Page 75

Malia

He said it back! My heart is doing ten flips at a time.

The words just rolled off my tongue by accident, but I wouldn’t take them back.

Not when he said them back and not when I’ve been feeling them so earnestly for so long.

The two of us stay in this position, forehead to forehead with our eyes closed until I start drifting off.

"We should probably get dressed first." He breaks the silence.

"Clothes are overrated," I mumble, not having any intention of moving.

Ever.

He’s warm and smooth and smells delicious. Why would I change a single thing?

To my great dismay, Keahi doesn’t seem to share the sentiment as he gets off the bed to open his drawer.

"Keahi," I whine.

My eyes are still closed, but I can hear he’s in the room.

He walks closer moments later, and I can feel him lift one of my legs and then the other. What is he doing?

"Keahi, I don’t think I-"

"Princess," he chuckles, cutting me off.

I just now realize the man is putting a pair of his boxers on me.

I reluctantly open my eyes to sheepishly smile at him. He’s touching me with so much care, and I’m melting.

Once his boxers are in place, he helps me back into his shirt.

He doesn’t put one on himself, which I do not mind.

Finally, he pulls me back against him.

That reminds me that while I’ve gotten the edge taken off, he didn’t.

"Do you want me to?" my voice trails off, but he knows what I mean.

"Nah, I’m perfectly content like this," he sounds sincere, and I honestly don’t think I could do anything good to him anymore anyway.

I’m so tired it’s hard to tell if I’m dreaming already.

I wake up the same way I fell asleep; in the warmth of Keahi’s embrace.

Okay, maybe not warmth but rather heat.

Yup, definitely heat. Keahi seems to be burning up. A quick glance around confirms it’s still dark outside so the sudden change of temperature must’ve woken me up.

"Keahi," I whisper gently when his body heat keeps increasing.

I can feel beads of sweat gathering on my forehead and chest at a much faster pace than normal, so I try to put some distance between us, only for his hold on me to tighten when I try to wriggle free.

His skin keeps getting hotter, so much so that it’s far past comfortable, and I’m scared he’ll leave burns if I stay this close to him.

"Keahi," I say louder, growing more concerned.

He makes a pained sound behind me but doesn’t let go.

Forget any possible burns, I’m more worried about him. I’ve never heard of a fire handler burning themselves to death in their sleep, but this can’t be comfortable for him. It certainly isn’t for me. I need to get him off of me.

His arms are wrapped around my waist, capturing one of my arms.

My back is pressed against his bare torso, and I can feel the heat even through my shirt.

One of his legs is draped over mine and every part of him feels like a hot sheet fresh out of the oven against my skin.

"Keahi, wake up!" I yell, struggling harder against his hold.

Perhaps I should stop trying to escape like this since all it does is make him pull me closer and burn me deeper.

"Keahi, you’re fine.

It’s just a dream, nothing can hurt you," I say as comfortingly as I can, trying a new approach.

My teeth are gritted, but years of practice had me perfecting my staying-silent-in-pain skills.

Although it seems I’m either getting weak or the guy behind me is really giving this his all because there’s a scream lodged at the very top of my throat.

Really trying to get out.

"Keahi, you’re fine.

Please, wake up, you’re okay." He makes another sound of distress before twisting his body away from me so quickly I fall off the bed.

Rather than feeling any relief at the cool air against my burns, my concern for Keahi grows as he starts thrashing in the bed. I’m quickly by his side, trying to calm or shake him awake again.

What on earth is wrong with him? Why won’t he wake up? My heart is racing dangerously as I helplessly yell the man’s name.

He doesn’t react to my efforts until I splash him with a spray of water in a moment of desperation.

"Woah, what’s wrong? What happened?" He snaps awake, shooting in a sitting position.

His eyes search his bed and room until they settle on me.

"What are you doing up?" he asks, clearly confused out of his mind.

He wipes a hand over the water dripping from his chin, quirking an eyebrow at me.

"Were you having a nightmare?" I ask a little out of breath myself.

"Yes, why?"

"You were burning up and thrashing around.

I had to splash you with water to finally wake you up."

"Oh, that’s never happened before.

I think" He looks thoughtful, but stable and awake enough for me to sit down again.

"What was the dream about."

"My parents.

I haven’t had it in years.

I guess talking about it today messed with my brain. Sorry I woke you, let’s go back to bed."

"Are you sure? It’s probably time to get up soon, so we could also do something else if you want," I offer.

I always hated sleeping when nightmares were all it brought me.

"It’s four am.

I’m fine, really." If he says so.

I lie down again but can’t hide the hiss of pain when Keahi touches one of my burns as he cuddles closer.

