Other trainers filed in through the door or windows. Celine sat against the wall, looking defeated. Falcon pulled her to her feet and patted her back. At least none of them were yelling at us for losing. I had expected it.
I leaned my head against his shoulder. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and lean into his firm body. He always smelled good, too, like cedar soap. The urge took me by surprise. I should pull away. There couldn’t be anything like that between us. I was only setting myself up for heartbreak if I let those feelings bloom. People like him and me didn’t belong together. Him, the noble, high-ranking assassin, and me, the humble Bonecarver. Even if I was LOA now, I still felt the disconnect of our upbringings.
“Sorry we lost. I was looking forward to that night of magical drinks at Enchanted Elixir. I know you were, too.”
“Eh, it’s overrated. They told you about that place, huh?”
“Yeah, I could really go for the Blue Ice drink. It might numb my throbbing face.”
“I’ll take you sometime. After you can walk straight on your own.”
“No face-numbing drink now?”
He chuckled. “I have some whisky in our room. It’s been collecting dust for a while, but you could put it to use. Will that be good enough?”
“Viper, you’ve been holding out on me.”
“Maybe a little.” He sounded more playful than usual. It was strange really, but welcome. “But letting my apprentice get drunk hasn’t been priority one.”
“Or one at all, apparently.”
“Was that a regular occurrence at home?” He teased. “Should I have given you the name Lush rather than Bonecarver?”
I lightly smacked his belly. “No! I would drink a glass of wine or mead sometimes, but only got really drunk once, and I vowed never to do it again. Ale isn’t good anyway. Whisky is even worse tasting. I don’t know why men like it. Kace was the one who kept challenging me until I puked, and he thought it was funny, too.”
His arm tightened around my waist. “And this was the man you wanted to marry?” The playfulness had gone from his tone.
“He didn’t mean anything by it. He did the same to my brother.”
“Did no one tell him you don’t treat the woman you like the same as your male friends?”
“I guess we were young, you know? Sixteen.”
The ladder was set up for us to easily climb down the granary to the grass below. Viper offered his arm once we both reached the bottom, but my dizziness had faded so I waved him off. “I’m alright now.” Even though I wanted to lean on him, it wasn’t because I needed the help. I didn’t want him to think... “During the next game we’re the assassins?” We walked side by side, me with a slight limp. I must have rolled my ankle when I collapsed too.
“Yes, they will be the vampires, and you’ll be the assassins.”
Taewyn stepped forward, inserting himself into our conversation. “That’s our chance to redeem ourselves then.”
“You will, and you’d better,” Vander answered. He glanced around at our limping, beat-up team. Every one of us looked like we’d been run down by a bull and dragged through the dirt. Half of our team had torn uniforms and crooked masks. “We were going to run your asses the rest of the night, but you’ve all had punishment enough for one day. I don’t think a team has lost this bad in years.”
“Thank you,” came from many, as well as relieved sighs. I wanted a half bottle of that white willow tincture, a shot of whisky, and my pillow.
“Don’t thank him,” Falcon said, half laughing. “You won’t in the morning. The punishment for this embarrassment still stands. You’ll just be running your asses off tomorrow.”
Could one die from running?My chest and throat burned and ached. My legs might as well be made of my mother’s oatmeal mush. I could barely put one foot in front of the other, and the sun was hotter than it had ever been, or felt like it.
We were assassin ducai, born to run, to fight, to never quit, but hours without so much as a pause for water? We’d started at daybreak, and it had to be afternoon by now. Sweat leaked into my eyes, stinging them. My lips tasted salty.
Vander and the other trainers stood at checkpoints to keep an eye on us. Taewyn’s pace had suffered the last few laps and I’d stayed beside him. He slowed now like he meant to quit. “If you stop, they’ll punish us worse,” I breathed. “Keep going.”
“They’re cut-throat, ruthless,” Taewyn muttered, picking up speed again.
“They’re training us to be killers. You think a vampire would stop chasing you just because you were tired? After our embarrassing loss last night, I’d run us until midnight,” Celine said from a few paces ahead of us. “They were taking it easy on us the first months.”
Vander stood against the stone keep, his arms crossed. The ease had ended. I could see it in his face, in the way he watched us, watched me. There was no softness in him. I knew he’dmake certain that what happened to me at the game would never happen again.
I’d lost count of the number of laps we’d run around Drakthar. Every time we passed the other team, who were taking the day off and having a picnic on the training grounds, they’d laugh, point, and mock. Beast wasn’t among them. Hopefully his punishment for hitting me after surrender was losing the prize for the game. The prick didn’t deserve to have an easy day off or a night on the town. I hoped he was sitting in the corner of his room in timeout for acting like the child he was.
