The Sorrow of Shadows (Crimson & Shadows #1)

Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

brEYLA

S weat pours down my back and forehead as I block another attack from Elijah’s blunted sword.

“C’mon, General. I know you’re better than that,” Eli taunts and smirks at me. His golden locks are tied up in a knot on top of his head. I can see sweat forming on him, but not nearly as much as me since he’s wearing substantially less clothing. I train in my leathers, but he only wears trousers and boots. His bare chest gleams in the sunlight, highlighting all the lines of the eight-pack lining his abdomen. Ryder and Zion stand outside the practice ring; both are also bare-chested and gleaming in the late summer sun. Eli catches me staring. “My eyes are up here, General.”

“I’m just distracted. Did you get more abs since my last visit?” I ask, trying to flame his ego. I know how my friend works, and I just hope he doesn’t realize what I’m up to.

“Why, I thought you’d never notice. Too bad I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work. No amount of flattery will distract me from kicking your ass,” he says, winking at me .

Dammit. It was worth a shot. I take a deep breath before feinting right and going to his left instead. With a quick twirl, he blocks my sword and flips the blade from my hands. It sails several yards, landing out of my reach.

I suddenly feel eyes on me, and I don’t have to look to know it’s the future king watching from the shadows. He thinks himself inconspicuous, but I am acutely aware of every time he watches me. I turn my attention back to Elijah. I’m disarmed and running out of options. In a move that’s as much for my comfort as it is a distraction to the males present, I remove the leather vest holding my tunic in place. I slip off the tunic as well, leaving me only in the wrap binding my breasts down. While the move is scandalous, I can’t be bothered to care. I was the general of the royal army. It was something I did frequently amongst my soldiers, albeit not appropriate behavior for a princess. This was one of the many reasons why I hated that title and the expectations with which it came.

“Now that’s not playing fair, B. If you wanted to get naked with me, you didn’t need to get me into the training yard to do so,” Elijah complains. How he manages to whine and flirt simultaneously is a skill only he seems to have.

“Stop flirting, and let’s finish this,” I quip back. He charges me, sword raised, but he doesn’t see my next move coming. I rush at him, and at the last second, I drop down and slide under his outstretched sword arm. I spring to my feet and jump on his back, wrapping my forearm around his neck and squeezing just hard enough. He’s forced to drop his sword to try and remove me from his back. Perfect.

“Yield,” I demand.

“Never,” he manages to get out. He immediately goes limp and falls backward onto the dirt. We both hit the ground hard, but I hit harder with his weight coming down on top of mine. I gasp for air, struggling to breathe deeply. I finally manage to get out one word .

“Ass.”

Before I know what’s happening, he’s on top of me, restraining both of my hands with just one of his. “Do you yield?” he asks, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Never,” I say, repeating his words back to him. It seems like that’s what he wanted to hear, because he then uses his free hand to start tickling my bare sides.

Squirming beneath him, I make a sound that’s somewhere between a laugh and a snort. “Not. Fair,” I manage to get out. Elijah starts laughing at the embarrassing noises, and I take the opportunity to wrap my shadows around his torso and flip him onto his back next to me.

We laugh as we stare at the sky for several minutes until we’re both out of breath. “You fight dirty. Those moves were downright unfair,” I complain.

“Well, you know what they say about fair.”

“And what’s that?” I turn to my side and stare at him.

“Nothing in this world is fair, Breyla. It’s impartial at best.”

I let that answer roll around in my brain before asking, “What do you know of Lady Ophelia?”

“Not nearly as much as I’d like. Why do you ask?”

I quirk an eyebrow at his odd response but let it slide. “She came to me and asked to be one of my ladies. Said I seemed like I needed a friend.”

He lets out a mock gasp. “Are you replacing me?!”

I elbow him in the side. “Of course not, you ass. I could never. You’re like a bad smell that won’t go away.”

“Don’t lie; you love my smell,” he says with a grin before reaching over to pull me into a hug and shoving my head into his sweaty chest. Even with the sweat, I could still smell the cinnamon and chocolate scent that was uniquely Elijah.

“Okay, okay,” I mumble into him, squirming to get free. “I love you, but you stink. What I meant was—do you think I can trust her? ”

Elijah sighs. “I’m not sure. Lord Seamus, definitely not. She is his daughter, and if you had asked me this even two days ago, I would have said no.”

“But?”

