Traitor (A Crown of Lilies Book 1) by Melissa Ragland

Author:Melissa Ragland [Ragland, Melissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-01T05:00:00+00:00

Slowly, inch by inch, I began to regain a sense of control over my life. Quintin’s patient instruction provided a backbone of stability on which I built each day. Though his familiar attitude of detached disapproval quickly returned, his manner shifted in other ways – softened, almost, as much as a hard bastard like that could soften. Where before, he would have snatched my wrist or kicked my foot to correct my grip or stance, now he made sure never to touch me. At first, it helped. Then, it didn’t. In the dark whispers of my mind, the hateful voices used it as evidence that I was soiled. Repulsive. Tainted.

Shera pulled it all from me, waiting out the storm of irrational anger and shameful tears before wrapping me in a sisterly embrace. I cannot recall precisely what it was she said to me, lost as I was in the torrent of my tortured mind, but it wasn’t her words to me that mattered most.

The next morning, halfway through our practice, Quintin snatched my sword arm.

“You’re collapsing your frame,” he grumbled, tugging my elbow away from my body. I tensed involuntarily under his hand and he froze, a wary uncertainty seizing him.

We teetered there on the knife’s edge for a long moment, my eyes fixed on his grip on my arm. The small, frightened girl inside me recoiled from that trespass, thrashing in a fear-fueled fury against any man laying a hand on me, no matter the reason.

But that wasn’t me. That had never been me. I was Lazerin-born, willful and proud, an heir and a soldier. I could bury that frightened imposter and find my own path forward. All I had to do was choose who I wanted to be.

I set my jaw stubbornly and corrected my stance before meeting Quintin’s watchful gaze. Swallowing yet another unwanted wave of indecipherable emotion, I nodded.

“Better,” he said, releasing me.

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