Page 64 of Great Falls Rogue

I frown, somewhat stunned. All these weeks of trying to figure out what’s happening with the wards, where their weakness is originating from and what’s causing it, and Coal canfeelwhat’s happening with his body. Like a bloody divining rod. “I didn’t notice that,” I say dumbly.

“That’s because you are about as good at stepping into the Gloom as Arisha is at negotiating stairs,” says Coal with no hint of exaggeration.Yes.The bloody bastard is certainly himself again. He rubs his face, then studies me critically, his beautiful, chiseled face heartbreakingly precious even when it’s annoyed. “Find one of my shirts to call a dress, and let’s move. You follow my steps exactly.”

Coal provesto be right on both counts. Not only does he successfully guide us through campus without getting caught, but the moment we enter my bedchamber through the open window, Arisha starts walking toward us and trips, falling face-first to the floor. As soon as he’s settled my friend into her chair with a rag to catch the blood seeping from the nose she hit, Coal recaptures me against his solid body, his large hand splayed possessively along my ribs.

“Well?” Coal asks Arisha. “What do you see?”

“I see an instructor pawing my friend,” she tells him, before turning to me with a protective slant to her freckled face. “Do we approve of him doing that?”

“We very much do. Especially since he remembers who he is now.”

“Interesting. He still looks human to me.” Arisha shrugs, characteristically unimpressed, and glares at Coal, her frizzled hair and bleeding nose somewhat diminishing the intended scolding look. “This means you are finally going to start being nice to her?”

Coal runs a warm hand over my hair, brushing it behind my ears and off my neck so slowly and steadily that I have to fight to keep my eyes from fluttering closed. I know he needs the reassurance of physical contact just as much as I do. “Of course not. If you think I’m a bastard under the veil’s magic, you won’t likely enjoy getting to know the real me.” Coal looks down at me. “Morning practice continues, mortal. We’ll have to keep our disguises until we accomplish what we came here for. But I’m a little worried about that.” His face changes. “You’ve done well keeping everything together, Leralynn—both on the mission front and in keeping our thick heads alive. And you’ve done it all on your own.” Coal grins when Arisha clears her throat loudly. “Mostlyon your own. Do you have it in you to keep going?”

“Yes,” I say. “Of course.”

“How, specifically?” Arisha says over me.

Turning me around to face him, Coal lays his callused palm along my cheek, his blue eyes sparking as they scan mine. “I’ve a few ideas.”

17

Owalin

“You realize it doesn’t actually matter who wins the little Prowess Trials game, right?” Owalin asked, walking up to where Han was working up training schedules with the meticulousness of a general attending battle plans.

“Who wins the Trials competition matters to me.” Han looked up long enough to accept a stein of ale from one of the human serving girls that Zake had sent their way to make the Night Guard’s mountain range base camp more comfortable, then returned to his scribbling.

Settling in the chair opposite him, Owalin relieved the girl of the second stein and sent her on her way with a smack on her backside. He regretted it a moment later—the handprint would likely linger for days on the too-fragile thing, making the serving staff sullen—and it was difficult getting a steady stream of replacements.

It would have been a great deal more pleasant if the native weakness in the wards had started somewhere more hospitable, but what the mountain caves lacked in luxury, they made up for in security. Most of Owalin’s guard could step in and out of the Gloom easily here—and, depending on the moon’s position, in patches of the surrounding forest as well.

Taking a swig of ale, Owalin shook his head and returned his attention to Han. All the Night Guard contingent that had come to the mortal lands with Owalin were shifters, but of all the wolves and birds and other common creatures, the lithe male sitting before him was the only one who shifted into a human. Which had made him terribly useful over the decades.

And more than a little eccentric.

“All right, Han. I give up.” Owalin put down his mug. “The Prowess Trials are just a lure for bigger fish. I agree that you were brilliant to foresee such an opportunity years ago and applaud your placement in the Prowess circuit in general and now the Academy in particular. But…at this point, exactly why does it matter how your little rats actually perform?”

“Call it nostalgia,” Han said, finally looking up, his eerily intense blue-gray eyes giving Owalin the shivers. “I used to race horses.”

“And now you race humans.”

“I like sport. You might enjoy trying a hand at it yourself once this is all said and done. It has a different flavor from the usual beasts. But it’s no less an art.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Han snorted, then pulled himself together, probably remembering the time. Being out too long was not good for an Academy instructor. “I’ve not found any fae on the grounds, though several of the mortals are feistier than I’ve marked in the past.”

“Or more of your ilk?”

Han frowned. “Possible, I suppose, though I’m unaware of other human shifters in Lunos. I don’t like it.”

Neither did Owalin, but at day’s end, he had near a hundred warriors. Even if a fae or two stepped where they didn’t belong, it would make little difference to his plans. Shaking his head, Owalin waved a hand at Han’s human features. “Are you going to stay that way all night?”

“I am,” Han said, putting down his stein. “Shifting isn’t the instinct I need my body to reach for too easily just now. I imagine your true intention is to show off Krum’s latest efforts in filing down the wards? I will take your word that he’s making progress and that I’ll find shifting easier when the time comes.”

“Am I that predictable?” Owalin smiled, then let the mirth drop from his eyes. “It won’t be just shifting you will find easier, Han. When the time comes, I recommend you have full control of your civilized faculties lest the magic sweeps you up right along with your pets.”

* * *