Page 34 of What Fury Brings (Wrath and Fury #1)

S anos had trained his whole life to be a master of the sword, but he’d had to be careful. He could run drills with other men. Lead men. He could not befriend them. He had a reputation for being standoffish, even if he was well-liked.

Olerra was clearly friends with a great deal of her soldiers. She greeted them by name. Asked about their families. They, in turn, asked how things were going with, well, him.

The princess smiled and turned to him. “How are things going?” she asked, forcing him to answer.

He narrowed his eyes, wondering if she dared him to speak truthfully or come up with some great lie.

“Well enough,” he said finally.

The women giggled.

Olerra trained alongside her soldiers, running, fighting, sweating. These days, Sanos had to leave most of the training to other men, as he was in the war tent planning their next move. But Amarra wasn’t at war, which meant Olerra was free to spend her time as she saw fit.

He envied that. Sanos was so sick of war. At least this detour to Amarra had spared him from the gore of the front lines. He’d also had more full nights of sleep than he could ever recall in his life.

When Olerra saw him watching her troops at their drills, she asked, “Would you like to join us?”

He must have nodded, because his chains were removed. He was handed a wooden training sword.

He learned quickly, watching the women around him and learning how to move as they did. Kick. Thrust. Slash. Pivot. Block.

The drills were different from the Brutish stances of combat, but he liked the idea of knowing how the Amarrans fought. It would only serve him well the next time he had to fight one.

Olerra moved from the front to stand beside him, letting Ydra lead. She didn’t say a word to him, just continued the drills at his side. Right swing. Left swing. Spin. Jump. Duck.

They were dancing, and Olerra was the most captivating of all of them. She moved with a grace that he couldn’t take his eyes off of. Her limbs were fluid, her sword steady. He wondered if she could beat his father in a bout.

Sanos tired faster than the others, unused to the hours of training with his new palace life, so he excused himself from the rest of them to stretch. A eunuch offered him water.

He wasn’t required to wear the chains for the rest of the day. At night, however, eunuchs returned them to him. He was strapped to his bed yet again, though in the more comfortable way, where he could roll over in his sleep if needed.

Olerra let herself into his room. She wore a loose nightdress made of a very thin material. He could see her nipples through the fabric.

Gods.

She didn’t make any move to approach him.

“You seemed happy today,” she said.

“I enjoyed myself,” he corrected.

“I’m glad. Would you like to come train with us tomorrow as well?”

“Yes.”

There was another pause. Just as there was last night. As though she waited for him to say something. He didn’t know what she wanted from him.

“Good night, Prince.”

She left as quickly as she’d come.

Olerra felt like an idiot. She wanted to instigate more intimacy between them but knew that ultimately it needed to be his choice.

By his request. So when he said nothing—requested nothing of her—she’d left.

But not before ensuring she’d see him again tomorrow on the training yard.

She liked seeing him at peace. She loved seeing him out of the chains and with a weapon in hand, even if it was a harmless one.

Her troops didn’t speak to him, but they accepted him, because he was hers.

Maybe things could begin to be friendly between them. Andrastus liked her. He didn’t like that he liked her. She knew that. She knew he had so much to figure out for himself. There was nothing to do but give it time.

In the meantime, she continued to stretch herself with the next biggest phallus in the kit.

She would have thought this was a pain her body would get used to, but it didn’t.

So she made her mind think of other things.

She thought of how she and Andrastus had bolstered the people with his presence, handing out coins and letting everyone see him.

Her troops would grow to like him as he garnered their respect while training with them.

It was an unforeseen result that she was quite happy with.

All that was left was winning over the nobility after the… setback.

Andrastus was well-behaved at breakfast each day, but the damage had been done. Apparently it was so obvious that her aunt eventually summoned her.

Queen Lemya was scratching her quill against parchment when Olerra was admitted to her rooms. Toria read a book on the settee, lounging with her long legs in front of her.

“Auntie,” Olerra said, giving a short bow, even though the queen wasn’t looking.

