Page 72 of Warrior of the Wild
“Well, did you encourage them? Offer to help them in the areas they were lacking? Did you give out quick and efficient orders whenever you were in a crisis? Like we were with the gunda.”
I try to swallow past a sudden knot in my throat.
No, I didn’t do any of those things. When the boys made mistakes, I pointed them out. When they were horrible to me, I put them in their places. During training exercises, they never listened to my instructions, so I stopped giving them. Instead, I took the lead and expected them to follow my example.
“I didn’t treat them the way I treat you and Soren. They weren’t ever kind to me the way you are.”
Iric tries to turn his body toward me before he remembers he’s supposed to be holding still and floating. “Maybe they needed you to be the bigger person and make the first move to change things.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Could we talk about something else?”
Iric looks up at the cloud-covered sky. “Sure. Oh! Want to get a reaction out of Soren?”
“What?”
“Pull me closer.”
I bend my elbows, tugging Iric near my chest. He gives me a devilish grin before reaching forward and tucking a strand of my hair behind one ear.
At first, the motion sends goose bumps along my skin—and not pleasant ones. Torrin would touch my hair this way and—
But then there’s a sound, and Iric and I both turn our heads. Soren has dropped his whetstone onto the rocks. He bends down to retrieve it, and when he looks back up, he’s got a glare fixed on Iric.
Iric lets out a low laugh. “Priceless.”
“That’s not funny,” I snap. I take my arms back and cross them over my chest.
“Just because Soren and I are working on things, that doesn’t mean I don’t get to provoke him. Besides, he knows you’re not my type, so the fact that he’s getting worked up only makes it funnier!”
“You are a horrible person and—” I break off as I realize Iric is drifting away from me. “You’re floating.”
“What do you think we’ve been doing for the last half hour?”
“No, you’re floating on your own!”
“I am? I am!” Iric fumbles for a moment, as though knowing I’m not there suddenly throws him off balance, but he quickly rights himself, and continues floating. “Soren! I’m floating! Look!”
But shouting seems to have been too much for Iric, for he goes under in the next second. I step through the water as quickly as possible to reach him, but Iric gets his feet under him before I get there.
When he breaches the surface, it’s to hear Soren laughing at him.
Iric pulls himself out of the water and flies at Soren, tackling him with his soaking body. Then he’s pulling on him, trying to force him into one of the pools.
“Raz, I could use some help!”
We’re supposed to be learning how to swim, but what the hell.
I get myself behind Soren and push.
“No!” Soren shrieks.
Too late. We fling him into one of the midsized pools, armor and skins and all. He was smart enough to drop his ax before it got too close to the pool.
Iric was able to let go in time, but me? Soren clamps a hand down on my arm and pulls me in with him.
I kick to the surface and glare at Iric. “This is what I get for helping you? You abandon me?”
“I have swimming to practice,” he says innocently before taking off for the pool we’d been using.
