Queen's Shadow || Kingdom at the End of the World - Book II

[31.2] All the Queen's Men

Kayla Starr stepped into the barracks' mess hall as if she were walking onto a battlefield. The unfriendly gazes boring into her back were neither new nor rare, tamed as they were by the quiet lassitude of the late afternoon.

The midday meal had long passed. Kayla's eyes scanned through the thin crowd, stopping at a familiar head of tousled gold. She changed course at a clipped step.

Rin had chosen her seat well. Hunched into a corner at the very back of the hall, her table half-hidden behind a support column, she would be easy to miss if not for her bright hair. Once seen, however, the girl stuck out like a crooked nail. Every other soldier present was easily twice her size. The way she held herself – head down, body slouched – drew rather than discouraged attention.

Soldiers were trained to exploit weakness. Rin's sorry state would not go unremarked, were it not for the girl's apparent youth.

Kayla slid onto the bench across from the sullen girl. Rin looked up, jaw tense. Her expression softened when she realized who had intruded onto her solitude.

"What happened?" Kayla asked before the girl could speak, voice sharp.

Rin's lips stretched into a sardonic smile, misshapen by the bruise swelling her right cheek. "A bit of a friendly disagreement," she said.

"I see," Kayla said darkly.

Fights were not uncommon in the barracks. Fresh cadets were particularly susceptible to the pressures of their new environment, their discontent heightened by the unruliness of youth. Nonetheless, Kayla could not envision Rin involved in some pubescent display of anger. The girl was not of a temper. She was even less likely to provoke a classmate into a physical altercation.

"Did teacher send you? Well, you can tell him that I am not sorry. I'm not writing a stupid apology letter, either. Kyle started it. Not my fault he can't take a punch."

Rin stabbed at a tomato, punctuating her angry ramble. Kayla watched her in bewildered amusement.

"What did this Kyle do?" she asked.

"He was making fun of Zero. They all were! But Kyle was the worst. He was saying all these awful things, and no one told him to stop. They were all laughing!" Rin said. Her voice shook, so upset she looked near crying.

Kayla felt a hot stab of shame. Whatever Rin had heard from her fellow cadets could not be any worse than the sentiments expressed freely by soldiers of higher rank. Kayla held little love for Zero herself. Faced with Rin's scowling little face, she wondered about the root of her dislike for the very first time.

"Then he started in on Sparks," Rin continued darkly. Kayla hid a wince; the irony of being disparaged alongside Zero did not escape her. "I asked him if he planned to carry on covering his lack of talent with crass remarks about others. He's dead last in class."

"I dare guess Kyle was not too happy to be reminded of the fact," Kayla said.

Rin laughed. "Oh, he was angry alright."

"He acted first?" Kayla confirmed.

Rin nodded. "I got him better. His footwork is sloppy. But, um – I might've gotten him too well."

"Musser did mention the boy's in the infirmary. Broke his nose?" Kayla guessed.

"His jaw," Rin said, wincing slightly.

Kayla was impressed. "A fitting punishment for a loose mouth," she said in approval.

"Teacher still sent me in for discipline," Rin muttered.

The mention of Musser reminded Kayla of her purpose in seeking Rin. She tapped her fingers on the table, catching the girl's attention. Kayla laid out her hand between them.