Page 16 of Enchanted Shadows (The Enchanted Kingdom #6)

I woke to screeching noises. I wasted no time bailing out of bed, finding pants and boots and moving toward the sound.

It had been a week since the women snuck out to the Savaryn party. Loyalist movement had been quiet, which honestly worried me. If they were quiet, they were plotting. Had they finally gotten organized enough and smart enough to make a move?

I barreled out the door and toward the sound, only to stop in my tracks. It wasn’t an attack. There wasn’t an extra person to be found. But the women were all up. The sun was just rising through the trees around the training ring.

They’d beaten me awake?

I looked up to see Sam nearing the bars she always faltered at.

I moved in closer. This morning was their deadline. If Sam didn’t pass this by morning workout, she was out.

We’d lost two more since Harlow left. Erin and Rose had come to me together after three days of double running wanting out. The team was down to thirteen women. And dammit, I didn’t want to lose another. Especially after losing an asset like Harlow .

“Don’t even think about it,” I barked at Sam.

“Move,” she yelled, half in mockery and half at herself.

But it got her moving. She grabbed the second bar. Locked her legs around the bar and swung upward.

One more bar to go.

She didn’t hesitate this time. She jumped. And just when I thought she’d fall like every other time, her hands found purchase. She let out a yell. In pain or joy, I wasn’t sure.

“You’ve got it,” Zara urged her. “Come on.”

“Get it!” Molly cheered.

Vivian’s magic was running the obstacle course along with Sam, since I hadn’t been here to start it with my own.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Sam as she headed to the third level. Maybe it was the adrenaline high, but the posts and orbs did not deter her at all. All she had left was the climbing wall. She rubbed her wrists, and that’s when I noticed the tape she had wrapped around them.

“This part is mostly in your legs,” I reminded her.

I held my breath as she grabbed hold of the top platform, the final challenge on the course. She adjusted her grip and for a second, I thought she’d fall.

But she didn’t.

My ear drums were not going to recover from the moment she finally pulled herself up, the sun now shining on her at that height as if even it was cheering for her.

Wren gave me a quick hug before continuing to scream with the others.

Sam threw the rope over the side and began sliding down. That had to strain her wrists too, but she did it without looking like she was in too much pain.

I let the girls hug before making my way over there. “I knew you could do it.” I was damn proud of her.

“I just needed your shirtless presence,” she deadpanned .

It wasn’t until then I realized I still wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“Not that I’m complaining about it at all,” she added.

I crossed my arms defensively. “I heard screaming. I thought some loyalists got past the guards at the wall again.”

“No, that was just us,” Vivian laughed.

“How long have you been out here?” I asked them, to no one in particular.

Jessina laughed. “We let her sleep for a few hours and then rolled her out of bed.”

“I got to wake her,” Pippa the Pepper added with an evil smile. As if she had thoroughly enjoyed herself.

“And I helped,” Fern giggled.

“You do know that now all of you are going to be dead tired all day and you do not get out of running just because Sam passed in the nick of time, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Wren shrugged.

“Worth it,” Zara agreed.

“Let’s get to it before the adrenaline from Sam’s epic climb fades,” Molly suggested.

They were quickly becoming the least complaining bunch I’d ever had about running. “Go. I have to go find a shirt.”

“Or you couldn’t,” Remy yelled as she headed to the starting spot.

I spun to leave and had taken three steps when I heard one of them whisper to Wren something which had the word scars in it.

Yeah, my back had a few lashing scars. It was not nearly as rough looking as Krew’s back was, though. Not wanting them to think I was self-conscious about them, because I wasn’t, I spun to find it was Summer, who had whispered it to Wren. “You should see the other guy.”

When she gave her head a shake in confusion I added, “He’s dead, Summer. Actually, there were two different men. Both dead.”

The scars on my back were just a part of my journey.

They were there. If I had to actually see them, I might hate them more, but I didn’t.

I only had to carry them. I’d carry them forever, but the important thing here was that Theon Valanova and his minions were taken care of. The lashings were a thing of the past.

By the time I had my shirt and was back to time their run, Emric found me.

“Owen,” he greeted.

“Em.”

“I got some information on the secret mission you gave me,” he said quietly before putting up a sound barrier around us.

“And?”

“And the address that Zara used in the paperwork to apply for the team is one in Nerede, but not someone with the same last name as her. The house is registered under the name of Amos Reyes.”

“What?” I was still barely awake.

“I don’t think she’s married. I’m not sure if it’s a family friend or what. But in the little digging I did, this man doesn’t seem to hold a job in Nerede.”

“That seems awfully suspicious.”

“I know. Wanna go on a field trip this afternoon?”

“Let’s do it.” It was before the time I usually woke up, and this day just kept getting more and more interesting.

I pounded on the door twice. If this man was part of the reason Zara was untrusting and scared of things, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to knock. I was becoming a tad bit protective over this group of women. Not that I was going to admit it to Jorah any time soon.

