Chapter 9
Vyrian
––––––––
Istep out of my roomjust after noon, feeling worlds better. Kahl, Kaiden, and Kinsley put me through the wringer at the forge and I slept away the entire morning, praising the Fates it’s closed today. As much as it seemed odd to me, the triplets run almost nonstop Monday through Friday, barely sleeping, and shut down on the weekends. When asked, Kinsley explained that with Elias in school anyway, they’re better off home on the weekends so they can actually see their siblings.
I glance in Cai’s room, but he’s already gone to who knows where. I hear Soren in the kitchen and cross my fingers he’s cooking.
“You’re alive,” Ren teases, passing me a sandwich that I promptly inhale.
“I’d rather run the damn Gauntlet,” I admit around a mouthful of food. “It’s brutal. There are more orders than I imagined; looks like they’re fortifying the town as well as shipping to the neighboring cities. They’re not dumb. Nothing has happened in the vicinity yet, but they know it’ll spill over sooner or later. I applaud them being proactive instead of waiting until who knows how many die to get their heads out of their asses like some of these cities.” Soren grunts his agreement, heading towards the door. “Hey, where you off to?”
He pauses in the doorway. “To see what sort of training Ezra’s brothers put her through.”
As soon as her name left his lips, I was already skipping over. “Let’s go!”
He rolls his eyes. “What happened to not acting like a stalker? I have a reason to hover around her, but your date isn’t until next week. You show up uninvited without a good reason, you might screw yourself out of not only your chance, but a job too.”
I shoo him out of the door, waving off his worry. “What are you talking about? I just need to drop off my payment for my bow.”
He shrugs and the two of us walk the couple of blocks to Ezra’s house. I hear her pained curse before I see her, picking up the pace and flying around the house to the backyard. I immediately scan for the threat seeing only her and her brothers.
Her left bicep is bleeding steadily as I glare at Kaiden and the dagger in his hand that’s coated in her blood.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Soren grits out. “Training is one thing, but this?”
Ezra turns at the sound of Ren’s voice, and Kinsley wastes no time swiping her legs out from under her. She falls on her ass, eyes narrowed on him like it’s his fault.
“Are you alright?”
I extend a hand to help her up. She gives me a strange look, but takes it before walking back into the middle of the loose square her brothers make around her.
“Fine, you just distracted me,” she states, like she isn’t even hurt.
“And whose fault is that?” Kahl asks coolly.
She shakes her hands out and adopts a fighting stance, bracing herself. “Mine, I know.”
