Page 35

The following day, Rowen walked me to the edge of the training grounds before his session with Takoda. The sound of clanging weapons filled the air. The energy was intense and focused as the warriors honed their skills for the upcoming battle.

Rowen kissed me on the lips, a simple gesture that had been missing from our lives for so long.

Though it was quick and sweet, my knees went weak.

I would never get over something as simple as a peck from him.

“Have fun today,” he said, kissing me again, but before he could pull away, my grip found the front of his shirt, and I yanked him back toward me.

He chuckled against my lips, and I took the opportunity to stroke my tongue against his mouth. He moaned into me. “Spirits, you make it hard to leave you.”

“Then don’t,” I said, not letting go of his forest green shirt.

“Oh, I will be coming back for you,” he murmured at my temple, his beard scratching deliciously against my skin.

I grinned, releasing him from my clutches. “Good, because I have plans for you.”

His voice turned to a low gravel. “I think it is I that has plans for you. "

As much as I wanted to cancel the day and retreat to the bedroom, I knew how important his sessions with Takoda were.

Even though I wouldn’t attend myself, I wanted to show support.

“So much has been going on, I haven’t had a chance to ask you how it’s going with Takoda,” I said, not quite ready to let him out of my sight.

“I’m finding the mind-mending sessions helpful. As you know, I have memories that are . . . hard to forget. Thought patterns I am trying to break,” he said, rubbing the scar over his heart. The knife wound was entirely healed, yet every now and again, it flared with phantom pain.

“It makes me want to snap Fou’s neck all over again,” I seethed, wishing I could dive into the lush forest of his eyes and battle the ghosts that still haunted him.

“Always so bloodthirsty when it comes to protecting me,” he said with a grin, tracing his thumb over my lip. “It’s adorable.”

“What thought patterns are you trying to break?” I asked, tilting my head back to meet his gaze. “How can I help?”

He pressed his hand against my chest, right where my heart galloped at his touch. He shifted higher, his palm widening to encircle my throat.

Though his touch was light, a spike of fear and adrenaline shot through me.

“It is that look that haunts me,” he breathed, leaning in close to trace his nose along my jawline. I released a shuddered moan, exposing more of my throat to him.

“You won’t hurt me,” I said as my whole body flushed.

Rowen pressed his thumb to my quickening pulse. “Your body believes otherwise. Your pulse quickens like a hunted deer.”

Even though I could barely think straight, I suddenly knew what haunted him. “That night in the cave, you weren’t yourself,” I said, remembering his fevered hallucinations induced by laith venom. He’d thought I was Fou, and he had tried to strangle me.

“It torments me how I hurt you,” he said, his voice a tortured moan. He used his hold on my neck to tilt my gaze to his. “I could have killed you.”

“But you didn’t,” I whispered, my pulse quickening beneath his fingertips. He could easily withhold my next breath if he wanted to, press a little harder or squeeze a little tighter to make me see stars. My body told him that I would like it, that I trusted him.

His breath fanned across my collarbones and erupted goosebumps on my skin. “I’ve touched one other this way . . . this coarsely. I hate that this memory is hers. I want you to claim my every thought, you to own every experience this body can have.”

“Then let me take it, Rowen. Let this memory be mine,” I said as his forearm rested between the rise and fall of my breasts. “Be coarse with me.”

The growl he emitted sent a rush through my blood as he backed me up and caged me against a tree, his hand still collared around my throat.

His lips crashed onto mine, easing my mouth open with his tongue. He applied the most delicious pressure on my throat as he deepened the kiss, stealing my breath in more ways than one.

He nudged his knee between my legs, forcing them apart as he pressed up at the apex of my thighs.

I moaned as he pushed me to my tiptoes, causing my weight to center on my clit.

I was pliant and buzzing as his kiss untethered me from my body, my thoughts, my worries.

He pinned me in place as he rocked his knee against me and squeezed my neck just a little tighter.

He tilted my head to the side and lowered his mouth to bite and nip at the curve of my neck. “Tell me,” he rasped against my skin. “Who do I belong to? ”

“Me,” I panted as a whirlwind fluttered in my head. “You belong to me.”

I moaned, arching into him. I couldn’t care less that his fingers were wrapped around my throat or that I was high-centered on his knee in broad daylight where anyone could see.

“I told you to be careful with her,” a voice said, snaking through my senses and jolting me back to my body.

Still pressed to the tree, I blinked out of my daze to find Maddock staring at me with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. He was dressed in dark, fitted trousers and a loose, clay-red shirt.

Pia and Xala had worked their magic yet again. The subdued and earthy colors enhanced his high-contrast features.