"What’s wrong with your arm?" he asks as a reaction to it, pulling his hand back right away.

"Nothing, I’ll just heal it." He wouldn’t like knowing he hurt me, even when it wasn’t on purpose.

"But what is it you have to heal?" He reaches for my wrist, presumably to take a look at my burns, but I pull back.

Keahi searches my face with a mix of confusion and hurt.

"Why won’t you let me see it? I can help you heal it."

"Sorry, habit." I don’t think that was as smooth as it could have been, but I reluctantly let Keahi take my arm.

He turns it gently, and I see the exact moment when it dawns on him what happened.

"Is that a burn?" he asks, still looking at it.

"Did I hurt you?" he adds when I don’t answer.

"It’s fine, it wasn’t on purpose.

You were just holding me when you had the nightmare." As soon as the confirmation leaves my lips, he lets go of me and pulls his hands close to his chest, as if scared of what he’ll do if they come too close to me.

All the while, he’s still not looking at me.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-" he looks a little lost, so I cut him off, hating how all over the place he seems.

"It’s fine, it’s not that deep.

I can heal it in no time," I say lightly in an attempt to cheer him up.

He nods but doesn’t smile back.

"Maybe you’re right.

Maybe I shouldn’t go back to sleep," he says when I’m halfway through the burn. I frown.

"Don’t be ridiculous, we don’t have to get up for hours."

"What if it happens again?"

"Then I’ll be here to wake you up, okay? I know now to just cool you down with a bit of water," I say determinedly.

"I think I’ll take the couch," he mumbles.

I stop treating my wound and reach forward to cup my man’s worried face.

He better listen to me.

"You’ll not leave me alone because of a little nightmare.

I’ll finish healing the burns and we will go back to sleep."

"Burns?" Oh, dammit.

"Mh?" I play dumb.

There’s no use, I know that, but a girl can hope.

"You said burns.

As in more than one.

Where else did I hurt you?"

"It’s nothing, I just think maybe a little on my leg." He shakes his head to himself before focusing back on me.

"Show me where so I can heal it." It’s not a question but a demand, so I just move my left leg toward him.

"Holy shit, this one is even worse." His face pulls into a grimace as if the view was hurting him.

I think the burn on my leg might have already formed blisters, so I get the sentiment.

Still, I wish he didn’t blame himself when this was out of his control.

"It’s fine Keahi.

Please don’t beat yourself up over this." Please don’t pull away from me now.

The man nods but that’s about it. Very convincing.

"Are there any others?" he asks once he’s done with my leg, healing the blisters while he makes sure not to change a thing about my scars.

My heart warms at the gesture.

"Nope, that should be it.

Thank you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Keahi, let’s just go back to sleep." I try to get him to hold me only to feel him pull further and further away.

Not just physically, but he suddenly seems unable to meet my eyes.

"Keahi, please," I whisper and turn to face him.

"I don’t want to hurt you."

"I’m not scared of you.

I’ve shot an icicle through your arm once, remember? Now we can call it even." To prove a point, I place my head on his chest and throw my arm over his torso to hold him close.

I can feel him sigh before he starts stroking my hair gently, melting against me. Oh, I could get used to this.

With that thought, I fall back asleep.

By the time I wake up, he’s still stroking my hair looking at the ceiling with drowsy eyes.

It makes me wonder if he didn’t go back to sleep after his dream, but I don’t pester him with an interrogation.

If he refuses to sleep with me in the future, that’s when we’ll have another talk but I get that he might have needed tonight to calm down. With the promise to see him at lunch and a longing kiss, I leave Keahi’s place to head to the guard’s facility.

I’m not sure why I insist on that two-week rule.

I could sleep in a comfortable bed with Keahi by my side already but something inside me wants to stay true to my word and break the pattern of rushing into things full steam ahead.

Soon, just a little more patience.

Once I arrived at the facility, Flint ambushes me in the hall, looking haggard and rambling, "Hi, Malia.

It’s good you’re here.

I got a new group together that’ll hopefully not act up the way the last one did. There’s one teacher amongst them. I’m hoping to spread these new skills as quickly as possible. To be honest, there’ve been more disappearances, so we really need something to change soon."

Isn’t that just great news first thing in the morning.

"Alright, Flint, take a breath.

I’ll do my best, but I still think you should tell everyone else." I totally forgot to mention these sketchy happenings to Keahi, but at least I’ll have time to warn him at lunch.

"Yeah, yeah.

We’ll have a convention about it soon, I’ll inform you then.

