“I still have four hours,” I said. “And they needed me to help with an intervention at the dam.”
“They don’t need you there. We need you here.” She started to walk along the path toward the castle.
A sense of duty had brought me here—I walked free, despite my transgressions, because of her. And that this opportunity, or any other, be entrusted upon me should be an honor.
I told myself such every time the anger surfaced. It didn’t stop the emotion from scorching through me. When I spoke, it be through gritted teeth. “I am a warrior. I’ve completed my duty by designing and inspecting the academy obstacle courses. I be not required as a teacher.”
“Sebastian.” Cara’s tone be chiding. “There are not enough bodies to service the realms, and you know it. We are in desperate need of what the council is trying to do. And the proper terminology is ‘Iamnot required.’”
I grimaced. I be a Bellati of few words, and as a result, my Formal tended to resemble my beast speech more than it should. Gritting my teeth, I elaborated upon my point. “The council be breaking new ground, which be not its forte. It has a long history of getting impeded by rules and regulations. This team-building effort be likely a futile endeavor.”
She raised a brow at me. “Well, that is the reason I have brought you back. I have worked very hard to acquire instructors that will direct these recruits along the right path.”
I be not gaining ground. “Surely there be others more suited as teachers?”
“You are Bellati,” she said. “You have been trained as a warrior since birth. All you have to do is show them the way and then push them to get there.”
I stared at her. Few of my kind could beat me in a fight—I be one of the top Bellatis the training program had produced—but there be many older warriors, now instructors, who regularly guided raw recruits.
Of course, Cara didn’t have a hold over them. Not like she did over me.
She smiled benignly. “You will have some rather excellent assistance in your endeavor. I have recruited nothing but the best.”
Knowing how and when to cede ground be part of my training. I gritted my teeth. “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?
She nodded. “I’m leaving after breakfast.” Her expression darkened. She pulled me toward a bench beneath a tree.
“Aren’t you in a hurry?” I questioned as we seated ourselves.
“I am. But I need to eat, and there is something you have to be aware of. So listen up for a moment.”
The words had me examining her more closely. Cara’s attention be always in demand. New lines of fatigue marred her face.
So I waited for her to explain.
“There is a recruit that I added at the last minute.” When she hesitated, my interest sharpened. Cara seldom be uncertain.
Her lips pursed briefly as she continued. “She killed a feral Dire, and I was called in to assess her. But exactly how she did it is still a mystery.”
Intriguing. Feral Dires be vicious—that the girl had managed to kill one be a sign of significant power. “She must be strong to do such. How did the feral die?”
“Nothing was visible. But when I examined him, I found that she’d torn apart his heart.”
My own accelerated somewhat. Cara recognized my astonishment and nodded.
“She also attracts animals. If she sits still in a forest, they come to her. And she can heal others, not just herself.”
I shifted slightly on the bench. “Cara—”
“I know. But it’s impossible.”
It be true. Until very recently, anyway. “Impossible for Bellatis, maybe. The female Liberis, however, have been permitted to roam the realms.”
“She’s not pure Liberi,” Cara concluded. “And Liberi can’t interbreed with others, including humans. Even if the miraculous somehow occurred, what could possibly cause a Liberi to abandon her child?
I didn’t respond. Our females be as dedicated to the pursuit of life as our males be to death—it stretched the boundaries of her beliefs that one would not be vigilant in protecting the existence of one’s offspring.
I be not so sure.
