Page 5 of Savagely Mated (Shared Mates #1)

D arcy

I somehow manage to get lunch without being drawn into any more fights for the death. Kind of a miracle. Then I have to sneak out of the city proper to get to the place where I’m supposed to fight.

I think about not going, of course. I think about just going back to the academy and hiding away there. They’d never find me. They have no idea who I am. But I’ve been raised with a strong sense of honor, and I don’t like that when people look at me they assume I’m weak.

I know I should be taking advantage of the fact I look small and unassuming.

There’s a whole chapter on making the most of your disadvantages in Elements of Deception and Disguise.

But sometimes, a girl just wants to be taken seriously.

And the truth is I felt drawn to all those men I met today.

In some respects, what’s happening now isn’t entirely in my control.

I’m following my instincts. Or my worse impulses. Hard to tell which. Doesn’t really matter because I’m almost there.

The monastery isn’t in use anymore. It’s a ruin outside the city proper.

If I were to be caught out here, I’d be in serious trouble.

Sneaking out of the academy is one thing, but leaving the city confines is a whole other level of transgression.

It’s not safe out here. There are raiders, and worse lurking in the woods.

Academy kids don’t get many city passes, but they get absolutely no forest passes.

The city tries to keep the forest back from the walls as much as it can, but there’s something that makes this wild space very resistant to deforestation. Trees just love to fucking grow no matter what.

This isn’t my first time out here, of course. I snuck out here when I was young with Jory and some other friends. We used to think the monastery was haunted. Today I’m not worried about ghosts.

Or I wasn’t, until I got here. There’s something about the stillness of the forest and the ruins in contrast to the constant energy and motion of the city that makes me feel very, very uncomfortable.

I tell myself I’m not backing down. This is a good chance to see if my skills are as good as I think they are. Sparring at the academy with blunted swords isn’t a test of real battle-readiness. I’m going to be fighting real men today, real men who really want to hurt me.

So I take a deep breath and move through the trees to the clearing I know they were talking about.

It’s actually a little way beyond the main monastery proper.

It’s where all illegal dueling happens. It’s talked about in whispers at the academy because nobody would dare actually come here.

Nobody except me, obviously—and a few other cadets who don’t mind risking expulsion or worse.

As I step into the clearing, I find myself confronted with the oldest guy.

He’s gotten rid of his overclothes and now stands in tight pants and a white shirt.

It’s not really fair, because both of those things make him look a thousand times hotter, especially with the way the dappled sunlight falling through the trees intermittently picks out a little red hue from his otherwise dark hair or seems to make his green eyes flash almost supernaturally bright.

He also has his sword strapped overtly to his hip, and he is regarding me with displeasure.

“You’re late.”

“Sorry, I was held up.”

I’ve already forgotten his name. Did I ever know it?

Was he this hot before? I probably didn’t notice because I was falling into him and trying not to be wrecked by a Nile drone.

Here, in the clearing of the forest, he has a certain air of dominance that I’ve really only encountered in the upper level masters at the academy.

I don’t come into contact with them very often, even though I’ve been there the longest. They avoid me for reasons I don’t like to think about too much.

“Timeliness is a form of manners, so it does not surprise me that one as ill-mannered as you would be tardy. If you survive your wounds, you’ll be better for today.”

If I survive my wounds. What an asshole. He’s trying to scare me, but I don’t scare that easy. I’m one of the top cadets in my class, not that he needs to know that. I’ll be showing him soon enough.

“Have you dueled before?”

He asks the question with a sort of patronizing tone that I don’t appreciate in the slightest. He might tower over me, but sword play is about speed, technique, and precision.

His reach is the only advantage he’ll have, but I’m sure he will be slower than I am, and I bet he hasn’t been training to fight literally every day of his life.

“Of course I have.”

“You don’t look old enough to have fought. That sword is too big for you. Can you swing it?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

He’s trying to psych me out. Either that, or he really thinks I’m too young or small to bother with. He shouldn’t have initiated a duel, in that case. Maybe he thought I wasn’t going to come, or was going to come, and then beg him for mercy? What a stupid plan that would have been.

