shade to their feet. Setting down his plate, the commander frowned. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Not at all, sir,” said Shade. “Coal was filling me in on what happened at the tribunal. It appears I left just before things turned interesting,” said Shade.
“I think you should move Leralynn off my training team,” Coal said, turning to River. “After what happened a few days ago, it would be better to put some distance between us.”
“Agreed.” River’s brisk reply stung despite being right. Sighing, River lowered his fork without having taken a bite and brushed a hand through his short brown hair—his only tell of turmoil within. “Except I can’t. That girl brought a princess to her knees this morning, defied me in the middle of the infirmary four days ago, and—if the rumors I’m hearing are correct—started a fight with three royals twice her size yesterday in an effort to protect Rabbit. I’ve no one else who can handle her, Coal. The girl has a point about making use of her magical knowledge, but she is acadet.A fact that she—and we—need to remember very plainly.”
Coal’s stomach clenched. Everything River had said about Lera was true—painfully true—except for one thing. Coal was not the right person to handle her. Not when just the scent of her threw his mind and body into chaos, brought up memories that he barely recognized as his. But how could he say one word of this to River without digging himself into an even deeper hole?
River watched him, waiting for a response. Then something shifted in the commander’s eyes as he studied Coal’s face, probably seeing far more than Coal intended. “Iamsorry, Coal,” River said.
Coal shrugged.
“What about the wolf?” Shade asked. “We can’t have a wild animal roaming the Academy.”
“You’d need to catch him first.” Coal turned to his food. He was the only one eating. “I saw the beast before. He’d been with Leralynn when she got away from me on our run. Came and left. Like today. Arisha is right, the animal isn’t—quite—wild.”
“And how many cadets do you propose we let him maul before we give him that distinction?” Shade asked.
“Do you truly want an answer?” asked Coal.
“This day just keeps getting better.” Pushing his plate away, River tipped his head toward the sound of the Academy bell and rose. “I need to go talk Sage down from having an apoplexy after this morning,” he said, rebuttoning his crisp dinner jacket. Placing both hands on the table, River lowered his voice to hard command. “In case I wasn’t clear before—I want Lera under close watch, lest she graduates herself from protector of wolves, children, and instructors to a one-woman force guarding us from the immortal world.”
* * *
