Atop a dragon, hundreds of feet in the air, she was free of the heavy shackles she had worn nearly all her life.
The dream ended as soon as they landed in the field behind the camp. She slid off Thessa, foregoing the ladder this time. Sensation jolted up her spine as she dropped to the ground, but she held back her yelp. A few paces away, Ilav was vomiting again. Even the princess looked pale as she dismounted and slid to the ground.
Yella smiled. “Fun, right? Diving like that is one of the more difficult maneuvers, so I figured we would just get it over with.”
“Bitch,” Ilav choked out. “You’re trying to weed us out.”
Yella’s brow rose. “This is war, is it not? I have orders to ensure a strong group of riders can lead our armies. I’d advise that next time, you just choke it down.”
Ilav snapped, rushing at Yella, his face pinched in fury. She caught his arm before his fist could hit her face, twisting roughly. He yelped in pain as she held the position. “You think this is a game? I would have thought being a general’s kid would give you a more realistic view.”
“We are the reigning power,” he gritted out. “Mise has no chance.”
“True as that may be, would you like to know how many dead ridersanddead dragons that has taken to remain true? Meesling has its wyverns, and Mise has better fed soldiers. Those things won’t win them a war, but it will make it more difficult for us to end it.”
Ilav grunted, pulling free of Yella’s hold and stumbling back. She looked around. “Anyone else?”
No one spoke. Yella smiled again, dusting her hands off on her leather riding pants. “Good. Follow me. We’re going to study flight formations.”
The rest of Soren’s afternoon was spent on her knees, huddled around a circular wooden table filled with unrolled parchment weighed down by stones. Yella pointed to different formations, informing them again and again that they would practice most of them together before training was up. She also drilled into their minds that memorizing the formations now was important.
“When you’re out there, in the thick of battle, you’ll forget it if it isn’t already second nature,” she told them sternly.
Soren was bleary eyed by the time dinner came around, but the knowledge that her day was far from over weighed heavy on her. She ate quickly before slipping from the group, huddled around the fire.
Unsure exactly where to do her exercises, she headed back to the field where they had met the dragons earlier in the day. It was empty and dark, clouds obscuring any moonlight trying to fight its way through. She sighed heavily, her breath clouding as she dropped down and began the circuit of core exercises Vane had shown her. Once she was done, she ran laps around the field before letting herself collapse near the edge of camp in a sweaty, shaking mess.
There’s a stream just beyond the field. It’s cold, but at least you won’t stink.
Soren’s mouth quirked up.Thank you.
Thessa was quiet after that, and Soren trudged across the field, finding the stream just hidden behind a small grove of trees. Glancing around several times, she made sure no one was there before she stripped down to her underclothes and slipped into the water, gasping at the icy chill. After dipping her head inonce, she crept out, teeth chattering as she slipped her clothes back on over her wet skin.
By the time she made it back to the tent, Cion was already fast asleep. Soren settled down on her mat and shut her eyes, praying to gods she knew would never answer that her dreams would be kind.
As usual, the gods did not listen.
Chapter 14
Breakfast was notready by the time Soren left the tent for training. Not wanting to be late and incur Vane’s anger, she hurried to the clearing where they had trained the day prior. He was waiting, arms crossed over his broad chest. His gaze flicked over her, catching on a point by her shoulder. He was looking at her hair, she realized, the silvery strands braided tight and falling nearly to her waist.
“I know, it’s an odd color,” she said, touching it self-consciously. “Not very Misean.”
His mouth bracketed with tension. “A family trait?”
She shook her head. “Not that I know of. If it was, my mother and father were dead before they could tell me much about where it came from.”
Lie.She remembered asking her parents incessantly about her hair and why she didn’t look like them and her siblings. They had glossed over the subject every time she brought it up.
Vane didn’t react to her words the way she thought he would, though. She expectedsomesemblance of pity. Instead, he only said shortly, “Start your exercises. Now.”
Fury rose in the back of her throat like a bad taste. It clouded her thoughts and her reason, making her promptly forget the threats that had been hammered into her mind at the palace.
“I was planning on it,sir,” she quipped, raising a brow and matching his stance, her arms across her chest.
He lowered his chin, a storm in his eyes. “I am trying to help you.”
“You don’t even know my name.”
