Page 100 of Forged in Fading

“I know. A few have come, but what if that’s all there is? Our biggest advantage would be our numbers. If none of them agree to help, we won’t have nearly enough bodies for the battle.” She tapped her spear in the sand, itching to spar with someone and burn through the nervous energy coursing through her veins. At least holding the weapon brought her a small bit of comfort.

“We can’t know until we try.” He eyed her spear. “I know you’d like nothing more than to beat someone with that spear of yours. Might as well be me.”

“You do make it easy. I don’t know though, Rav holds his own pretty well. I could go ask him to spar if you can’t keep up.” Her feet had already started moving in the direction of their makeshift training grounds.

“He has an unfair advantage. You both train with the human warriors every day.”

Alvara snorted. “It’s not as thrilling as it sounds.”

“I didn’t say it sounded thrilling.” Boden glanced at her sidelong. “I’m just pointing out that he has more practice. And I would like to add that my knee has never been the same since you decided to bruise it to no end when I met you in the palace.”

“You were imprisoning me. You’re lucky I only kicked you in the knee.” The clearing came into view, and she stooped and picked up a training staff for him from the pile that had steadily grown since they had arrived in Gosibik. “And what I’m hearing is that you know I’m going to win.”

Boden snatched the staff from her hand, his lips pursed. “You can’t win at sparring.”

Her muscles tingled as she readied her stance. “Sounds like something someone would say if they knew they were going to lose.”

They quickly fell into a smooth rhythm, their bodies whirling in what almost felt like a dance. Compared to their first sparring match months ago, Boden had improved. Almost suspiciously so.

Had he been practicing?

“Has Rav been training you behind my back?” Alvara panted between strikes, her limbs alight with a pleasant burn.

He lowered his training staff, and she swiped the shaft of her spear at his legs, throwing him off balance. With a quick jab to his chest, Alvara knocked him to the ground and pounced on top of him, straddling his body and pressing the weight of her weapon into his throat. She adjusted her grip and dug the blunt end of the wood into the underside of his jaw.

Boden sucked in a sharp breath. Alvara only pushed harder, forcing his head back. His smoldering gaze stripped her bare as he gripped her wrist and pulled her closer, igniting a wave of rolling heat through her body. But he made no move to push her off, even as both of their chests heaved, and their breaths intermingled. She was suddenly aware, too aware, of every place their bodies touched. Her knees gripping his ribs, her thighs rubbing against the hard plane of his stomach.

Her heartbeat drummed in her ears as her eyes traveled down his neck to where his sweat-soaked tunic clung to the muscles of his chest. The swirl of a tattoo reached out above the fabric. If she tugged his shirt down, just a little, she could see what it was⁠—

Oh gods. The lack of lunches had clearly disturbed her mind. She leapt to her feet and brushed a sweaty strand of hair out of her eyes.

“Maybe I wanted to impress you,” Boden said, his voice a rough rumble instead of its usual velvet, air still leaving his lips in ragged gasps. Wonderful, now she was imagining things. She desperately needed a snack. “I’m pleased to hear you and Rav have gotten close.”

“Close?” He no longer wanted to murder her, but that hardly meant they were close. But at least it was something to talk about, a distraction from…whatever had just happened.

“He lets few people call him anything other than Ravanel.” Boden stood and rubbed a hand over his neck.

“I just think we’ve found some common ground. Him and Kat…what’s going on there?”

He groaned, stretching his arms behind his head, and Alvara’s eyes ran over the flex of his muscles, the sweat dripping down⁠—

Gods, get yourself together.

She barely registered his next words through the fiery haze she battled in her mind.

“The usual pining after someone you aren’t able to have. It can make him insufferably broody at times. And what Kat thinks, no one ever knows.”

Alvara shook her limbs out, trying to dislodge whatever had come over her. “All because of his father? He cares what he thinks that much?”

“Rav is his only offspring. The weight of his father’s expectations falls solely on him, and Kat doesn’t provide the political advantages for their family’s legacy that Kaurald is always seeking.”

Oh. She was lucky to know little of that kind of burden. “But he obviously cares for her. Couldn’t he choose her over an arrangement that suits his father?” Alvara took the wooden staff from him, nearly jumping when the skim of his fingers shot a spark up her arm. She was about three seconds from eating a handful of dirt to restore her common sense.

Boden shook his head. “This is a discussion I have both been subjected to and participated in too many times. Fortunately, we have a meeting to attend.”

Hopefully they could share in the feasting, though they should have held off on sparring until after the discussion with the other local chiefs—they both stank and looked a mess. She flapped the hem of her shirt as they walked, and her flushed skin breathed in the nyr air. The gentle chill started to clear her head.

“If I never had to attend another meeting, I would leave this world happy,” she said.