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“There’s one escort who will remain quiet,” I said carefully. Since I’d realized that one of Tristan’s escorts, Bellamy, was also following me, protecting me on behalf of Ka Grey, I’d been paying him to be silent—to not tell Tristan about anything he saw me do or report on anything he had to protect me from. Bellamy had kept his word so far, and I’d been sure to keep the coin flowing. If I could get word to him on the days I needed to reach Gryphon Island or anywhere else Rhyan and I might meet, this could work.
“What escort?” Rhyan asked, one eyebrow narrowed in suspicion.
“He’s not officially a member of the security detail,” I said carefully.
Rhyan’s face tightened. “I don’t trust the mage from Ka Grey.”
“I bought him,” I said carefully.
Rhyan’s eyes darkened. “Then he’s loyal to money and not you.”
“What other choice do we have?”
“We’ll figure it out. If we need to, we can meet separately in our training room. You can also run on your own. As important as the extra training is for you, it won’t help things if you get into more trouble.”
I exhaled in frustration and took another sip of coffee.
“Sorry,” he said. “We’ll figure it out, we have a pretty solid plan so far. For now, though, let’s focus on our morning training.”
Morning training turned out to be guided visualizations and meditation, similar to what we had done on the track the day before. Rhyan guided me to map out each part of my day, asking me how it was going each step of the way. Every time I imagined it going poorly, I revised the scene in my mind. If he thought I was imagining something weakly, he had me redo it to an outcome where I showed more strength. I saw myself successfully completing the morning run, sitting energetically through classes, nailing every combat move in our training session, and victoriously fighting my way through combat clinic—even though, thank the Gods, I wasn’t back on the schedule. Yet.
When he was satisfied that I’d mapped out a successful day of soturion training, he ended our session with some deep breathing before he took off, still having refused to tell me what was in the coffee.
I arrived at the Katurium to meet Galen and Haleika for breakfast, surprised to find she was back to her normal, happy, bouncy self. I froze as she greeted me with a hug, starting to wonder if the day before had been a fever dream brought on by exhaustion or my hangover.
She was flirting with Galen, sipping the dining hall’s coffee—which now paled unbelievably in comparison to what I’d had earlier—and talking excitedly about attending the fall festival in the city that weekend. I politely excused myself from making any plans, saying I’d need the time to study and train.
A group of apprentices walked by, their trays full of food. Leander was among them. Haleika didn’t look at him, nor did he look at her. But I could feel the tension cutting through them. Only in this moment did her eyes narrow on me, a glimmer of the Hal I saw yesterday poking through. Her eyes flicked to Rhyan sitting across the room, holding court at a table by himself, his gaze on me as he peeled a hardboiled egg.
Haleika cleared her throat, and then her pointed expression was gone, and she returned to discussing the fall festival.
My stomach twisted with nerves, and right in that moment, Viktor and his wolves decided to stalk past our table, their eyes leering, predatory. Tani sat across the room with Naria, Pavi, and all their little Ka Elys followers. I took several more bites of my breakfast platter, knowing I needed the energy.
“You feeling all right, Lyr?” Galen asked, eyeing my plate. It was the biggest plate I’d ever made for myself.
For a second, I was embarrassed. I’d never eaten this much in front of him. It wasn’t proper. Then I remembered Rhyan’s words. Fuck it. I needed the energy and strength. I took another bite. “Hungry,” I said.
Haleika gave me the side eye. “It’s good your appetite’s increasing.”
My stomach turned at her words, unsure what her point was. There was no way she could know who’d influenced me. But she had such a knowing look in her eyes that my mouth went dry. I held her gaze, determined not to cower, and took another bite.
“Go for it, Lyr,” Galen said. “Eat whatever you want. I think I’m going to get some more, too.”
Outside, I wordlessly set my dagger down beside Rhyan’s before falling easily into our warm-up routine. The stretches felt the best they ever had. I’d been practicing, but an unusual look of approval from Rhyan made me wonder if the visualizing was working already.
“You look good,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said, as my heart did a little flip. “Quite a far cry from Lord ‘You’ll-be-the-worst-one-out-there.’”
“Oh, you’ll still be the worst one out there,” he said.
I practically growled at him.
“What?” He held up a hand in surrender. “I’m already forsworn, I can’t lose another title, especially one as important as Lord ‘You’ll-be-the-worst—’”
“Fucking Moriel,” I muttered.
“All right, partner,” he said. “In all seriousness, you’re a hundred times better than when you started. That girl who walked onto this track a month ago, she and you are not the same. I still say stamina over speed. But today, I want to see you pass someone. Wait for the right opportunity to come, and go for it.”
