Iron Breakers by Zaya Feli

Author:Zaya Feli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, drama, adventure, gay, lgbt, historical, royalty
Publisher: Zaya Feli

CHAPTER SIX

Anger, disappointment, and shame still curled in Ren's gut as he marched back to the camp and threw his sword on the ground, then changed his mind and picked it back up, sheathing it.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Ren demanded, looking Anik up and down.

Anik joined Ren by the burnt-out remnants of the fire, dragged his bag closer and searched through it. “My village,” he said. He gave up searching and grabbed the loaf of bread that Ren laid out instead, tearing off a chunk.

“Bullshit,” Ren said, staring him down. He snatched the rest of the loaf back from Anik before he could devour it entirely. “Who are you really?”

Anik paused and laughed, the sound muffled by all the bread he had stuffed in his mouth. He swallowed. “What, you think I must be some secret, powerful warrior prince of a mysterious, faraway nation for me to be able to beat you at sticks?” Anik smiled mockingly and shook his head, washing down the bread with water. “Maybe you should consider that you're just too far up your own ass to want to believe you just got it handed to you by a simple farm boy.”

Ren felt his face grow red and he opened his mouth to serve Anik a piece of his mind, but Anik cut him off.

“Here's the difference, skahli,” Anik continued, leaning forward on his elbows. “You trained because it was a formality. Because it was a fancy skill to have, so you could parade around dinner parties with a shiny golden blade strapped to your hip and tell everyone you know how to use it. Where I come from, we train for survival, because if we didn't, we'd end up with our heads severed and mounted on sticks outside our village. That's why you'll never be as good as I am.”

Anik stood, grabbing his blankets and rolling them up before swinging his bag over his shoulder.

Ren remained by the fire with a dry loaf of bread in his hands, red-faced and feeling like an idiot as he watched Anik go to the horses. Any semblance of camaraderie developed between them in Isleya seemed to have vanished with the morning fog. Ren should have expected as much. He knew Anik was a cold and unsympathetic dick.

Still, Ren couldn't help but consider what Anik had said as he stood and folded up his blankets, packing them away in his bag. As little as he liked to admit it, Anik was right. Ren had trained half-heartedly, knowing that he would never truly need to fight. That had been Hellic's job. Hellic, the crown prince, the beacon of hope for every soldier. Neither of them had ever seen a real battle, but Hellic had still been far superior to Ren on the training field. Hellic had been dedicated and hard-working, while Ren had been too busy chasing youths to care.

Ren worked to swallow the lump in his throat that seemed to have lodged itself there since his brother's death.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.