Venture Untamed (The Venture Books) by R.H. Russell Page B

sharply.
    “Why, sir?”
    “Yes, why? You’ve never been late before. Have you just now decided to become lazy?”
    “No, sir. It won’t happen again.”
    Beamer nodded. Venture wondered what that meant, but remained silent.
    “How many boys do you think are in that room right now?” Beamer gestured in the direction of the main training room.
    “About a hundred, sir?”
    “One hundred-eight. How many boys do you think I recruited to come here?”
    “I don’t know, sir.”
    “One. You. And when you were just eleven years old. About the same age as your master’s daughter at that time, right?”
    “Sir?”
    “Grant Fieldstone brought his little daughter to me. Wanted to enroll her in self-defense classes immediately. An unusual request coming from the father of such a young, such a privileged girl.” Beamer spread his palms on the desk, then said quietly, gravely, “He told me what happened. It’s hard to imagine such a young boy trying to defend her, not even stopping for a broken arm or broken ribs.”
    Venture stared at Beamer, stunned, sick at the memory. For a long time, he couldn’t speak. When he did, he looked down at his whitened, tightly wrapped hands. “I didn’t know you knew about all that.”
      “‘All that’ is why you’re here. They were all what—three years older than you? And when help arrived, you were standing on your feet, with a broken arm and a broken nose, and cracked ribs, not begging them to leave you alone, no. Screaming at them that you were going to kill them all.”
    “Sir, I wasn’t trying to be brave. I just really did want to kill them. At the time, I mean—”
    “I think rage was well-placed and downright useful, just the right thing in that particular situation, don’t you?”
    Venture couldn’t answer. Rage. Rage was exactly what he felt, every time he thought of them. It mattered little that they’d been punished severely. He couldn’t help thinking that it would have gone much differently if they’d tried to attack Jade now. Sometimes that reassured him, knowing what he could do, and sometimes it scared him, wondering what he would do. For a part of him still wanted to kill them all. He hated them, and he hated himself for that, for hatred was a foul thing, too. His mother had taught him that.
    “I told Mr. Fieldstone his servant boy had an uncommon fighting spirit that would benefit from training. He agreed. I offered to have you trained free of charge, so long as you demonstrated enough potential, but he wouldn’t have it. Said he’d like nothing better than to pay your way.”
    “Thank you, sir. I’m grateful for all Master Fieldstone has done for me, and to everyone here who teaches me. I’ve been working hard all this time to show it. I promise you, sir, I won’t let you down again. I’ll work even harder—”
    “Do you really think you can work harder, Delving?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Well, I hope so. And I hope you’ll be able to fight with those hands, because you’re going to be spending the day with the elite class. Tell Earnest I said he should go with you. Harper will take care of his boys.”

CHAPTER TEN

    “He said to do what? Are you sure?”
    “He said for me to get over there and get my butt kicked and for you to come clean up the damage. Earnest, I haven’t even eaten today. What am I going to do?”
    Earnest crossed his arms and stared Venture down for the second time that morning. “You are not going in there with an attitude like that. That’s not who you are. You’re Venture Delving. I’m going to wrap your hands a little tighter, and you’re going to do whatever those boys do in there, and you’re going to make it look easy, no matter how hard it is. You’re going to hang in there until someone tells you to stop, because—” Earnest took Venture’s head between his palms, forcing him to look at him. “Because I know you can do this Vent, and I want Beamer to know it too.”
    Venture paused at the door to