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But I did.

Back in my chamber I threw open the windows, letting in the evening air that was finally turning cool after another stifling summer’s day. I undressed, my clothes suddenly feeling like a yoke around my neck, and washed myself down with cool water from the basin.

Theron’s words played over and over in my mind. Nav knows she is going to need all the help she can get.

I knew better than anyone just how twisted Theron was, the depths he was willing to trawl in order to hurt, bend, and break. I’d heard enough terrified screams, seen enough acts performed in his name, to know that whatever he was going to do to Elara was going to be terrible.

But I also knew that he underestimated folk too easily, and something told me Elara would shock him at every turn.

Elara.

I hung my head, raking my hands through my hair. Fucking Gods, what had this female done to me? I couldn’t describe the strange sense of relief I felt knowing I’d see her again. Knowing that I’d be in that training arena with her. It wasn’t necessarily that knowing of her Mate’s death had softened me further - no, I was already drowning too deeply in the abyss for that - but it somehow reassured me that I had tried to get away. That I hadtriedto distance myself.

And I’d failed. If Theron pushed us together like this, then it was beyond my power to fight it.

The image of her holding her Mate, wailing as he died in her arms, made me both mournful and envious. Mournful, for so many reasons, and most of them I didn’t want to acknowledge.

And envious because I was a fucking lunatic over a dead Fae who’d been the last male to hold her in his arms, to kiss her lips. I was a fool. The deep simmering heat in my chest leapt like a flame, up my throat, and was accompanied by the strangest, yet most comforting thought I’d had in a long time -She’s mine.

I grunted out my frustration as I pushed myself away from the basin. I was becoming possessive over a female I’d just tried to kill. I was having jealous thoughts of her dead Mate. And I felt something else. Something even more terrifying.

Icaredfor her.

That night, I surrendered to the dreams when they inevitably came. I relished every second in that state, feeling her skin, tasting her sweat, biting that silky flesh as she moaned and writhed underneath me.

And when I woke in the morning, for the first time in years, it was with a smile on my lips.

Because I would see her.

Chapter7

Rook

The sun was already high in the sky by the time Elara appeared in the training arena. I felt her presence before I saw her, a prickling warmth on my shoulders that felt nothing like sunlight. When I turned to face her, she’d stopped a few feet away from me, her expression unreadable.

“Hello.”

I bowed my head briefly. “Hello, princess.”

She raised an eyebrow, and opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again and shook her head. “We’re here to train, aren’t we?” She strode over to the weapons, pulling down two swords. When I didn’t respond she stalked back towards me, and threw one of the swords to me. “That’s what you said, isn’t it? We’re training, and nothing more.”

“I did say that.” I spun the hilt of the sword in my hand, settling its weight in my hand, keeping my eyes on her. “Elara-“

“Come on, then.” She raised her weapon, ready to attack, waiting for me to be ready. “That’s what you said.”

I took a step towards her, my hand raised, but she swung for me, and I was forced to deflect her blade. She didn’t let up, coming at me again and again. She didn’t want to talk. She was adhering to the exact warning I had issued her the last time we met. Warnings that I no longer cared for.

“Elara-“

My words were cut off by yet another parry, another attack, and Gods, she was moving quickly. I could see now exactly what Theron had meant when he said she wasn’t weak. I could see now how she’d made her way across that battlefield. She was a skilled fighter.

“Elara, wait.” Our blades were joined, hers holding mine in a vice grip, and her eyes were almost wild when they met mine. “I’m sorry about what I-“

She spun the blade and released me, backing away from me. “You said you didn’t want to talk.”

“I was wrong.”

She scoffed, and ran a hand across her brow, where tiny beads of sweat glimmered in the sunlight. “We’re here to train, so let’s train.”