27. Sage

CHAPTER 27

Sage

"I've already made a bad impression on the Lord Commander," I said, making Grefin huff and Talon shoot him a dark look. "I, ah…"

As if speaking of him made him appear, the Lord Commander strode through the doorway across from me, looking just as gruff and beautiful and imposing as he had been last night in the bailey when he'd been mad at me.

His dark hair — which was indeed black, not brown, with a silver streak at his left temple — was half down, reaching his shoulders, and half pulled back in a topknot to keep it out of his face, and he still wore all his sheathed weapons as if he was always ready for battle?—

And now that I thought about it, every man I'd seen had been armed with at least a sword and dagger, even those working in the kitchen. Payne even had two swords and the man on the bench behind him had a large ax strapped to his back. Edred and Sawyer had only worn their weapons inside for ceremonies, and Edred's men had only had weapons when they were on guard duty or hunting brigands.

The Lord Commander's dark gaze landed on me and his scowl deepened.

Yeah, not even a hint of the kindness I'd given him in my dream.

His gaze dipped to the tray in my hands and somehow his expression darkened even more. I had no idea what he was upset about. Probably the orange. Troublemakers probably didn't get delicacies like oranges, and I should have known not to take one.

He started striding toward me. And it was clear he was headed for me because his silver gaze bored into me the entire time. Everything within me screamed to flee. There was an intensity to his gaze that declared him a predator and me his prey.

But I knew escape wasn't an option. There was nowhere to go and with no escape, fleeing would only make my punishment worse. It certainly had with Edred.

Would he beat me like Edred did? Perhaps going to the stables at the second bell had been a trap and he was going to tell me I should have gone at the first bell. Edred liked to change the rules as well.

I tightened my grip on my tray, trying to hide my trembling hands. I couldn't look weak. I couldn't make anyone question my masculinity.

He stormed closer and I instinctually dropped my gaze then remembered what Talon had said. A Guardsman didn't look down for anyone, not even the Lord Commander.

I yanked my gaze up and met the Lord Commander's eyes head on. My stomach churned with the fear of reprisal, but if I was a man and if I was going to be a Guardsman, I needed to accept that looking up wasn't necessarily an act of defiance that needed to be punished. It was just how it was supposed to be. Man to man. Guardsman to commander.

"Kit," the Lord Commander growled, his attention jumping to the skinny fae. "Your team's assignment has changed. Last night's hunting teams said there was increased activity near the gates so I'm adding your team to the patrols this morning."

"You're just doing that because the quartermaster doesn't want me mending clothes anymore," Payne drawled, his tone overly familiar, as if the Lord Commander wasn't the Lord Commander and just another fae.

Lewin rolled his eyes at him. "No one wants you mending our clothes. That's why you were assigned to an elite team. So, you wouldn't ever be given that chore again. You've been here for nine years you still can't sew a straight line."

"Do you need me to assign a fourth to your unit," the Lord Commander asked, not acknowledging the banter either negatively or positively.

"Permanently. Please," Lewin begged. "Get us back to full hunting duties."

"You'll have a complete unit soon," Rider replied. "I want to get the novices started on their training first then open up the elite competition."

"Who knows," Talon added. "There might already be a few novices ready to join the elite."

Everyone's eyes slid to me.

"Not if they're all as dumb as this one," Grefin huffed.

"I'll remind you that this one has already killed a hound," Talon said.

"No," Rider growled. " This one got lucky." He turned his attention back to Kit. "Do you want a fourth?"

"Depends on who you want to give me," Kit replied.

"I'll go," Talon volunteered. "It'll be nice to patrol the Gray again."

Payne snorted. "You have a fucked-up definition of nice."

"And I need you at the main gate watching the novices arrive." The Lord Commander's attention jumped back to me, making me want to curl in on myself and disappear. "I don't want anymore surprises and I want your initial assessment of them before we get them situated."

"Fine," Talon sighed.

"And we really don't need a fourth to patrol around the gate in the day," Kit added.

"All right." The Lord Commander turned on his heel and marched into the kitchen without — thank the Father! — commenting on my orange.

"Well, he's in a bad mood," Payne said.

Grefin shot me a dark look. "Gee, I wonder why."

"I should go," I mumbled.

Lewin gave me an apologetic look then pointed behind me. "There's a bin at the back of the room for your dirty dishes."

"Thanks." I hurried away before anyone else could say anything, set my tray in the bin with the other trays and dirty dishes, and, with my precious orange in hand, went back to the corridor where I'd first entered.

I hadn't seen anyone come or go from the main doors in the great hall and didn't want to make a scene by leaving that way. It was bad enough half of the men in the room were staring at me and this time I knew it had everything to do with me — my size and the fact that I was the idiot who'd used the ring after dark last night — since I was no longer covered in shadow blood.

I guessed that the first floor of the barracks was identical to the third floor and if I went straight instead of going back up the stairs I'd taken to get to the great hall, I'd find another hall that led to that first door Grefin had taken me to when we'd entered the building last night.

I was right, and I hurried outside into a cramped area between the three-story barracks and a one-story section of the building. Mist curled thick around my feet and ankles and the air was damp and chilly. Above, the sky was dull and overcast, and while it didn't look like it was going to rain, it also didn't look like the sun was going to come out anytime soon.

On the other side of the one-story section of the main building lay the bailey. It was easily three times the size of Herstind castle's bailey enclosed by tall walls that I had no doubt were thicker than the ones surrounding Herstind castle.

Ahead of me, the stables and its outbuildings took up the right wall almost from the edge of the barracks all the way to the main gate, while to the left was a large section jutting off the main building, the strange building I'd noticed last night that was made of the semi-opaque material, and another large building that I had no idea what it was.

A few men sparred near the building that I had no idea what it was, while four more walked out of the stables with their riding tack and headed to one of the outbuildings close to me. One of them, a human with a medium sized build and short brown hair noticed me and said something to the guy beside him and then all four of them — two humans and two fae — were staring at me. They all looked tired and were splattered with shadow blood and one of the humans had a cut on his cheek.

"If you're going to be stupid enough to draw their attention by using the ring after dark, at least be good enough to kill more than just one of them," one of the fae said as they entered the outbuilding.

"I'm just impressed you managed to kill one of them at all," a familiar voice said from behind me, and I turned to see Kit coming around the edge of the building.

"I got lucky." Which was an understatement. "Are you following me to make sure I don't get into anymore trouble?"

"Talon was worried you didn't get enough to eat." Kit held out a slice of bread folded into a sandwich with cheese and bacon in the middle.

I took it, not wanting to argue with him and because I was still a little hungry since I'd only eaten part of my roll and half of my porridge before the Lord Commander had shown up.

"Thanks," I said, "but Talon doesn't have to concern himself with me." And neither did anyone else. In fact, the fewer people who noticed me, the better.

Payne and Lewin strode around the edge of the building toward us, the large fae flashing me a wide grin.

"See you when the fourth bell rings, novice," he said. He wrapped an arm across Kit's shoulders without loosing a step and they headed to the same outbuilding the other men had gone into.

Swell. They weren't going to ignore me and that would just draw even more attention.