Chapter 327
The Captain and I are locked into a stalemate for a long, long moment, neither of us given in. He glares down at me, baring his teeth just slightly, trying to get me to break.
But I just stare back up at him, impassive.
I’ve dealt with Alphas bigger than him all my life. If he thinks he can scare me, he’s got a big surprise coming.
The Captain snaps his head to the side, looking in at the room of quiet Cadets just quietly watching us in a little bit of fearful awe.
“Perhaps you all do need to hear this,” he growls, stepping into the room, pretending like it was his idea all along. I very carefully keep the smile off of my face as I press the door shut behind him and then move to stand before him, Rafe a few protective feet behind me, even as he lets me take the lead.
“I want to make it very clear,” the Captain barks out, finishing his little survey of the room before returning his eyes to me. “That you all need to stop thinking that you have special privileges because of your connections to the throne. You are under my command here at the Academy and you will fall in line.”
“Have we broken the rules, sir?” I ask, folding my hands behind my back, my fingers twisting tensely together.
“You have made a ridiculous request to re-form the draft pick from this morning, to bend the rules in your favor so that you can have the teams you want. It will not be done. The draft was fair and in accordance with the rules of the Game.”
“Not the teams we want, sir,” I say, holding his gaze. “The teams we need.”
His growl deepens as he glares at me, not liking at all that I’m not simply folding under his command.
I stay silent, looking up at him.
“This is finished,” the Captain growls, starting to turn to the door. “I came up here merely to remind you of the chain of command. Stop wasting my time by acting like spoiled royals – you’ve already had enough special concessions to last a lifetime.”
As he reaches for the handle, I clear my throat. “If I may, sir?”
He turns towards me, a little appalled that I have anything to say.
But I just stay silent, staring at him, waiting for permission to speak.
He raises an eyebrow, the only invitation I’ll get.
“Thank you,” I say, giving a little half bow of thanks for his concession in hearing me out. “But sir, we don’t want to play in the Games together simply because it gives us an advantage.” I glance back at the group, fully aware that this was the conversation that we were just having. “But because it would be foolhardy to train us separate from each other. We need to train in battle situations together.”
“Why?” he growls.
“Because,” I say, giving a simple shrug. “We need to go into battle together. It’s…just a fact.”
My words set him off and the Captain takes three steps closer to me, snarling. Rafe closes the distance too, just slightly, but enough to make the Captain move his eyes briefly to him, to see it. “You will all go into battle in whatever formations the military sees fit to assign you,” he snaps, starting to lose his temper. “It has nothing to do with what your preferences or friendships are. You will go where you are useful and that is the end of the story.”
“I understand, sir,” I say quietly. “But we are most useful at each other’s side. It is…frankly, sir, it is stupid to train us apart.”
The Captain gives me a livid snarl and I swallow hard, thinking that…well, that perhaps that pushed it too far.
“Sir, if you could only see what we can do –“
“Enough, Cadet!”
“Please, sit, what we developed today in our magic class is incredible – the implications it can have for the war – if you could just see it you would understand why we shouldn’t –“
“Enough!” he roars, his face turning bright red, leaning close enough to me that his spittle this my face. “You will fall in line! You will follow orders! You will stop asking for these concessions and play the Game in the order you were assigned!”
I purse my lips hard, an imaginary hand inwardly gripping my wolf’s fur as I hold her back. “Please,” I beg, between my teeth. “If you would simply allow us to demonstrate.”
“You will obey, or you will be kicked out of this Academy, Cadet,” the Captain snarls, truly at the end of his tether.
I stare up at him, my temper firmly leashed, my jaw set even though I am absolutely filled with rage from head to toe. How dare he – how dare he not even listen to me!? When I have so much to give – and so much I can offer.
“Is that your final word on this, sir?” I ask. “You won’t even allow me to demonstrate what I mean?”
“No,” he snarls. “I would like you to demonstrate your obedience, like every other Cadet here.”
When I feel my palms start to heat with my anger, my gift starting to make itself known, I check myself, force my anger down. My wolf curls herself in my soul, even though it takes a great deal of effort to do so, closing her eyes even as a growl slips from between her teeth.
The Captain takes this as affirmation, turning hard towards the door. Before he can go, though, I call out his name one more time.
He turns to me, slow, his expression letting me know that I am on quite dangerous ground.
I look down at the floor, steadying myself, forcing my breath to stay even. “Please, sir, about my safety in the Games, considering everything that happened in the Examination.”
He stays silent and still, allowing me to continue.
I raise my eyes to meet his. “Considering that Blythe and Wright were partners,” I says quietly. “I wont play tomorrow if you can’t assure my safety. I don’t know Blythe. I don’t trust him. Them,” I say, gesturing to my group of Alphas. “I trust.”
The Captain straightens slightly, holding my eyes, I think realizing that this is a reasonable request – and perhaps also a concession he can make. “I will guarantee your safety, Cadet,” he says quietly.
“Thank you,” I say, bowing a little, inhaling deeply as I do, letting it end there.
Rafe scoffs behind me, ready to protest, but I throw out a hand towards him, stopping him in his tracks as he strides for the door.
The Captain glares at us anew but leaves without another word, slamming the door shut behind him.
“Ariel,” Rafe snarls, turning to glare at me now. “You should never have agreed to that – I don’t want you in that Game without at least one of us by your side, if not all of us –“
“I didn’t agree to anything, Rafe,” I sigh, turning back towards the room and striding across it myself – heading for the bathroom, though, instead of the couch. Because I’m pissed as hell, and exhausted after crying so much earlier.
“Ariel!” Rafe barks after me. “This is not finished!”
“Yes it is!” I snap back, reaching for the door handle.
To my surprise, a hand appears on top of mine just as I reach the door – not stopping me, but making me pause. I look up into Jackson’s eyes, wondering how the hell he got there so fast.
“Please,” he says, more of a growl that a calm request, clearly keeping a leash on his own frantic anger as well. “Come and talk to us, Ariel. We’re not finished here.”
“I need a minute to myself, Jacks,” I say, quite snarly myself.
He softens at that and sighs, lifting his hand up. “You’re okay?”
“I’m okay,” I whisper, reaching up to trace my fingers briefly across his cheek. “I just…need a minute. Truly. Are you going to be okay with that, if I take a little time to process my thoughts?”
Jackson sighs but then nods to me, letting me have my space.
I slip into the bathroom, not even letting my thoughts get very far, my wolf nipping each one off in turn. Because if I let myself fully indulge in everything that’s going through my mind –how angry I am at the Captain, and how incredibly hurt at Luca’s actions, how frustrated and scared I am about the war, how anxious I am about the Goddess’s timeline for my marks, and how frightened and thrilled I am in turn at the change in my magic and all the possibilities it presents…
God, I’m just going to spiral and go insane.
So I just flip the taps on the gigantic tub, and let it fill all the way to the top as I strip off my clothes. When it’s finished, I walk down the little set of steps until I’m up to my shoulders, and take a deep breath, and sink to the bottom.
And when I get there, I open my mouth and scream my frustration out as loud as I can.