Rowen chuckled. His hand left me with a trailing touch down my chest as he gently lowered me to my feet. “Be careful with her while you train and see how she likes it.”

“I’m training with you today?” he asked, his voice hitching with excitement.

I reined in my ragged breathing. “You did hold up your end of the bargain.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why are you being nice to me? I’m scared.”

Rowen kissed my temple. “That’s my cue to leave. Try not to beat each other to a pulp,” he said as he turned to leave, and I watched his back muscles shift in the most riveting way beneath his shirt.

“Are you really going to let me train with you?” he asked, his voice not quite clearing the euphoric buzz in my head, but the subject matter did.

My gaze shot to his. “Erovos could escape at any moment. You need to be prepared just like the rest of us. I think we can put the past behind us, don’t you?

A world eater on the verge of escaping seems a little more pressing.

Besides, you earned this fair and square,” I said, understanding what Rowen had meant about going easier on Madds.

Before I knew Rowen and I were soul flames, I’d felt the intensity of our connection through my whole body, and I’d had to fight it.

“And thank you for holding up your end of the deal. That must have been hard.”

I knew the struggles Maddock faced, and while I wished he would disappear, a part of me needed him beside me. My feelings toward him may be stolen, but there was nothing I could do about that now. I needed to keep the host of my Light and bond safe.

“Well, all right then,” Maddock said with a faint smirk as we walked to the weapon rack and selected our weapons.

Dyani approached us, her strides confident and assertive. “So you’ve finally decided to join us, Madds?”

“Yes, even though I’m scared of you,” he said, holding a short blade. “You weren’t very nice to me the first time we met.”

Dyani rolled her eyes and landed her palm on her hip. “I only threatened to torture and kill you. I could have done far worse.”

“See?” he said, looking at me to defend him. “She’s terrifying."

Dyani’s expression softened despite keeping her tone and body language staunch. “You will want to learn how to use your opponent's strength against them. It’s how I am able to defeat those who are bigger than me,” she said, her chin raised high.

I frowned, glancing between her and Maddock, “How come he doesn’t have to start at the beginning?”

Dyani gave a short laugh. “We don’t have that kind of time. Besides, haven’t you seen him watching from the trees, learning? Plus, by how he holds the blade, I can tell he’s done this before. Unlike you, who looks like?—”

“—Like a youngling with a stick. I know, I know,” I interrupted with a sigh. “Let’s just get on with it. ”

Our coach hid a smile as she continued her instruction, “The knife is an extension of your arm, an extension of you. It’s a simple, beautiful object; but in the right hands, it can fell armies.”

Dyani performed a series of quick attacks with her blades. Her precision and power still amazed me.

Maddock and I mimicked her movements, exchanging glances. We were both determined to master the skill before the other.

“Attack me,” Dyani said to Maddock, just as she said to me my first day.

Madds obliged, and she dodged his attack, mimicking a blow to his middle. “You’re dead.”

“How did you do that?” he asked at the same time I said. “Hey, why didn’t you knock him to the ground?”

Dyani ignored my complaint. “You are too stiff, Madds. Relax and let the blade become a part of you.”

Her quick eyes turned to me. “Now, you. Show me what you got.”

She darted towards me, and I blocked her blow for blow. Barely. “You are stronger than you used to be,” she said, her sharp gaze lingering on my elongated ears and the other subtle changes in my body. “But it is clear that you do not trust your instincts. Or the blade in your hand.”

I took up another blade, testing its weight and balance, but something still felt off. I tried another and then another. “I guess I don’t trust any of these.”

“A poor warrior blames her weapons,” Dyani said, her stare as unyielding as the metal in her hand.

“Yeah, yeah. What does it take to get a compliment around here?”

We continued training under her watchful eyes, but despite everyone’s focus, a part of me couldn’t help but think that our efforts might be in vain.

All these weapons were useless against the Voro-Kai.

Yet doing nothing wasn’t an option either.

We had to prepare, even if the odds were impossible to beat.

I pushed the useless thoughts aside and continued to work on my drills, incorporating the Five Phases of the Moon. I tried to make my movements precise and fluid as Dyani and Madds focused on disarming techniques.

Dyani flicked the blade out of Maddock’s hand, and he froze, eyes wide as he stood dumbfounded.

“Do not stop. Think quickly. On the battlefield, if your weapon gets knocked out of your hand, your enemy will not stop to wait for you,” she ground out, gesturing for him to do something. Anything.

Maddock’s eyes slowly sharpened with understanding. He frantically glanced around and picked up the nearest rock, lifting it as if it were a sword.

“Good,” Dyani said. “Use whatever you can as a weapon.”

Something about how Maddock held the rock made me remember, like a wish granted by a shooting star.

I grinned.

There might be hope for us yet.