Torrent of Tears (Scourge Survivor Series Book 3)(16)

I eyed the men. They were obviously insulted by our conversation and the order to spar with a woman in front of a high-ranking commanding officer.

Ooooh fun. “All right. I’ll see what they’ve got.”

Estes bent at the waist and stepped back. “Begin at your pleasure.”

A guttural growl came from the one on my right. “Permission to speak freely, Princess?”

“Of course. Always.”

“There’s not much to you. Ydorus and I will snap you like a glass doll. You should run along back to your quarters and play hair and dress-up. We don’t wish for you to get hurt.”

“Yeah,” another one chimed in. “You have much to learn from the other Eligibles.”

I snorted. “Ah, that’s sweet, but when I can’t sleep I get cranky and when I’m cranky, I really should crack a few heads before I’m put under pressure or I tend to go off. I’m supposed to meet the Queen for lunch. Wouldn’t want to cause a scene now, would I?”

“Enough talk,” a soldier in the back said, his gaze narrowing on me. “If she needs a lesson on what roles are fit for women in Attalos, I have no problem teaching her.”

I snorted again. “You’re not my type either, hon, but my father taught me it was rude to point out a man’s short-comings. It makes him bristle.”

“Bristle, eh? Well, Princess, if you swear not to go crying straight to the courts saying that we abused you, and you’re sure you won’t reconsider . . . ready yourself for battle.”

Yee-haw.



A good while later, with my mind finally settled and my body aching for all the right reasons, I accepted the canteen from Estes and joined him and Terran under the shaded umbrella of one of the clearing’s date-plum trees.

“Well?” Estes asked, watching the last two soldiers I’d faced off with. Their comrades had hauled their asses upright and were currently in different stages of regrouping their manhood. “What do you think?”

“They’re decent fighters.” I gulped down three large swallows of sun-warmed water. It was stale but wet. I gulped down a bit more. “They’re too rigid in technique. It makes them slow on adaptation. Maybe because I’m a woman they underestimated me. Maybe not.”

Estes nodded. “Thank you, Princess. If you find yourself in need of another workout and wish to continue working with the Queen’s men, that can be arranged.”

Terran’s unfinished warning still niggled in my head. “I’m not sure what my days will be like yet, but I’ll think about it.” I scanned the crowd of bruised egos, reluctant respect, and all out fury. “Nicely done, guys. Don’t let your pride take a hit because I’m a woman. Like you said, I’m not from around here. Besides, you gave me quite a workout.”

One of them huffed, his lips pursed. “Don’t patronize us, Princess. You aren’t even winded.”

“Next time. If you’d like a rematch I can show you where you faltered.” The daggered looks were nothing I hadn’t seen a hundred times before.

“Who taught you to fight, Princess?” one asked.

“My father.” My stomach knotted and a pang of betrayal flipped in my gut. The kind-eyed man in the courtyard had been my father too, yet I knew nothing about him. “I was raised by a warrior named Maximus Reign.”

Estes adjusted his breast plate when he stood and joined us. “You men would know him as the Reign of Terror. Those legends of the unstoppable warrior from the Realm of the Fair have been whispered as bedtime stories for decades.”

Eyes widened and jaws dropped slack. It warmed me that Reign’s reputation had touched this secluded corner of the Realm of the Fair. Made me feel less cut off from him.

Terran and I turned back toward the palace. “If you want a rematch, boys,” I called over my shoulder. “I’m sure the Master Constable knows how to contact me. Or not. Your choice.”





CHAPTER SEVEN


“You move like lightning.” Back in my suite, Terran showed me how to open the vanity mirror in the dressing cabinet and then took up a formal position standing just inside my door. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And your sister, Jade, is a warrior too?”

“Mhmm.” I’d finished my bath and was trying to get my spikes to stand up with the slimy paste that passed as hair gel in this city. “She’s different though. I’m speed and strength, Jade has powers. She can call on the strength of the gods.”

“Truth or tease?”

I giggled. Terran seemed to catch on to sarcasm rather quickly, but still couldn’t tell when I was using it or not. “Truth. She was adopted by Reign, like me, but her biological father is Castian Latheron, God of Fae gods.”

“And you know him?”

“Who, Castian? Yeah, I know him.” I flicked my way through the forest of eye pencils standing at attention and found a green one that would accent the purple of my eyes. Terran stared across the room at me, his face screwed up like he didn’t believe me. “Truth, I swear. I know Castian. When I get this all figured out and contact my Haven family, you can ask Jade.”

Terran sat up straighter. “Contact your other family? How will you do that?”

I shrugged and pushed my lips out. I found a great mango lip-gloss in my welcome basket. “Once I get my clothes back, I’ll call them on my phone. Between my genius brother Julian and Castian’s godly mojo, Talon tech works in any realm.”