Page 46 of Wings of Darkness (Daughter of the Seven Circles #2)

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

LUCILLE

O liver and I ran another nine miles straight with no breaks, but it still wasn’t good enough.

We would still end up in the showers with water pelting our bodies tomorrow.

We were their daily drug to curb their addiction to inflict pain.

At least we no longer ran with wet hair.

Moira had Ni dry us off before each run, but today she had to have Ichi pull the water out, since Ni wasn’t there.

We paired off, and Ichi led me to the archery station.

She handed me a bow with a shaky hand, keeping her eyes on the ground, saying nothing. Then she did the same with the arrow, stepping away and turning toward the target. I stared at her, taking in her oily hair and the bags beneath her flushed cheeks.

I opened my mouth, then shut it .

Sighing, I notched the arrow, pulled the drawstring back to the corner of my lip, and released. It flew over the target and clipped the stone wall.

“Shit,” I muttered, taking another arrow from Ichi without looking, accidentally touching her hand.

She jerked back and bowed low, the end of her long hair resting in the dirt. “I’m so sorry.”

My brows knitted together when she didn’t come up from her bow. “Ichi?” I touched her shoulder, and she flinched.

This wasn’t the place to bow and shake. I surveyed the arena—most of the warriors were busy training, but some were exchanging words and glances.

“It was dishonorable,” she whispered.

This wasn’t about accidentally touching my hand. But she couldn’t do this here.

I latched onto her shoulders and lifted her. She kept her chin down.

“I don’t blame you or your sister for what happened,” I murmured.

Still, she kept her gaze lowered. “I didn’t report the bite.

I reported that Ni was attacked and asked for a day off to care for her.

I told the general she was fine but needed rest, and he never questioned me.

” She paused, taking a shuddering breath.

“But I didn’t report the bite and lied. That is dishonorable. ”

“You were protecting your sister. Is that not honorable?”

Ichi shook her head. “Not if it’s at the cost of your tamashii.”

“Tamashii? ”

“Soul,” she said, finally meeting my gaze with her one good eye. “Tamashii is sacred in our culture. To let it be corrupted is more than shameful. It dishonors your whole bloodline.” Her lip wobbled, and her eye turned glossy.

I stepped toward her to pull her in for a hug, and a clattering sword reminded me where I was.

“Your sister didn’t corrupt me. And I would never associate either of you with the word dishonorable.” I stepped back and brought up my bow. “It was the infection. It wasn’t her fault.”

I released the arrow. It hit the outside ring of the target.

Ichi handed me another one, going through the motions. “It doesn’t matter what you think. The stain is on our souls. We can only hope laying our swords down at your feet will be enough to ease the stain so we can cycle to the great resting place when it’s our time.”

I jerked, my arrow flying wide and grazing the target next to mine. “What? No. That’s not necessary.”

She stayed silent and held out an arrow. After a moment, I notched it, drew back, and let go. But right as the drawstring twanged, Ichi luscelered and whipped her hand up directly in the path of the arrow, impaling herself.

“What the Heavenly Hell?” I shouted, dropping my bow and rushing over to her.

Her face creased with lines as she pulled it out, the feather fletching scraping through the hole in her hand. “A soul wound will remind me every day about our debt.”

“Why?” I gaped at the exposed muscle and lack of blood.

“My sister marked you. It’s only fair that you mark me.”

“I didn’t want to mark you! ”

Ichi dragged the arrow through the dirt, rubbing off the remains of her hand before giving it back. “Our debt has now been sealed. Let’s continue with your practice.”

“What? No?—”

“I have made much of a scene,” she interrupted, gazing around at the warriors who were staring at us with confusion—but not concern.

The only person in the entire arena who witnessed what happened and looked remotely concerned was Oliver.

“And I have said all that needs to be said. The debt has been made and sealed. It’s done.

Now, ready your bow and keep both eyes open as you aim. ”

It took me a second to bring my mouth up off the floor, unlike Ichi, who held out an arrow with her wounded hand, waiting patiently for me.

Maybe Ichi was crazy. Who impaled themselves on an arrow to seal a debt?

I brought up my bow, having no words.

She watched and critiqued every arrow I shot. All her attention was on coaching me, with minimal eye contact. When we changed stations, it continued, only joining in when she needed to instruct or when it was a two-person lesson, like hand-to-hand.

At the end of training, she escorted me and Oliver to the doors leading into the castle.