The door opened on one of the new cottages in Nerede, on a street freshly rebuilt after the fires Theon used to harm the lowest level in the kingdom. To teach them a lesson. A lesson which would eventually cost him his life.

A dark-haired man who looked about ten years older than I was stood with the door ajar. It was impossible he was Zara’s father, not only because they looked nothing alike, but also because he was too young. Yet this location was listed as her home address.

“Hi. Can I help you?”

I wasted no time. I sent my Enchantment out to wrap around his hands and travel upward, entrapping him. “Can you explain to me why Zara Astra put this as her home address?”

He gasped from the weight of my magic. “I’m her—” he paused to gulp down some air, “guardian. Of sorts.”

“And why is she afraid of you?”

The prick had the audacity to laugh.

I tightened my power. “I find this no laughing matter.”

“You think she is afraid of me , General?”

So he knew who I was. Good. “I know she’s scared of someone.”

He laughed again. “It’s not me. Though she does scare the hell out of me , if you were wondering.”

I let my magic pull back some. “What?”

“It’s her parents and brother you should be wrapping in your Enchantment, General.”

Emric laughed from next to me. “You had to lead with magic, didn’t you? You couldn’t have simply asked.”

I dropped my power and looked to him. “She trusts no one and multiple times has alluded to the fact that she was scared of something or someone. I wasn’t taking any chances.”

Amos’s lips smirked. “The fact that she has said that much to you means she’s growing to trust you . I’m glad. Come on in.”

He led us to the small kitchen .

I followed him, feeling even more confused. “You’re glad Zara has someone to trust?”

“Yes.” He opened up his refrigerator and handed Emric and me a bottle of beer before opening his own. “It’s nice to have another person for her to be able to count on. She hasn’t had many of those.”

I didn’t bother to get cozy at the kitchen table. I was here for answers and answers only. “So it is her immediate family that she is scared of?”

“Yes. They are . . . difficult.”

Emric, ever the joker, tried to smooth things over with, “Aren’t all families?”

“Not like this,” Amos stated as he took a swig of his own beer.

“Are they loyalists?” I asked. “We’re having some tensions with the team and the loyalists to Theon Valanova. I would like to get ahead of it as much as possible.”

Amos didn’t hesitate. “No. Though I wouldn’t exactly call them fans of the new king and queen of Wylan either.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Amos put a hand in the air. “Look. I have already said too much. I don’t think they’d be stupid enough to try anything.

I’m merely Zara’s guardian of sorts. But I have been sworn to secrecy about how all that transpired and can’t risk her safety just to hand you the answers you seek.

I can assure you, she is safe with me. Ask her yourself.

Or take me to her. Though I know that is against the training rules, yes? ”

Dammit. He had me there. “Yes. It is.”

“Ask her,” he repeated. “She will tell you I am harmless.”

The man before me looked awfully in shape for holding no job. “Why don’t you work in Nerede?”

“Again, related to what I just said. My current occupation is to be her guardian.”

The math wasn’t adding up here. “So she needs someone to watch out for her at all times? Yet you allow her out of your sight to train for ninety days?”

“She should be safe in Kavan Keep, correct?”

I stepped forward, ready to use fists to get some damn answers if I had to.

Emric slapped me in the chest to stop me.

“Ask her,” Amos repeated. “Again, none of this is my business to tell. I understand as her General you must have some questions given what she’s hinted at. Keep asking. She’ll tell you.”

“How do you know she’ll tell me?”

Amos took another swig of his beer. “I did my research before allowing Zara to fill out the paperwork.”

Emric chimed in, “Forgive me if this seems rude, but what do you do all day if you are a guardian for a woman that is in training hours away from you? We know that you don’t stay in this house all day, so do not even try to make it seem that you do.”

Amos smiled. He didn’t look scared or worried. He just smiled. “I keep an eye out.”

“For?” Emric asked. “Her family?”

Something about Amos’s phrasing had me asking, “So Zara is hiding from them?” If she could afford a personal guard, I wondered if she wasn’t from Rallis but hiding out in Nerede.

“Yes,” Amos admitted. “That is all I am willing to share, but yes. I believe I can give you that much.”

“Do they know she’s training in Kavan Keep?” Emric asked. The news about the team of all women hadn’t exactly been quiet. It’d spread around Wylan like every other juicy piece of gossip, like a winged wildfire devouring the levels of the kingdom until no stone was left untouched.

Amos took a breath. “I suspect they will know soon if they don’t already. But thus far, they have let it be.”

I was beginning to think she needed out of Nerede. And Rallis too. “Will she even be safe to return here at the end of the first round of training?”

“If I do my job, yes. And if not, I suppose we both have about a month to figure that out, now don’t we?” He gave me a simple shrug. “You know where to find me.”

I took a long swig of my beer. “How is it possible that I finally hunt you down and am left with more questions than answers?”

Amos laughed freely. “I am not your enemy, General, but welcome to life with Zara.”