The frustration was evident on Lex’s face, and I felt a twinge of sympathy.
There was a long way to go in training these recruits. Somehow, I knew that just seeing a battlefield wasn’t going to fix the ever-growing list of issues.
“Dismount and walk your horses from here. There is a public corral which we will use for the night. We have already secured you rooms in the tavern located on the tree with this symbol,” Lex held up a piece of paper with a dark charcoal outline of what looked like a swooping S. “You will be bunking with your riding partner from today. You may relax and enjoy yourselves for the rest of the evening”—Lex had to yell the next part to be heard over the whoops of delight—“but you are to conduct yourself in a manner befitting the Academy. If I hear awhisperofunbecoming actions, you will be discharged from the Academy and left here. Am I understood?”
A chorus of grumbled “yes, Mage d’Talionis,” sounded, and Lex curtly nodded his head in response.
“We will meet back outside the corral at 0300 sharp,” he barked to another chorus of groans and grumbles.
I hid my smile beneath my hand at Lex’s clear disgruntlement. He was much older than this troupe of recruits, and the age difference was incredibly apparent. It was evident the cadets saw the night in Myrefall as a chance to let loose and partake in all kinds of revelry. The exhaustion writ in Lex’s expression betrayed his desperate need for a bed and a bath.
We dismounted and gently led our horses into the public corral, thanking the gruff-looking Earth Vessel that guarded the entrance and took our coin. I waddled the whole way, not wanting to rub my chaffing legs together.
The pain was sharp and throbbing, but was nothing a warm bath and a bed couldn’t handle. The ride tomorrow, though, would be a different story. I was certain I’d be sore and stiff in the morning, and there was no doubt the beginning of blisters on my thighs would grow and burst by tomorrow evening.
And then we have a two days’ ride home—if we push like we did today.
“Drinks at the tavern?” Tine sidled up next to Leal and I, his brother hanging slightly behind his shoulder.
I exchanged a quick wordless glance with Leal before shrugging my shoulders. “Why not?”
My bath and bed could wait—the chance to explore Myrefall and engage socially with people my own age without my husband’s shadow or mother’s expectations was too exciting a prospect to ignore.
“AndthenItold him that if he wanted a sausagethatdesperately, I had one right here”—Tine pulled at his crotch—“he could stick in his mouth.”
The table of cadets roared with laughter at Tine’s story. Leal snorted into her ale while Talamh rolled his eyes good-naturedly at his brother’s antics. I smiled, basking in the revelry and camaraderie that surrounded the table.
The boys had been through a few drinks at this point—empty mugs filled our table—and even Leal imbibed harder than I expected. There was a target board in the corner of the room, and we quickly discovered that Leal was not just an Air Mage, her aim with throwing daggers was lethal. She twirled one constantly between the fingers of her left hand while her right clutched her ale.
“Mages with low power levels need to have another way of defending themselves,” she explained with a shrug when I asked why she was so comfortable with the knives.
“Especially in the lower districts,” Leal muttered into her ale so quietly I almost couldn’t hear her. I chose not to press her for more information; her business and history were her own, and I would not appreciate spilling my guts in a tavern to people who were still nearly strangers.
There were too many secrets I held; too many things I’d done that I didn’t want revealed and dissected. And, to an even greater degree, I had little idea how to behave in this type of environment. My “friends” in Katiska were always approved by my parents, and none of them were from this part of society. So I sat silently, sipped my wine occasionally—I much preferred the plummy drink to the fire disguised as alcohol Alois gaveme—and laughed at the appropriate parts of the twins’ stories. Occasionally, I twisted the gold band on my finger, but for the most part, I tried to relax. Blend in.
“So, Lady d’Refan,” Tine blurted, and I winced at the moniker. “What? Don’t like your name? Youaremarried to him, right?”
I sighed and released the grip on my ring. “Yes. I am.”
“So you’re Lady d’Refan then,” Talamh said flatly.
“I suppose . . .”
“But it doesn’tfeellike you, does it?” Tine guessed with a sage nod of his head before draining the rest of his ale.
I took an entirely too large gulp of my wine and hacked as it burned my throat on the way down. Leal pounded my back until I stopped coughing, and I shot her a watery “thank you” once I had enough breath in my lungs to do so.
“Ellowyn d’Aelius fits better?” Tine pressed once my eyes stopped watering.
I shrugged and chewed my lip, not sure how honest I should be.
“Come now, tell us. We’ve ridden together, drank together. Fuck, we’re going to see dead bodies together tomorrow. I told you about my penis hat. I think you can give us this little bit,” Tine urged with a roguish grin, and I felt myself relax incrementally.
Even though I’d known these three for an incredibly short amount of time, I already felt like I knew them better than any of the courtiers in Katiska.
Weird how life experiences can bond you like that more so than birth and station.
“No,” I said simply. “It always felt like an ill-fitting dress I had to wear. d’Aelius was my family’s name, yes, but it never felt like mine.”