“Things will be different tomorrow. See you then,” she said cryptically, bowing low before leaving.

Oliver and I walked into the hall, the heavy doors closing behind us.

His eyebrows shot into his bangs. “Fuck-a-duck, what was that today? ”

“Penance, I guess,” I replied, rubbing my forehead. “Today wasn’t what I expected.”

Oliver snorted and flung an arm over my shoulder as we walked down the window-lined hall. “Wait, you didn’t expect Ichi to impale herself on your arrow? Really? I expected a five-act drama with a sword to the gut and some rain for atmospheric effect.”

I shoved him away. “I hope training with the general won’t be as… well, whatever that was.”

“Insane, bizarre, psychotic, some twisted twin shit. I’d probably start with those descriptors.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry, I bet we’ll have a splendid time,” he said as we approached our door, the sarcasm thick in his voice.

I groaned and walked into our rooms, then abruptly stopped.

General Ronen and Rune were in our sitting area.

“You really don’t know proper etiquette when it comes to people’s rooms, do you?” I said, noticing two Hell Squadron uniforms lying on the settee.

Oliver perked up. “Is one of those for me?”

I glanced at the general, confused. “But we haven’t earned them.”

“I’m the General of Hell. I get to determine who receives one and who doesn’t. Plus, these will regulate your temperature so you don’t have to worry about the cold, and the material serves as a conduit for power, allowing it to flow freely without the risk of deterioration.”

“You had me at cold,” Oliver declared, striding over to grab his uniform.

I hesitated.

“Do you not want it?” the general asked.

“I wanted to earn it.” We were finishing week four of the Infernal Sixty, and I had only slightly improved.

My angelic blood helped to accelerate the process of gaining muscle and endurance, but not to the caliber of our squad.

This almost seemed like a slap in the face with how easily he just gave them to us.

I’d been training hard to build myself up and knew I still had a way to go.

He walked over and leveled me with his gaze. “We’re going to be training outdoors, and I don’t want to have to worry about regulating your temperature or constantly seeing you naked.”

Something glimmered in that golden gaze at the end of his words, but I didn’t look too far into it. He made good points.

“Okay.”

“Both of you get changed. Rune and I will meet you outside.”

“Oliver’s coming with?”

“He wants to rank too, doesn’t he?”

There was something knowing in his tone that I didn’t understand, like his words had a double meaning of some kind.

“I thought you said we wouldn’t rank.”

He lowered his head inches from my face.

“I did. And I still believe it. But for me, this is less about you ranking and more about you learning how to delegate your energy, so you don’t do something foolish like die .

” Shadows danced in his irises. “This way you’ll have a friend through your failures, and you’ll learn control. ”

I gave him a tight smile, holding back the urge to snap back. He wasn’t exactly wrong, and he had a lot of proof to back up his doubts. But it was still a bitter pill to swallow. Somehow, some way, I would show him not to doubt me .

He straightened, and I swore a smug smile twitched on his face. It threatened to unglue my tongue from the top of my mouth. When he finally left us to change, I closed my eyes and heaved a breath.

“Oh, this is going to be fun.” Oliver rubbed his hands together in glee.

“It’s going to be something, alright.”

We changed into the body-hugging uniform and met the general and Rune outside our doors. His face darkened as he gave me a once-over. Not Oliver—just me. His unwavering attention forced me to glance down at the stiff leather.

“Is it okay?”

“It’ll do,” he said, barking at Rune and turning.

He led us through a back stairwell and to a door hidden in a wall. The general snapped and pointed. Rune descended obediently, her claws clicking against the stone steps.

“Where is she going?” I asked.

“A different way.”

“A different way to where?”

He pressed a hand against a specific stone, opening the door.

“You’ll find out.”

A blast of cold air hit my body. Immediately, my uniform heated, taking away the chill; even the gloves and boots that came with it warmed. The only part of me left unprotected to Hell’s icy chill was my face.

“Yeah, buddy, I could get used to this,” Oliver said, striding out the door with a giant grin.

We walked out onto a roof where Alexei stood with dappled white wings .

I followed the spotted ends, nearly brushing the snow, to the tips that projected a couple feet above his head. I never realized how large angel wings were, but it made sense if they had to carry all that mus?—

Strong arms scooped me up, and we launched skyward.

I flung my arms around his neck, pressing my body against him.

“What are you doing?”

“We were on a roof with no way down. What do you think I’m doing, Hellion?”