Page 48 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 48

“This won’t work,” Draven announced.

Lance was being terribly understanding, and he was quite a good teacher, carefully and patiently helping me make each movement. But just as I was just beginning to find that the sword and the shield were becoming extensions of my limbs, Draven stepped in with a frown to interrupt us. We both stopped and pulled apart, standing at attention before the prince.

“You’re Jerome’s son, yes?” he asked Lance, who nodded. “So you’ve spent your life training with the blade?”

“Had a practice one in my hand the moment I could form a grip, so my father says,” Lance replied proudly, then shot me an apologetic look.

“And Lady Pippa hasn’t. Was never expected to.” My proper name, my title, seemed to be emphasised in the prince’s comment. “You can try and help her play catch up all you like, but she’ll never match your skill.”

We both bristled silently at his estimation, but I at least felt a pang at that.

More than one way to kill a cat , Glimmer opined inside my head. Draven was about to agree with that.

“She’s tall, has a superior reach compared to many a lad here right now, but they’ll grow and she won’t.” Draven shook his head. “In a fight, she’ll always be overpowered.”

“But Highness—” Lance started to say, his eyes shining, but the prince silenced him with an upheld hand.

“Lance, give me your sword and shield.”

Lance pulled the shield off his arm reluctantly, handing both over to the prince, and Draven lifted them, approaching me. Boys all across the room stopped what they were doing or if they continued, they made only perfunctory movements, their focus on us, not their own fights.

“What are—?” I started to say.

“You wanted to be one of the cadets,” Draven informed me in an even voice. “Let’s see how that works. Show me what Lance has taught you.”

No, let’s not do that , I responded in my head, because as I moved to face Draven my whole body felt like it was made of mud, not flesh. I’d started to feel like that muscle memory that Lance talked about was beginning to form, but it felt like any gains I might have made they instantly deserted me under Draven’s cool blue gaze.

“Well? Show me what you’ve got.”

“Thrust with your whole body, just like I showed you,” Lance said.

So I did, more or less.

My thrust was strong, my feet weren’t. It felt like I stumbled over them, stabbing into the air adjacent to the prince, but not anywhere near him. He snorted and then indicated I should try again.

“One foot in front of the other,” Lance hissed.

I tried, I really did. My footwork improved, but Draven knocked the blade away with a negligent flip of his wrist, then dropped his shield, deciding it was evident it wasn’t needed with my skill level. He threw his arms wide, providing me a perfect target.

“Land a hit,” he instructed. “Just one and I’ll reduce the running time at the start of the lesson by half. Fail to and I’ll have everyone run the same number of laps again at the end of the lesson.”

No one was even pretending to fight anymore. They watched what went on with naked interest. And why not? I was deciding their fate for them.

And doing badly.

Draven started to smile the first two times he blocked my clumsy blows, then snickered as my swipes grew wilder and more desperate. He leapt out of the way, then came back into range as I went to strike again, so that he was tantalisingly in reach, but never on the end of my sword.

“Looks like there’s a lot of running in your future, lads. Don’t blame me. We tried to dissuade Lady Pippa from coming down here today. She had her choice of where she could go, but she was adamant she needed to be near the drill sergeant.”

Gods, it was now I saw just how I’d been manoeuvred.

Divide and conquer , Glimmer said ruefully, making me wonder where the hell a young dragon learned a term like that. But she was right. He had run circles around me, just as surely as all the cadets, myself included, would be running laps around him before the lesson ended.

Because he’d set me up to fail and made the outcome everyone else’s problem so that they wouldn’t be able to stop themselves from resenting me. The honour guard the other cadets had formed for me as I walked back from shovelling shit in the eyrie wouldn’t form again, not after this. And he’d made it clear I was sweet on Soren, aligning my interests with the man who ordered them around, rather than me being one of the cadets’ own. Draven smirked as my arm fell limp by my side, my grip on the sword slipping.

