Riyan’s shoulders shifted slightly. His jaw tightened against my side. “Serafina, nice boys don’t get sent to themilitary academy.”
“What doyou mean?”
Riyan took a step up a rocky ledge. “Noble families normally send their sons to Heaston, right? At Heaston, they recite poetry, drink tiny goblets of wine with their pinkies in their air, and brag about how rich and powerful they are. It’s a rite of passage for noble boys, but for the more…troublesome sons? Well, it’s off to the military academy to break them out of theirbad habits.”
“Butyouwere sent to themilitary academy.”
Riyan’s cheek rose with his wry smile. “I never said I was a nice boy.” His fingertip traced the side of my leg underneath my skirt until he touched the bare skin of my thigh. He laughed as I smackedhim away.
His smile faltered and his shoulders drooped with a long exhale. He raised his hand again but gently held my ankle between his thumb and forefingers. Ilet him.
“Despite being my…my father, General Hyton encouraged the other cadets to be a little…ruthless when I arrived at the academy.” His voice was lower and more thoughtful. “I was the youngest kid there by a few years, but that didn’t mean I got any mercy. None of those other delinquents messed with me after I grew a couple of times and could beat them into abloody pulp.”
I leaned my arm against his earlobe and hummed out a breath. He had to fight even as a child…and his father wanted him to. The memory of Duke Hyton beating his son bloody flashed through my mind. Maybe General Hyton was not so unlike his brotherafter all.
Riyan absent-mindedly stroked my calf with his thumb. “About three years after the first battle with the giants, Thornebow showed up after he got kicked out of Heaston. Oh, he was such a little prick, always bragging about how much money hisfather had.”
Riyan’s voice grew quieter and darker. He stopped stroking my leg. “One day, Thornebow got caught in town with a girl. That girl got to talking and it turned out Thornebow had…interacted witha lot of girlsin Hyton.”
“How?” I asked. “Even boys have to be chaste to go through the marriage enchantment. Grigory could not have been with girls in…thatway,right?”
“Some men will go as far as they can before Selection Night with girls they think don’t matter,” he replied flatly. “But…he was not with them like you think. He washurting them.”
He took another step up a steep ledge and I gripped his hair. “Hurting them?”
“They had, uh…bruises. All over their wristsand necks.”
We walked in silence again as I waited for Riyan to explain, but hestayed quiet.
Morbid curiosity burned behind my ribs, but I was not brave enough to ask. What was Annalisain for?
My heart sank. Grigory could do whatever he wanted to her—no law kept a man from hurting his wife, even if it was generallyfrowned upon.
I let out a breath. Annalisa would never let someone like Grigory hurt her. If she could walk up to Riyan and threaten to stab him, she would not be afraid to fight back against a smaller man like Grigory. Besides, I remembered her wide smile as she had danced with Grigory at her ball and how Grigory had rushed out to the garden to protect her from a drunk Riyan. Maybe the military academy really did straighten Grigory out and he had changedhis ways.
Riyan maneuvered around a grove of pine trees. “Have you ever noticed how Thornebow walks witha limp?”
The edge of an evergreen branch brushed my shoulder. “I tried to be polite about it. He said it was an oldbattle injury.”
Riyan scoffed. “Of course he wouldsay that.”
“Why?What happened?”
Riyan smiled against my ribs. “General Hyton used to make us fight each other on a weekly basis to prove our strength. Since I guess he liked to see his son dominate everyone, General Hyton one day ordered me to wrestle every cadet oneby one.”
“But you were so much bigger than the rest of the cadets! That is not fairat all!”
“Life isn’t fair.” Riyan shrugged hard enough to bob me upward. “After I heard what Thornebow did, I wrestled with him, just like General Hyton wanted me to do,but then…”
Riyan’s smile grew even bigger. “…I snapped his legin half.”
“Youwhat?”
“He deserved it.” His smile even reached the deep tones of his voice. “Everyone saw me do it. General Hyton didn’t allow me to hurt anyone outside of his orders, so my punishmentwas severe.”
“Youwere punished? But he was the one hurtingthose girls!”
“Like I said, lifeisn’t fair.”