“You’ve lost Cyssia and Usstra.”

“I know.”

“Only a quarter of the nobility—at best—are in your corner, and it has just been decided that the heir will be named at the anniversary of the Goddess’s Gift.”

Olerra’s heart sank. “So soon?” Barely over a month from now.

“Shaelwyn has been pushing for it to happen sooner rather than later, what with Glen having the most support currently. It seems most everyone is in agreement.”

Olerra looked down. She felt shame. Not because of what she’d done for her prince but because she was losing a campaign she had to win.

“I had to save him, Auntie. It was the honorable thing to do. My recovery took longer than expected. I knew Glen would take advantage of me being gone. I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t know how to win them back.”

“You should have let him die. You like him perhaps too much. But what’s done is done.

So here is what is going to happen. Glen has just announced she will be hosting a party to celebrate her relationship with that new soldier boy.

You and that man of yours need to steal the spotlight. The whole of Amarra depends on it.”

“When is the party?”

“One week’s time.”

“We’ll be ready.”

“I expect nothing less.”

Toria offered a sympathetic wave as Olerra left, and Olerra returned it.

She didn’t know how she was going to do this.

She enjoyed parties, but only when she was free to spend them with the people she liked.

Competing with Glen didn’t sound like a good time.

And Andrastus? What would she have to do to get him to cooperate?

Should she prepare him for the party or spring it on him?

She kept it to herself for now.

She needed time to think.

For four days now, Sanos had joined Olerra at work, training and getting to know some of her troops.

Olerra’s captains had especially taken to him.

Among them were Meyla and Riakah, who were together.

Sirem, they called it. When women liked women.

And then there was Lumen, whom Sanos learned was not a he or a she but a them.

The Amarran term was madereo. He liked talking with Lumen best because they always had new things to teach him.

“You’re strong for a man,” Meyla said to him.

“Is that a compliment?” Sanos asked.

“Obviously.”

“Then thank you.”

“It’s too bad you’re to be a husband,” Riakah said. “You would be a boon to the army.”

“Husbands can’t be soldiers?” Sanos asked.

The two women shared a look.

“Technically, there’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t,” Lumen explained, joining the conversation. “It would just be… highly unusual.”

“Why?”

“Well, most palace husbands prefer a life of luxury. Everything you need is already provided for you, and in your case, you’re not even Amarran. Why should you wish to fight for our country?”

Sanos said, “For purpose. Shouldn’t all lives have meaning?”

The two women laughed at him, but Lumen leaned forward.

“Spoken like someone who has never had to work a day in their life just for food and shelter.”

He fired back with “Some people need to have their basic needs met so they can rule and make changes for all the others.”

Riakah scoffed. “What changes have you made for the poor Brutes?”

Well, none, yet. But when he was back home, that would change.

“That’s what I thought,” Riakah said.

“What’s going on here?”

The three soldiers stood on their feet and placed a fist over their hearts. “Commander,” they said in unison as Ydra approached.

“Not causing trouble, are you?” Ydra asked Sanos, who was still seated around the campfire they’d been using to cook their food.

“No,” he responded.

“On your feet.”

Sanos obeyed.

“If you’re going to train with us, then you’d best learn to behave like us. When a superior officer approaches, you show respect.”

Sanos nodded, mimicking the motion the others had made. He didn’t know why it was easier to take orders from Ydra than it was Olerra. Perhaps it was because Ydra wasn’t trying to bed him.

“I’d like a word with the prince, please,” Ydra said, and the rest of them scampered off.

He wasn’t sure what to expect when they were alone. Sanos knew Ydra hated him after what had happened with Glenaerys. He knew she was loyal to Olerra, so he wasn’t in physical danger when near her. Perhaps she wanted to shout at him some more.

“Why do you hold yourself back from her?” she demanded.

“Excuse me?”

Ydra eyed him from head to toe. “Olerra says you can perform. Admirably, even. So why do you keep yourself distant? Do you not think my sister beautiful? Do you dislike her character? Why haven’t you asked her to be physical with you again?”