Before I can reply to that effect, two other men come through the undergrowth. I’m mildly surprised to see that they are the other two men I managed to get into duels with today. They all seem to know one another, judging by the way they smile and then look vaguely confused.

“What are you doing there, Einar?”

“I’m dueling this rude little whelp,” Einar says. So that’s his name. Yep. Definitely didn’t know that before.

The other two look at me, and then at each other, and then they start a pretty genteel argument with one another over me.

“That can’t be right, I’ve got a duel with this child,” the dark-haired one says.

“You will have to wait, because I intend to kill him first,” the one who was looking for Yoki says.

“Not before I do,” Einar replies. “What did he do to you, Rafe?”

“Cut in line at the weapon-smith,” Rafe says. He still looks annoyed by that. That’s right, his name is Rafael. Obviously his friends call him Rafe. Soon they’ll call him dead.

“More rudeness. I’m not surprised,” Einar says. “And you, Kirin, what did he do to you?”

God, the blond even has a cute name.

“I mistook him for a prostitute, because he’s real pretty,” I say, doubling down before Kirin has to explain that out loud.

Rafe snorts with laughter, finding that very funny, apparently. Einar does not seem amused in the slightest.

“So you are rude, inconsiderate, and brash,” he says. “My first impression of you was correct. You need to be taught a lesson you will not soon forget, boy. Draw that weapon, and we will see what you can do with it.”

I draw my sword with a flourish and a twirl, letting the freshly sharpened blade catch the sunlight in three hundred and sixty degrees of display.

I want them all to see that I am not going to be an easy target.

They give me some space, and Einar takes a position in front of me. Now that we’re actually in our stances, I can see how much of a problem it is going to be that he is so much taller and broader. There’s something in his eyes that unsettles me just a little. He’s determined, that’s what it is.

Duels are dangerous. We are fighting with real weapons. And he did tell me that I might not survive my wounds. That means he might not survive his either.

I wait for him to make the first move. I’m not going to be running into anybody’s blade. I know the best way to fight someone who might be better than you is to let them attack and make a mistake. I think he might be doing the same thing, because there’s a long pause in which nothing happens.

“Are you two just going to stare into each other’s eyes all afternoon?” Kirin pipes up impatiently. “Duel already.”

“Hands up!”

All four of us swing around as we are suddenly made very aware that we are not alone.

Several others have entered the clearing, wearing flashy red uniforms. Goddamn, this place is almost as busy as the city.

We’ve got me from the King’s Guard, these guys from God knows where, and now we have the Cardinal’s Guard.

There are two main military factions in Eclipse: the King’s Guard and the Cardinal’s Guard.

The cardinal is a religio-political figure, appointed via the church.

The king is, well, the king. That’s why being one of the King’s Guard is considered to be the peak of military service, and it’s why I am so cocky.

The cardinal is a powerful political figure in his own right, however.

Unlike the king, who was born to rule, the cardinal has schemed his way to the top.

Part of his scheme involves elevating his own guard to nearly the same status as the King’s Guard.

That’s been a subject of discussion at the academy for a while now.

The cardinal’s guards used to be a handful of guys who weren’t good enough for the king’s main detail.

In the last few years, they’ve grown to be a powerful force in their own right.

There’s some who whisper that the cardinal is more powerful than the king right now, but that’s obviously stupid and wrong.

It’s also not my problem at the moment. Right now, my problem is the fact that I just got caught dueling.

The man at the head of the cardinal’s guards has one of those square, boxy, smug faces that are pretty typical for country boys who have come to the city to make good. He looks like a stickler for the rules, and like he is not going to be cool about any of this in any way.

“Duels are illegal and have been for seven years! Well, you all know it. I shouldn’t be surprised to see you out here, Einar, Rafe, and Kirin. Typical. Not one of you seems to understand he is obligated to serve under the law as it stands, not as you imagine it to be.”

The guard starts absolutely roasting my opponents, which I enjoy greatly. I don’t know what he’s getting at, exactly, but it looks like there’s a pre-existing relationship here of some kind.