Wrath Games by B. T. Narro Read Free Book Online Page B

energy, making sure to keep my chest, arms, and face pushed against it.
    As the angle became steeper, my weight on the energy made it want to fall. It took twice the effort to hold it in place, yet the tips of my toes were still on the ground, barely.
    “Now for the transition,” Jaymes said. “It looks like you’re going to have to do it all at once—dip the energy quickly enough for your shins to stay on.”
    I’d already figured that out. Now it was just a matter of keeping my fear at bay so I could concentrate on holding the energy together. It was an awkward feeling to hold myself, like trying to support an unsteady wall yet leaning my body against it at the same time.
    I tilted the py quickly and jumped up to make sure I didn’t slip off its bottom. But as I came down, and nothing caught me, I gasped and flailed. My face slammed into the ground.
    For a moment, I feared my nose was broken. I checked for blood and found none. My chest ached, complaining with each breath.
    “You let the energy go! Do it again.” The pain worsened as Jaymes complained.
    “Shouldn’t I practice this over something soft?”
    “The grass is soft enough.” He took a timepiece out of his pocket. “I have to meet the king, but you’re not done until you can float. You’re going to show me tomorrow afternoon. Meet here after lunch.”
    An hour, a sore chest, and a bruised face later, I finally managed to stay afloat. But disappointment hurt more than the ground when I fell with my next attempt.
    After another hour I was able to get on the energy consistently. I could hold myself for only the span of three breaths, but I figured that was because I was so tired and sore. Tomorrow I would impress the commander. I wondered when he would say I was ready for battle.
    But would I ever truly be ready? Battle meant killing people. Would he have me choke them? I shuddered, not sure if I was able. Stabbing someone with a sword was quick, that I could do. But holding py in a tight ring around someone’s neck long enough for him to turn blue and then become limp was something entirely different. Swenn was the only one I could do that to.
    Henry was nowhere in sight. If I could find Shara, we’d have time to discuss what to do about Swenn.
    A bell chimed as I looked for her. I’d remembered hearing it sometime in the morning. As I crossed through the dining hall and found nearly every seat filled by hungry-looking people, I realized the sound was to announce supper.
    I found Shara. And sitting right next to her was Henry.
    Damn.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Apparently gossip had spread around the castle about a starved pyforial mage screaming in the great hall during lunch. The speed at which this news traveled made me wonder if everyone already knew about me and Eizle and the attack on King Quince.
    I explained to Shara what had happened to Laney. She looked as if she wanted to cry.
    “The poor woman,” Shara sympathized. “Can you imagine being locked away for three years?”
    “I have imagined it many times. What I can’t imagine is how it would affect my mind.”
    “I wonder what she was like before being captured. She couldn’t have been this fragile.”
    “I’m sure you’re right. What did the commander say to you when we got back?”
    “He had me meet Nurse Mayla, who asked me about my past because my last name screams that I was abandoned. I think she needed to make sure I wasn’t a madwoman like Laney.”
    “Mayla is the woman who’s taking care of Laney. The commander says she has a week to adjust.”
    “And then what?”
    “That’s what I asked. He wouldn’t answer.”
    We fell silent as we ate. Henry finished everything on his plate and got up to fill it again.
    Shara and I both blurted out the same thing when he left. “We need—”
    “You go first,” she said.
    “We need a place we can speak without Henry overhearing.”
    “Can you sneak out of your room tonight?” she asked.
    “I’ll try after he