Good luck," he says absent-mindedly before running off. There must be more to this story than what he’s telling me for him to act so weirdly. That’s not my problem though, I’ve helped Arcane enough. My only concern lies with Keahi, and he’ll know to be careful if he’s ever put on watch.

Now, moving on to my actual problem, aka the people standing in room 19.

"Hello everyone.

As you hopefully know, I’m here to teach you how to fight.

If anyone has a problem with that or any dumb questions, there’s the door." I wait for a few beats while my students just stare at me, dumbfounded. "Great. Let’s get started then." I smile at how uneasy they seem.

"Knock, knock," a familiar voice interrupts eventually.

A quick glance at the clock on the wall tells me I’ve been teaching the guards for a few hours by the time Keahi walks into the room.

The guard I’ve just been dueling turns to see who’s at the door, and I take that opportunity to slam him onto the ground.

"Ouch.

Lesson number one, never turn your back on your opponent.

C’mon, every child knows this," Keahi says, walking toward us. I grin openly at him, glad to know something stuck.

"Hey, Love.

Your students look beat, I think they deserve their break now." He places a kiss on the top of my head and pulls me a little closer to his side by my waist.

My heart instantly starts going crazy, but I keep a straight face for my students. If I show them I’m human and completely whipped, they’ll lose their respect and fear of me.

"You heard him.

Be back here in an hour," I call out.

They hurry out as soon as the words leave my lips, and Keahi and I are left standing in the room alone.

"You look ridiculously unaffected by hours of training," he observes.

"They’re no match." I smirk at him.

"That’s rude.

Pick on someone your own size." Keahi gets into position to fight a few steps away from me.

"I thought we were getting lunch?"

"Are you backing down from a challenge?" he raises a brow at me.

Touché, he knows how to push my buttons.

"Game’s on." I get into position and wait for Keahi to make the first move.

He swings at my head with his fist.

"Were you just going to hit me?" I mock him, feigning offence.

"Like you’d let me."

I retaliate by spraying him with a splash of water, but instead of pointing out that I’m a cheat for using my power, his eyes widen in excitement.

“It’s blue again,” he exclaims, a wide grin splitting his face.

“What?” I laugh.

“Your water was dark when we first saw each other again, but it’s gone back to being clear.

It’s blue again,” he repeats.

The next thing I know, he whips me up in his arms and twirls me in a circle.

“Okay, enough, enough! We’re supposed to be fighting here,” I remind him, still chuckling.

“Damn right we are.

Alright, do over.

I can’t even be mad at you for cheating.”

We go on, each keeps blocking and attacking, revealing no clear winner.

Either I’m slacking or Keahi has trained without me.

Oh. Realization dawns on me like an unwelcome storm. Of course. He has been training with Wystan every day.

I should be glad for him.

He knows how to defend himself and is improving his attacks.

I still manage to be selfish and feel a pang of jealousy. I should be the one spending my afternoons with him, I should be sparring with my best friend. It’s ridiculous, but I guess that’s just how feelings can get.

As I lose myself in my thoughts, Keahi pulls my legs from underneath me with one of his own and I land flat on my back.

The wind is knocked out of me, and I cough a few times.

"Holy shit, sorry.

I didn’t mean to do that.

I thought you’d see it coming from a mile away," Keahi apologizes quickly, stretching out his hand to help me back to my feet.

"You flatter me.

Can we get lunch now?"

"Sure." He helps me up and we head to the crowded cafeteria.

It so happens that the guard’s cafeteria is just as crowded as the one for the students.

Only here, we’re the youngest once more. That, and the food is slightly better.

Once we settle down at a table in the back corner, I lean in to speak to Keahi in a lowered voice.

"I still have some news for you,"

"I’m all ears."

"First off, you can’t tell anyone, not even Wystan, or I’ll get into trouble."

"Of course.

What is it?" He frowns, clearly picking up on the tension in my shoulders.

Perhaps we shouldn’t discuss it here. As much as I think the guards all deserve to know, I don’t care enough to risk my reputation and standing when I only just upgraded from being a prisoner. I know I can trust Keahi, but someone could overhear. I glance over my shoulder and lower my voice another bit.

"Flint has told me that our guards, especially the ones on watch, have been disappearing.

Apparently, it has nothing to do with Shadow Handlers and Flint has no idea who or what we’re up against.

He told me not to tell anyone other than you since he’s trying to prevent a mass panic or whatever."

"And the other guards don’t know?" he asks, to which I shake my head.

"But it concerns their safety.”

"I know, that’s what I’ve been telling Flint.

He said they’re having a convention about it soon, so we’ll see what happens then." Keahi nods before shoving another bite in his mouth.

That’s all we discuss about the topic and the rest of my break passes way too quickly.