“But...I may have accidentally read her most recent memories when I bumped into her yesterday.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“I didn’t mean to, but I had left my gloves in your room, and when I saw her, I literally ran into her. I reached out to steady her, and because her arms were bare, I was able to see glimpses of her memory from right before she came to you. I saw her caring for Lyla. It wasn’t clear what had happened to her, but it didn’t seem like it was the first time. It was also a result of something Lord Seamus had done. I know we can’t trust him, but someone who cares that much about the lowest of us has some good in them. I don’t know her intentions, but I’d be more inclined to trust her.”

I had known Eli long enough to know when he was hiding something from me. He wasn’t telling me everything, but that’s his prerogative. He would never keep something from me that could hurt me.

“You’re probably right.” I pause before asking my next question. “Does Lord Seamus seem overly interested in the line of succession and my mother’s personal affairs?”

Elijah tears out some of the grass surrounding the training rings, which are really just dirt circles where the grass no longer grows. Technically, my mother could use her Kaminari Gift to make the grass cease its growth, but we had been training in these exact spots for so many years that there was no need. My father and Commander Nolan preferred the training rooms at the castle's bottom level, but I had always been partial to the open sky. Since my father’s death, I have no desire to visit the spaces where his memory is the strongest for me.

“He’s always been nosey, but yes, he does seem rather invested in the matter. You saw him at the last council meeting, but that was just a glimpse of how he’s been.” Asking Elijah to be my eyes and ears at court rather than be by my side as I led the army was one of the hardest but most necessary things I had ever done. He’s an exceptional warrior, and despite his flirtatious fa?ade, he is brilliant.

“I can imagine. I plan to see what he’s like at the next council meeting. I need to know what he’s up to.”

“I’ll keep a closer eye on him for you in the meantime.”

“What would I ever do without you?” I ask in the fakest swoony voice I can muster.

“Probably die of boredom,” he responds like he’s considered this answer.

“You think mighty highly of yourself.” I smile at him.

“Someone has to.”

“Half of the ladies at court seem to think so as well,” I say, teasing him.

“Well, most of them probably have reason to.” He grins like the cat that ate the canary.

“You’re shameless.” I slap him lightly on the chest, and he catches my wrist in his large hand.

“You know you’ll always be my number one, B.” Like I said, shameless.

“Funny enough...Ophelia was under the impression we were more than just friends.”

He bursts into laughter. “I don’t know what would have ever given her that impression.”

“Probably your shameless flirting.” I stare at him.

He continues laughing. “Probably, but I flirt with everyone. Her included.” He was quiet for some time before he asked, “Did you know Aurelius summoned Julian and Jade to the capital?”

“He. Did. What?” I grit out. Julian and Jade, also known as the Twins of Death, were two of our childhood friends and now high-ranking captains in the royal army. Their skill in combat had earned them the nickname and their spot on my war council. I had entrusted my soldiers to them while I was away. Aurelius had pulled my number two and three away from where they were needed. Not only was it reckless, but it was also dangerous and stupid.

I use my shadows to search for the male I know is still watching me. Immediately, I pull the shadows away from where he’s hiding and glare straight at him. I jump to my feet, Elijah behind me, Ryder and Zion not far behind him. I come to a stop just inches from him and shove him in the chest.

“How dare you!” I practically scream at him.

Aurelius smirks at me like he knows something I don’t. “There she is.” He trails a finger lightly down my jaw, tipping my chin up to look into his sparkling eyes.

“Excuse me?” I snatch his hand from my face, twisting it backwards in a hold that made most males whimper.

Not this male, though. No, his eyes widen in intrigue. “There’s the general I’ve heard so much about,” he says, grinning at me. It’s at that moment I know I’ve lost this game. He sees straight through me.

Since the meeting with my father’s ghost, I had carefully spent my time distracting the court so I could be free to roam the halls unbothered. I had already danced through the castle halls in my undergarments, given the children at the palace copious sweets before sending them to their parents, used the portraits of past monarchs as target practice, and set fire to the kitchens this week. The last one was a bit of an accident, but the kitchen staff had banned me from entering anyway. All that effort was wasted as Aurelius stared straight through me. He had purposely stroked my anger to elicit a reaction, and it had worked.

I release him with a snarl. He turns away from me and strides from the training yard. I’m breathing hard when Elijah says, “I could cut the tension between you with a knife. ”

Apparently, Aurelius isn’t far enough away when he says this because we hear him yell, “That’s not how she uses her knives!”

I feel an arm wrap around me from behind right as I try to take off after the insufferable male. “Whoa there, tiger. Let’s not kill stepdaddy dearest today,” Elijah chuckles in my ear.

“I wasn’t going to kill him. I was just going to show him how creative I can be with my knives.” This has all three males behind me laughing.