“Giving in already? There’s no shame in that.” I heard George and Arabella’s sneer in his voice. “You are only a woman, after all. No matter how hard you train, nor how fast you are, you are ill prepared for the life of the sword.”

He was right, and that’s what made my face burn bright red. But what he neglected to mention was that this was only because of the rules his gender had set upon mine. Not every swordsman excelled due to superior strength. Some became skilled due to their speed, their agility, able to deflect away stronger opponents, even use that against them. Instead, women were forced into service if we were common-born, or into drawing rooms and sewing circles if we were of noble birth, either way, our roles were to prepare, to care for, to cater for the men in our lives.

“So you’re done?” Draven gave a short, sharp nod, then turned to face the rest of the room. “Looks like it’s back to running for all of you. Put your?—”

He’d told me I needed to land a hit upon him, but he hadn’t specified where or when. Men had rules about attacking another’s unprotected back, but I was no man. Lance let out a sound of alarm as I surged forward and stabbed the point of my sword into Draven’s spine.

I heard Glimmer’s hum in my ears as I stood there, every person in the room staring at me, unable to believe what I’d just done.

I couldn’t either. My sword dropped to the floor with a clatter, the sound somehow amplified by the rapid beat of my heart, the shield following not long afterwards. I stood there, arms wide, indicating my surrender as Soren surged to his feet; as Draven turned back towards me.

His smile was warm and genuine, taking me off guard.

“Well done.” I blinked, unable to believe what I was hearing. “Everyone can pack up their gear. We’re done for today. You can use the time between this class and the next to take a shower or change your clothes if needed.”

“What?” I croaked out the word, not able to get anything more past my lips.

“You took the only option available to you,” Draven said as Soren stood at his table, his lips thinned down to a line. “You chose survival over honour or oblique rules. Honour is something those that are strong can afford. On a battlefield, it’s not a luxury a woman will ever have. But a move like that? You might just survive.”

His focus shifted to Lance, who hovered at my back, some of the other cadets with him.

“Your intentions are noble but misplaced. What you learned at your father’s knee will benefit many lads here, but not Pippa.” Draven’s eyes met mine. “She’ll need quite different skills to survive. We’ll need to work out an alternative training schedule for her.”

“Of course, Highness,” Soren said. “I’ll see to it myself.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to ruin a burgeoning relationship by giving you such a burden. A man can’t be lover and drill sergeant both.” Draven nodded slowly. “I’ll take this duty on myself. I am, of course, quite busy of late, but if you meet me in the training rooms at say…” I knew what he would say before he did, watching his lips form the word, but not really hearing it. “Midnight?”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

My words sounded wooden and hollow, but I got them out and even bowed to the prince before walking over to the rack and placing the weapons back where they belonged.

“Well, that’s torn it,” Soren muttered to me as everyone left the room. “Look, lass, I know you mean well, but don’t come down here anymore.”

“Are we having our first fight?” I asked then grinned, not feeling amused at all, but pretending anyway.

“You think I don’t know what this was?” he asked. “You’ve got an iron will, but that’s not what matters down here. It’s all blood and muscle and, in this room, I can’t protect you. Not from what’s expected from the boys, not from him. If you’ve got any love for me…” My eyes jerked up to meet his at that. “Don’t come down here again.”

And with that, it appeared I was dismissed. I saluted the drill sergeant, just like any other cadet, and then left without a word.

Now that you have finished playing at fighting with the other fledglings, might I make a suggestion? Glimmer asked me as we slowly climbed the steps, the weight of her in my exhausted arms feeling like twice what it actually was.

A shower and a nap? I asked. If I’m not to do anything other than sit on my arse and look pretty, surely that’s on the cards.

Not all power is physical, as males so often forget , she replied sniffily. And set me down. I’m perfectly capable of climbing the steps myself.

So she was. I watched her move far faster than me, scaling them until we reached the foyer of what appeared to be the keep library.

This is the human knowledge receptacle, is it not? she asked me.

I think it is. What do you want to find out more about?

Tanis , she answered.