“A lowborn. It’s insulting.”
“She must be a pretender. A fraud.”
As Lilis slides off her wolf, her head turns briefly, allowing me to see her smirk.
I’m not sure if she’s sneeringatthe two men becausethey’re wrong about me orwiththem because she thinks I’m an affront to all highborn fae.
It’s difficult to forget that when she and those two fae surrounded me, she threatened to torture me for information.
I have to avoid her and them as much as possible.
“Your training starts now,” Stellen murmurs in my ear. “But don’t worry, I’ll be watching.”
Wait… Watching?
Won’t he be teaching me?
Before I can question him, Stellen slips to the ground.
I follow him, leaving my cloak on Nara’s back and landing lightly, prepared to speak, but he’s already gesturing Lilis to his side.
Her expression is blank again, her smirk gone. “Yes, Lord?”
“I promised you another punishment, Lilis.” Stellen casts me a chilling glance, his command to Lilis filling me with dread. “You will train Thyra.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Thyra
Inever imagined Stellen could put me in so much danger, not when he’s gone to great lengths to keep me alive.
He has to have a reason. Something I’m not seeing yet…
Even so, my mind runs through all the possible outcomes of Lilis training me, all the ‘accidental’ injuries that could befall me.
Especially when her smirk returns. “With pleasure, Lord.”
Before she can move toward me, Stellen’s hand shoots out. “Lilis.”
She freezes before she runs into him and I’m reminded of his warning to me that his touch indicates an intention to kill.
“Yes, Lord?”
Still softly, he says, “I will inspect Thyra’s body at the end of every day, and if a single bruise or cut interrupts the perfection of her form, I will ensure that same harm is rendered on you tenfold.”
“But…” Lilis’s mouth works around words she’s clearly having trouble choosing. “But training her requires?—”
“Tenfold.”
Lilis gives me a glare so scorching, it could melt ice.
Stellen told me my training started now. And so it has.
With a single cleverly-worded command, he’s backed Lilis into a corner. Not only has he made my complete safety her responsibility, but it will be obvious to anyone listening—and listening, they are—that Stellen didn’t threaten to deliver the harm himself. He will have one of Lilis’s subordinates do it. A diminishing of her stature that would threaten her entire existence.
Her response isn’t what I expected.
Her glare fades. Her forehead puckers. She glances at Stellen, then at the watching soldiers.
