Ephrem
“Fuck!”
Lily pushed off the ground, pissed all to hell. It was the fifteenth, maybe more, or so time that I’d dropped her to the ground. Can’t say it wasn’t painful for me either. She wasn’t made for this kind of punishment, and I hated doing it. My friend Jason and I were dedicated to beating her ass to the ground in as many creative ways we could think of just to prove how pathetic her so-called training in the ArcKnight stronghold had been.
Hey, she hadn’t believed us. The look on her face now proved she was rethinking everything I’d told her and calculating just how hard this was going to be to level up.
I hoped she’d overestimated. She was getting her ass handed to her.
“Are you going to give up now? We just got started on the good stuff.” Jason smirked as he bounced on his feet, waiting for Lily to attack. Her face was flushed scarlet, and her long dark hair clung to the sweat drenching her face and neck. Flustered wasn’t the word to describe her in this state. If I hadn’t already spoken to her some, I’d say she was down for implosion any second.
“Come on, Lily. What are you waiting for?” I called out. She needed the push. There was nothing else she required. She had the skills. They just needed refining, and we were the best of the MarkTier pack who could train her.
Jason was now first scout of the Outlands Legion. That’s what the soldiers who guarded the Neutral Lands called themselves. We were an organized bunch. A well-oiled machine. The army was made up of only MarkTier soldiers because the ArcKnight pack had their own group of legionnaires scouring the edges of the Outlands near their borders. Here, we intermingled now and then, but it didn’t happen often. Only if necessary. If Jason knew Lily was an ArcKnight, he’d have an epic fit. He may have followed me out here in banishment and was my best friend, but he was still a spoiled rotten MarkTier nobleman soldier if I’d ever seen one.
Regardless, he was the only person in the world I trusted enough to help me train Lily and keep his damn mouth shut if he happened to figure out who she was. There was a list a mile long of people who’d want her dead if they knew who and what she really was, but I wouldn’t allow it. She’d been my betrothed, and I respected her even though we were no longer promised to each other. We had been once, and that was all I needed.
She curled her fingers into her palms, turning her knuckles stark white as she screwed up her face in a furious rage. “You’re going to pay for that last bit.”
Jason waved her over, tossing her a wink as he continued to bounce back and forth on his feet. “Give me what you got, babe.”
I never said he wasn’t a chauvinist pig, but it was darn good for angering Lily enough to push her into warrior mode. Rage was more useful than the giving up that had passed across her face when she’d discovered just how poor her training had been.
“Whatever, jerk. You got a date with the floor!”
She lunged toward him, flinging her body into the air near the ground. She grabbed onto Jason’s ankles and yanked with all her might. This movement threw him to the floor next to her, catching him off guard enough so that she could let go and turn, grabbing his arm and folding it behind his back as he faced the ground. She sat on his back to keep him from escaping.
Jason jerked and bucked as best he could with his one good arm, but she squeezed him with her thighs and pulled his arm even harder. It wasn’t looking good for him.
“Relent!” she demanded, giving his arm another pull for good measure.
“Stop! Okay, okay! I give!” Jason’s purple face and the veins popping out his temples told me he’d had enough.
I clapped, shaking my head and chuckling. Where Jason had skill on Lily, she had speed and was petite enough to evade his grip. It was surprising, but I couldn’t have been more thrilled to see her prevail in combat.
“Well done! I need to see you fight like that more often.” I grinned at Lily as she breathed hard, matching my smile with her own. Her teeth gleamed white and perfectly straight. Jason, whose frown deepened the lines in his sun-aged face, couldn’t be more upset as he rubbed his arm. “You got beat by a girl, ol’ buddy,” I said.
He growled, the low resonating hum of his wolf boiling underneath the surface while his eyes flashed yellow.
“Whoa now, we don’t want any crazy happening, now do we?” I narrowed my eyes at him, and he immediately calmed. He wasn’t my second lieutenant for nothing. He knew exactly what he had to do when he had to do it. Jason jumped to his feet and huffed as he walked away to cool off.
