this. And he’d be a fool to stop. When Connor started to walk away, Savoy blocked the path.
“Move, Korish.” Connor’s voice was dangerously quiet.
Savoy crossed his arms.
“You wish to fight?” Connor met him stare for stare. “You think us fifteen?”
“Think you can take me?”
“No, Korish, I don’t. And I’m all right with that. I have responsibilities that don’t include one-upping you, stealing dessert from the mess hall, or going along with whatever suicidal idea enters your skull.”
“Too busy reading?”
“Grow up, Korish.” He paused. “I did.” Saying nothing further, Seaborn walked around Savoy and left.
Savoy watched his friend disappear down the path, then twisted around and slammed his fist into the nearest tree. He struck again and again, seeing different faces appear in the trunk. Connor’s. Lord Palan’s. His own. That of the idiotic, unknown official who hauled him back to this cursed place.
A snort from behind got his attention. Kye had stopped frolicking and now pawed the ground, ready for battle. Savoy knotted Lava’s reins and sent the gelding toward the stable before vaulting into Kye’s saddle and, heedless of the setting sun, kicked him into a gallop.
CHAPTER 9
L ightning ripped through the early autumn sky, startling clouds into a downpour. Alec snatched the half-finished mapping assignment from Renee’s hands and tucked it into his tunic. “Figures.”
Renee shielded her face. “We can still memorize the pace count.” Daylight had dimmed behind the clouds, and night approached swiftly through the rain.
Alec took her shoulders and turned them toward the main Academy grounds. “We’ll finish it tomorrow. It isn’t as if either of us has Queen’s Day plans.” He sighed. “That’s it, isn’t it. That’s what’s spurring today’s masochism?”
Renee shrugged. Queen’s Day was for family, and even the Academy suspended classes to welcome parents onto its grounds. Not Lord Tamath de Winter, of course, but he had been absent for three years anyway. It was for the better. She didn’t need Savoy informing her lord father that all the failures he assigned to his daughter were, in fact, accurate. And her mother . . .
Alec squeezed her arm. His own family never came to Queen’s Day, his grandmother being too old for the trip and his mother estranged since his birth. The situation seemed to bother him little, however, as, poking her shoulder, Alec offered up his miracle solution to most of life’s issues. “Let’s eat.”
Despite having rolled her eyes, Renee found that a bowl of hot porridge did improve her spirits, enough even that after returning to her room and hanging damp clothes up to dry, she could ask Sasha’s plans without fighting a hitch in her own voice.
“Palace.” Sasha, who saw no reason to pull her nose out of the thick volume weighing down her desk, traced her finger down the page. “I’m going to tell Lys he’s an idiot.”
“Some Servant you are.”
“As a Servant, I enforce his laws.” Sasha tapped a line and picked up a pen. “As his cousin, I tell him he’s an idiot. And tomorrow, I’m his cousin.” She scratched out a note and looked up, her face flushed. “Do you know what he did when the Vipers burned down that registration post? He denied audience to the Madam’s emissary and turned the arrest decrees into death warrants. That’s . . . that’s like lighting a match in a barn full of straw, Renee! Walks around like a rooster now, saying he won’t bow his head to criminals.”
The liberties Sasha took in discussing the Crown, though only in private, made Renee blanch even after years of exposure. “My father
pays
the Family to leave his wagons alone,” Renee offered. “The price grows each year. You think that’s better?” She fell back on her bed.
“Victory in war does not come from fighting battles. It comes from winning them.” Sasha tapped her book. “Lys’s just fighting. And you think
“Move, Korish.” Connor’s voice was dangerously quiet.
Savoy crossed his arms.
“You wish to fight?” Connor met him stare for stare. “You think us fifteen?”
“Think you can take me?”
“No, Korish, I don’t. And I’m all right with that. I have responsibilities that don’t include one-upping you, stealing dessert from the mess hall, or going along with whatever suicidal idea enters your skull.”
“Too busy reading?”
“Grow up, Korish.” He paused. “I did.” Saying nothing further, Seaborn walked around Savoy and left.
Savoy watched his friend disappear down the path, then twisted around and slammed his fist into the nearest tree. He struck again and again, seeing different faces appear in the trunk. Connor’s. Lord Palan’s. His own. That of the idiotic, unknown official who hauled him back to this cursed place.
A snort from behind got his attention. Kye had stopped frolicking and now pawed the ground, ready for battle. Savoy knotted Lava’s reins and sent the gelding toward the stable before vaulting into Kye’s saddle and, heedless of the setting sun, kicked him into a gallop.
CHAPTER 9
L ightning ripped through the early autumn sky, startling clouds into a downpour. Alec snatched the half-finished mapping assignment from Renee’s hands and tucked it into his tunic. “Figures.”
Renee shielded her face. “We can still memorize the pace count.” Daylight had dimmed behind the clouds, and night approached swiftly through the rain.
Alec took her shoulders and turned them toward the main Academy grounds. “We’ll finish it tomorrow. It isn’t as if either of us has Queen’s Day plans.” He sighed. “That’s it, isn’t it. That’s what’s spurring today’s masochism?”
Renee shrugged. Queen’s Day was for family, and even the Academy suspended classes to welcome parents onto its grounds. Not Lord Tamath de Winter, of course, but he had been absent for three years anyway. It was for the better. She didn’t need Savoy informing her lord father that all the failures he assigned to his daughter were, in fact, accurate. And her mother . . .
Alec squeezed her arm. His own family never came to Queen’s Day, his grandmother being too old for the trip and his mother estranged since his birth. The situation seemed to bother him little, however, as, poking her shoulder, Alec offered up his miracle solution to most of life’s issues. “Let’s eat.”
Despite having rolled her eyes, Renee found that a bowl of hot porridge did improve her spirits, enough even that after returning to her room and hanging damp clothes up to dry, she could ask Sasha’s plans without fighting a hitch in her own voice.
“Palace.” Sasha, who saw no reason to pull her nose out of the thick volume weighing down her desk, traced her finger down the page. “I’m going to tell Lys he’s an idiot.”
“Some Servant you are.”
“As a Servant, I enforce his laws.” Sasha tapped a line and picked up a pen. “As his cousin, I tell him he’s an idiot. And tomorrow, I’m his cousin.” She scratched out a note and looked up, her face flushed. “Do you know what he did when the Vipers burned down that registration post? He denied audience to the Madam’s emissary and turned the arrest decrees into death warrants. That’s . . . that’s like lighting a match in a barn full of straw, Renee! Walks around like a rooster now, saying he won’t bow his head to criminals.”
The liberties Sasha took in discussing the Crown, though only in private, made Renee blanch even after years of exposure. “My father
pays
the Family to leave his wagons alone,” Renee offered. “The price grows each year. You think that’s better?” She fell back on her bed.
“Victory in war does not come from fighting battles. It comes from winning them.” Sasha tapped her book. “Lys’s just fighting. And you think
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