Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

Siraay wondered if he would actually dare to do it, although she was prepared to remind him of her status if he actually did.

Thankfully, footsteps sounded in the passage outside the closed door, and Loce snatched his hand back faster than if Siraay had threatened him herself.

‘We should get to the training ground, if you still want to do your inspection, lady,’ he said formally.

Siraay nodded at him, keeping her expression blank as she turned away, folding and tucking the bit of paper into a tiny space where the cloth of the dress curved over her breast.

It would keep safely there for further scrutiny later.

Loce opened the door for her, and together they proceeded down the hallway.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

STANDING ON THE balcony looking out over the arena where Chezran had watched her kill to save her friends, Siraay observed the newest group of soldiers training on the sands.

As she had stepped out onto that balcony, Siraay had absentmindedly wondered just how many Xarcon soldiers she had killed on that fateful day when she had been awakened.

Enough to be impressive, she was sure. Her former self, the old Siray, had held nothing in reserve during that fight.

And that was what had finally brought Chezran down to claim her, knowing that her true potential was as yet untapped at that time.

She eyed the end of the arena now where it had all happened. She had spilled blood here … and her own had also been spilled.

Her eyes turned back to the soldiers before her. It was hard to believe that these males and females were the same that had come into the city with her. Now, of course, they all wore tarzneum bands around their wrists. Marching in unison, the large group halted as one on Herrin’s command.

Crump.

Silence followed the sound of many feet halting together.

Loce raised a hand and motioned to Herrin. He had been down to have a quick word with the training master while Siraay had breezed by, heading directly for the platform above.

Herrin was now an underling, and it pleased her to ignore him completely and let Loce deal with him in her stead, briefing him on what Siraay was looking for.

At Loce’s signal, Herrin called out various numbers. Then he let silence fall for an instant before shouting, ‘Move forwards!’

Several soldiers stepped forwards to form a new line before Herrin.

Peering down, the rays of the sun through the glass dome roof clearly illuminated the space before her, and Siraay was very interested to see who was in that line. Although identifying their faces required her to recall a number of her former self’s memories to ensure she was correctly naming the figures.

The first face she noted was Wexner’s. The most experienced of her former allies, he stood out now, easily the most confident and self-assured.

Next in line was Genlie. She, too, had already had battle experience, and the soft face Siraay recalled from earlier memories was now set in a hard mask.

Beside her, unsurprisingly, was Kovi, and Siraay wondered if the two of them were still committed to each other, even after they had been indoctrinated.

Her gaze moved on, and she didn’t need to access any memories to identify the male that stood at attention beside Kovi.

Baindan.

Siraay looked hard at the male, carefully analysing her own emotions. If she found herself feeling anything for him, or if old Siray’s emotional attachment came through at all … well, she wouldn’t be able to let that kind of weakness stand.

Would need to remove the cause of it, actually.

After a moment of thorough self-examination, though, Siraay was satisfied that she didn’t feel anything but mere curiosity.

Her eyes slid right … to the other attractive male that stood there. This one, she remembered, was called Zalorand. And, like Baindan, she recalled that he had had a thing for her former self.

Not that he would still harbour any of those same feelings, of course.

She liked the lines of his face, and his physical frame, which was far more impressive than any of the others in the line.

Grudgingly, she let her eyes move on, and discovered that next to the golden-haired male was a much leaner form … a male, with a cunning look about him.

Tamot, Siraay recalled.

He, in turn, was standing beside a dark-haired female.

Presently, Herrin began putting the new line through their own set of drills—manoeuvres that were far more complex than what the bulk of the soldiers had been doing before. But more than that, it was the speed, efficiency, and lethal accuracy with which that single line now moved that made Siraay catch her breath as Herrin called out command after command.

Wexner was by far the most impressive, his experience clear in the lines of his muscles and how he achieved maximum effect with minimal effort. A true warrior.

Genlie was the swiftest of the line, her graceful efforts making the males seem almost uncoordinated in comparison.

Kovi was the strongest, Baindan the smoothest—as if this were an exercise he had been practising his entire life.

But it was the dark-haired female at the end of the line, who Siraay hadn’t taken much of an interest in before, who now drew her attention. Or, to be more accurate, it was the female’s ferociousness that drew her attention.

Although the others had their own strength, Siraay would have been willing to bet on this female against most of them, with perhaps the only exception being Wexner.

The way the female gritted her mouth and threw herself into each and every attack fascinated Siraay, and she leaned hard against the stone barrier that was all that separated her from falling to her death onto the arena’s sands below.

Loce noticed her sudden attention and turned to look back down at the line as well. ‘Someone caught your eye?’

Siraay nodded and pointed. ‘That one—the female at the end.’

Loce peered at the indicated figure and nodded his agreement. ‘She would make a fine addition to any guard.’

Siraay pushed away from the edge of the balcony. ‘Let’s