Forged in Frost and Fire (Book 1 in the Chronicles of Kings trilogy)

Chapter Sixteen

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"Okay but have you seen some of those soldier initiates?" one of the guys asked. "Like, they're hot, man. I'm not even lying. Just wait till they hit their prime-" I tried zoning out their words but it was near impossible. Their voices were like little bees in my ears, buzzing away, unbothered. But regardless, it wasn't like I even could have tuned out their conversation because I was waiting to hear them walk away.

"I know, did you see that one bitch with the white hair? Wicked," the second one said. I felt my cheeks go cold and I clenched my jaw tightly. Bastards. Fucking bastards. I wondered if that was all men thought about. Women. But not just women, but sexualizing them. Gods above, it was like a damn drug to men. I bet none of them got through one day without sexualizing a woman.

"Okay, you done?" the one with the deeper voice asked. The one that called me a bitch. I felt my hand curl at my side and I had the urge to run at him and slice an icicle through his jugular. That would've taught him a lesson.

"Yup. You?" the other one asked.

"Well I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't finished," he replied. I rolled my eyes so far into the back of my head that they ached.

"Alright, fine, I'm going!" I heard their bickering for two minutes after they walked away, once their voices faded I let out a sigh. I was currently outside of Helen's tent. It had been a week and a half since the river incident and I still had yet to work on any spy content to give to Elda, though I had met my first Killers of Kings ally already. Her name was Anna. I had seen she had an emerald bracelet wrapped around her wrist. I hadn't been sure if she truly was a part of them, and certainly didn't want to exploit myself by waltzing up to her and introducing myself as a member. So I reached up, as Elda had taught me to do, and brushed three fingers across my forehead. When she looked up and repeated the gesture I felt something akin to pure joy rush through me. I had felt so alone the past week, but knowing Anna was there felt so much better.

But now, I finally had something to give Elda. I had heard Helen talking to Foley earlier yesterday, something about how the soldiers were dwindling and that casualties were rising. It didn't seem like a huge deal, but she had sounded awfully concerned. Not to mention I had seen a strange glint in her eye when she started to talk about new recruits. Whatever the reason, their conversation had left me with a bad feeling...So what better to do than to check it out?

Those men had paused my work because they had been stationed outside of Helen's tent. Not to guard, but pissing. They were taking a god's-damned piss in the foliage outside of her tent. Fucking animals. But now that they were gone, thank the gods, it was my turn to slip inside. Helen was at dinner, as I should have been as well, so she shouldn't have been coming back anytime soon.

I creeped forward, my heart a wardrum inside my chest as I crept along the forest behind her tent. I stepped with caution, every footfall was with painstaking focus. I was unwilling to be caught by stepping on a freaking twig.

Eventually, I made it to the darkest space behind her tent, the part that was hidden from most viewpoints. I crouched down, scanning the space around me. Everyone was eating, and all the guards stationed around the camp were either slacking or sleeping. No one ever really got frisky at Camp Caligo, so the guards here got a very easy job.

Once I was sure the coast was clear, I grabbed the edge of the tent and pulled it up, ducking under it quickly. A warm glow met me as soon as I entered. Helen's tent was one of the larger ones, considering she was a Lieutenant. In fact, it was larger than Foleys. I just knew he had been pissed about that.

I crept forward, my skin crawling as my eyes scanned where Helen dwelled when she wasn't training initiates or doing whatever the hell she usually did when she wasn't with us. She kept her tent orderly. A desk was at one end, her bed against one of the tent flaps on the other. She had a rug on the floor and candles burning at every dark corner. It was dim lightning, but enough that I could make out the papers on her desk. Bingo.