Nic leaned back against the tree and let out a slow breath. His lips twisted faintly—not quite a smile. “Well,” he said, voice rasping like scorched bark, “if this is their idea of evaluation, I can’t wait to see what punishment looks like.”
“I wish I had been summoned,” Arion said glumly, offering the plate of cheese to Nic.
Nic didn’t take it. He just stared at Arion like he’d grown a second head.
So did everyone else.
“What?” Arion asked, blinking under the collective glare. “I just wondered how I would’ve done. That’s all.”
“Oh, beautifully, I’m sure,” Nic muttered darkly. “Nothing steadies the sword hand like curiosity and hindsight.”
Uriah groaned and flopped back onto the grass. “All those hours we spent practicing, and for what? I’ve seen less violence in a bar brawl.”
“Maybe we were too gentle with each other in practice,” Clive offered. “My opponent didn’t seem concerned about sparing my ribs.”
“I never held back when we practice,” Nic said with a smirk. He tugged playfully at the ivory ribbon at the back of Helen’s head, sending curls tumbling down her shoulders. She yelped and reached for it, but Nic dropped back into the grass theatrically. “When I fight, I fight to win!”
Lekyi made a show of grimacing. “Remind me never to let you near a hairbrush.”
Dinah giggled, and Clive, reaching for another piece of bread, turned toward the quiet corner of the circle. “What about you, Collin? How did your assessment go?”
There was a pause.
Collin didn’t answer.
He sat staring into the fire, one hand listlessly rolling a peppered cheese ball between his fingers. “Say again?”
Clive glanced toward him, but before he could repeat the question, Nic spoke up lightly, “He’s probably too heroic to brag. Likely bested three guards and wooed a princess mid-swing.”
Laughter rolled through the friends, and Collin glanced up with a half-hearted grin.
“Still,” Lekyi said thoughtfully, “I wonder what their secret is.”
“To what?” Aries asked as he refilled his cider.
“Their muscles,” Lekyi said. “All of them look like they were chiseled from stone.”
“You’re the one apprenticed to the stewards,” Niall snapped. “If you don’t know, we’re all doomed.”
Nic snorted. “If the guards stub a toe, three medics swarm them with bandages and inspirational quotes. Meanwhile, we’re over here stitching ourselves up with fishing line.”
“There’s no mystery,” River said, waving a dismissive hand. “They train six days a week and eat like kings.”
“Anyway, I think I held my own against that brute I fought,” Nic added, stretching luxuriously. “What was his name again? Morr? Moron?”
“Morrison,” Aries confirmed, smirking. “Big, dumb, and out of breath. You had him running in circles while barely sweating. Honestly, it was the most fun I’ve had all week watching you wear him out like a winded ox.”
Helen beamed, clearly unfazed by the inflated ego beside her. Nic kissed her hair.
Collin looked away. Even in the wreckage of the day, Nic had someone to lean on, and somehow, that made the day feel sharper.
“You didn’t do so badly yourself,” said Nic.
Aries lit up. “Thanks!
River shook his head as Clive offered him the cheese plate. “They made me go after you two. I looked like a lost apprentice on his first day.”
Aries clapped a hand to his heart. “Timing, my friend. It’s all in the order of the spectacle. I think Eric would’ve been moreimpressed if I’d gone before Nic. Not that you weren’t good, brother—but I was better.”
