My erstwhile hummingbird twittered at me from her hovering position over my head, and I counseled myself to screw this up. I needed to blend for another day, unless I planned to sayadiosto this place, right now and forever. But there were still things I needed to glean from that library…
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Riggs had squared off with the instructor’s assistant. Bree, however, was watching me. And then she flinched as Nemi darted to her and landed on her shoulder. She raised a finger to stroke her—and the fucking bird leaned into it.
That had entirely different connotations now than it would have an hour ago.
It was at that moment of frustrated distraction that Cody came at me.
He was nothing but a blur of motion. My body reacted as it had been trained to do, ducking out from under his grab, one leg shooting out to trip him, an arm chopping at his throat.
He proved his mettle by avoiding my trip and ducking the blow. A millisecond later, we were circling again. But this time, I saw a glimmer of respect in his eye.
“You’ve had training,” he stated.
Shit.If I wanted to fool him, I was going to have to work harder at it. Yet all I could think of was Bree watching us, with a bird that might not really be a hummingbird sitting there on her shoulder. Appearing like a ham-fisted fool in front of her just wasn’t in the cards.
Which made me another kind of fool. Knowing it didn’t change it.
So all I said was, “My grandmother trained me.”
Cody’s brows twitched. “I would love to meet her.”
“She’s dead.” Or was she?
“I’m sorry.” He said it like he meant it.
“So am I,” I returned.
Cody came at me again, faked a grab and spun, going for a headlock. I twisted away, my foot shooting out to land a solid kick to his shoulder. I’d been aiming for his head, but the guy was fucking good.
As we danced apart again, my blood warmed to the task. It had been a long time since I’d been up against anyone as good as me. Other than my grandmother, of course.
Cody took his game up a notch, and I rose with him. Soon, we were in the air as much as on the ground. I became aware of the other students stopping to watch. The only pair of eyes I cared about had moved closer for a better view.
It galvanized me to greater heights. Bruised and covered in sweat and dirt, Cody grinned like a fiend, and his eyes were blazing copper.
After I finally landed a spinning kick to his jaw, he laughed and held up his hands. “Okay. The master has become the student. I want to learn that last move.” He brushed dirt off his tee shirt. “If you’re interested in becoming a fight training assistant—I have someone helping me already, but with this lot, another hand would be welcomed.”
I stared at him, and a traitorous worm of warmth wove its way through me. Whispering that I could stay, and become a part of this place…
Everything in life had a price. On the surface, this academy seemed like a haven. But experience had proved one thing to me—that safety was only earned with brains and a good knife.
My eyes slid to Bree, and then to the bird sitting on her shoulder. These people might believe they were safe. But I’d seen too much of life to believe it.
It was a lie. And in another day, they would all know it.
So I plastered a fake smile on my face, and said, “Sure.”
32
Riggs
I spent the class sitting beside Breana and thinking about Tez.
And openly yawning.
“…the Cryptid council has long been the only governing body that crosses realm borders, but it had lacked any power to make change…”
The headmaster’s monotone delivery was boring as heck, although, to be fair, the topic of council policies and procedures was very dry. As far as my attention span was concerned, it wouldn’t have mattered if it had beenSexual Practices Across the Realms.
