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

Chapter Thirteen

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾　　☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"I'm going to vomit." I ignored Callan as I pinched my lips together, bracing my hands on my knees as I tried to keep in my own vomit. The world was spinning around me, the edges going fuzzy. I let my eyes drift close as I sucked in sharp breaths.

"Aw, not feeling so good, Eira?" I heard someone ask. I picked up my head from where it was drooping to see Mason eyeing me, a grin on his lips. He was with his meatheads of friends, who were punching each other's shoulders and laughing as if watching me struggle was their greatest entertainment.

"At least I didn't sprint off during that first lap and have to walk during the last stride," I managed to say between gasps. It was the first thing I had ever said to Mason, the asshole who had been taunting me for the entire two weeks I had been here. Mason was tall and broad, with curly golden hair that I had the constant urge to grab onto and yank.

"Oh really?" Mason asked, anger infuriating in his vomit-green eyes. He stalked towards me, reaching out a hand as if to grab me, but then something was shoving his hand down and away from me. The hilt of a sword. Mason and I both glanced up to see Foley hovering above us.

"Don't be petty, Mason," Foley growled. I felt my cheeks warm at the feeling of Foley so close. The smell of mint and forest greeted my nose and I could feel the heat rising from his body. "Fighting with a little girl is beneath you." I felt my brows shoot up to my hairline. Who was he calling "little girl"?

"Yes sir," Mason grumbled, before taking a step away. He managed to shoot me one last dirty look before heading back over to his friends, who were staring at me with equal discontent. I struggled not to scoff, all of Mason's friends were like dogs, following their masters every command, tails wagging. It was disgusting.

"Are you alright?" a deep voice pulled me out of the staring competition I was having with Mason. I turned to see Foley much closer to me than I thought he had been. I felt my breath hitch in my throat, but this time I couldn't blame it on the run.

"I'm fine," I said, my voice strange and wobbling. The tips of my ears were growing cold and my mouth was growing dry. Foley was the most handsome man I had ever seen, and I was acting like it.

"Good," he said, grinning down at me. I was pretty sure that in that moment, I actually felt my heart leap out of my chest. But as my heart was still twirling, Foley did something that made my heart plummet into the clouds. He winked at me. Actually winked, before walking away.

"Might want to close your mouth there, miss heart-eyes," Callan said, walking up to my side. I realized he wasn't joking, my mouth actually had been hanging open. I snapped it shut and whirled towards him. "You look like the gods just graced you."

"They did," I whispered harshly. "Did you even see that? He winked, Callan. Winked." I could barely stop the smile from spreading on my lips.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so...giddy," Callan said, looping his arm through mine as we followed the rest of the group beginning to walk forward. "Didn't you hear him call you 'a little girl'?" I ignored him, continuing to walk with the group. I didn't know where we were going, but we had spent the morning going on an extremely hard run. Five miles with thirty second sprints whenever Foley blew his whistle...which was quite a bit. My legs felt like jelly and beads of sweat had started to form on my forehead because of it. Now that I was made of the cold, I realized I hated sweat.

"Do you know where we're going?" I asked. The sun hadn't come up yet very much, the sky was a deep purple color and the birds were just beginning to chip. We never woke up after six here, Foley always had us awake and working out first thing in the morning. In the past two weeks, we'd done lots of runs, weightlifting, and strength training. I had already started forming muscles that I never thought I'd be able to form. All the other initiates did too, everyone looked harder, with less of that childish glimmer in their eyes that they had when they first walked into Camp Caligo.