I turned toward Lily as I heard the door to the locker room slam.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
She grabbed a towel from the rack on the side wall and rubbed her neck with it. Her hair stuck to her face and flared out in a slight halo.
“Better now. I thought he was going to pound me into the ground.” She wiped her face and rubbed her shoulder. “I think my shoulder is going to have some marks on it tomorrow. Let’s not forget how much my entire body is going to hurt tomorrow.”
I waved her over. “Let’s put some ice on your shoulder. You did great. Keep at this, and you’ll be a legionnaire in no time.”
She rolled her eyes. “Are they all like him? Damn. Some friend you got there.”
“Jason is a bit rough around the edges, but he’s a loyal and courageous friend. He’s always had my back.”
She nodded as her eyes darted to the ground, a tiny frown pressing on her lips.
“I’ve never had friends like that. I thought I did, but….” She shrugged. “Oh well, right? Can’t trust anyone.” She quietly walked toward the ladies’ locker room without another word.
“Wait. Why? What do you mean?”
I jogged up to her as she came to a stop, still looking upset.
“Look, it’s nothing.”
“Lily.” I reached out and touched her shoulder. She winced, so I pulled my hand away. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right.” She sighed and met my eyes. “You know why I’m banished, right?”
I nodded, but I still want to hear her version of the story. “Just what the news has said about it, which isn’t much. The royals usually make that kind of news go away fast.”
She rubbed her hand over her hair, pressing her tousled strands back and looking more frustrated. I could tell she wanted to say more.
“Well, it’s because… I lost my Ardent talisman. It was like yours.” She picked up the pendant still hanging around her neck. “But with just one rune on the back of it and more of a topaz-colored gem.”
This piqued my interest, but I didn’t want her to notice.
“Do you know where you lost it?” I asked quietly.
“I—I actually didn’t lose it.” She bounced from foot to foot, fidgeting with the edges of her shirt as she stuttered. “It was stolen from me.”
“You know who took it, don’t you?” I already knew the answer to that. She was a horrible liar. Her guilt was displayed across her face like a billboard sign.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“So why didn’t you get it back? You might be reinstated if you find it.”
Her shoulders drooped as she shook her head. “My best friend, Elise, took it. I couldn’t have her hunted and killed. I had to tell the council it was stolen and I didn’t know who had it.”
“But she did steal it. Why would you defend a so-called friend like that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t let her be hunted like that. I’ve seen what they do to traitors. I couldn’t let her be thrown to the wolves. I couldn’t watch someone I loved die because I was stupid.”
“But you’d rather be banished and die in the Outlands? Does that sound right to you?” I walked away toward the locker room, fuming. She’d let her friend steal the Ardent amulet? My talisman? What kind of person lets anyone get away with that? My life was in danger because of her carelessness.
I stopped, realizing she didn’t know it’d been my amulet she’d lost.
“You know wolves usually don’t survive without their amulets. The ones that have them, I mean. They just get too weak to protect themselves.”
“Yes.” her voice came out in a whisper, cracking as though she was holding back tears.
If I looked at her now, I’d beg her to forgive my harsh voice. I usually relented for no one. That was, until now. I risked a peek at her, and my heart turned to mush. “We’ll find her.”
Blinking away the salty sweat mixed with tears surely stinging her eyes, she gave me a nod. “I know.” Peering up at me, her eyes sparkled. “You’ll help me, won’t you?”
Even if I wanted to say no, there was no way I could turn her down now. Not with her looking at me like that.
Well, darn.
“Yeah. Of course. I’ll help you.”
Lily studied me for a moment before giving me a smile that could suck my soul in and never let it go. There was no denying she had a subtle power to entrance anyone who spoke to her. I was pretty sure she was used to getting her way. Even then, I was also certain that she was more vulnerable than she’d ever admit.
I was a sucker for vulnerable.
Chapter Eight