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The group stopped moving as she did, watching intently to see what would go down. She forced herself not to shrivel under their attention. Why was he making her chastise him in public?

Edvar stared back at her, jaw clenched. Iryana refused to let the sternness leave her face, as much as she didn’t want to push him.

Eventually, her cousin sighed. “Sorry, that was uncalled for,” Edvar mumbled, hardly looking at the soldier at his side.

Now Iryana stared at that soldier, giving him the same look.

“Yeah, alright,” the soldier sighed. “It’s fine. But I didn’t take your shit.”

She was thinking about how she’d have a serious conversation with Edvar once they got back, when a low-pitched thump came from the middle of the formation. A chorus of gasps followed, and Iryana spun around.

One of the soldiers clutched his face and spat out blood as he glared at Levek. Quiet, thoughtful Levek was glaring back at him, hands balled into fists.

“Don’t ever talk about her again,” Levek growled at the soldier, who looked ready to launch himself at Iryana’s cousin.

No. Prickly dread surged through her. She took a step back.

Pyetar barreled between them, his body shielding them from each other.

“No,” Pyetar growled. “We fight the beasts, not each other. If anyone has a problem with that, you can march back on your own.”

Iryana pushed through the gathered soldiers, making her way to help, but Pyetar’s interference seemed to be enough. Levek and the soldier spun away from each other.

When she walked up to the center of the crowd, Pyetar leaned close to her, speaking low. The lines of his body were tense.

“Do you want to deal with this, or should I?”

Gods, why did Edvar have to put her in such a difficult situation?

If she told Pyetar to handle it, Edvar and Levek would just hate him more. If she handled it, would her cousins resent her for it? She looked at the faces around her. This wasn’t really a problem between two people. It was there, to some extent, between them all. Just punishing this soldier for instigating her cousin wouldn’t be seen as fair to the soldiers. And just punishing Edvar for accusing the soldier without evidence wouldn’t sit well with Edvar and Levek, either.

She decided that letting the soldiers see Pyetar hand authority to her wouldn’t help things. Or perhaps she was just a coward.

“You can.” Iryana met his gaze. “They’re all at fault, really.”

Pyetar nodded and straightened, turning to face everyone. “This fighting stops now. We are allies. We stand together, so we will face punishment together.”

The grumbling started.

“Silence!” Pyetar’s tone left no room for argument. “We will start with a hundred push-ups, in two groups. Alternate keeping watch. Now!”

No one complained, but they weren’t happy. Iryana gave Vaneshta and the others an apologetic smile.

To his credit, Pyetar joined them, inspiring Iryana to do the same.

“And if we have any more issues, the consequences will be far greater,” Pyetar barked out when he was done leading the entire group through a series of increasingly difficult exercises.

The charges from the settlement hadn’t made it through all their sets, but Pyetar had let it slide since they were civilians. He’d made them work until their muscles collapsed.

Everyone was exhausted, but they had to set up camp now to let everyone change and dry the sweat off their body. Being damp was dangerous with the cold.

She wasn’t sure if the punishment would help, but at least most were too tired to argue now.

Levek walked past her, his shoulder bumping hers as he hissed, “He said you fucked one general, then when you got tired of him, you killed him and replaced him with the next man warming your bed.”

Iryana bristled, eyes darting to Pyetar. He had been standing close enough to hear that, hadn’t he? Every muscle along his body looked tense beneath his coat.

“I don’t need you to defend me,” she told Levek.