Page 45

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

TATE

“You make such a lovely couple.” The voice of our host shatters the moment, and we jerk apart.

I release my breath and drag my eyes away from Ara’s lips to the woman who took such good care of us.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she says, handing us each a bowl filled to the brim. I’m glad my hands have something to do because I want to reach for Ara.

I nearly kissed her.

I can’t believe I came so close to stepping over that line. A line that looks more and more like it’s drawn in quicksand instead of the stone it should be set in.

Discipline and self-control are second nature for me, but around her, I’m teetering on an edge, one nudge away from going down the wrong side.

We eat quietly, and the silence stretches and grows with every minute that passes.

Ara’s words keep circling in my mind, waking an unease I can’t shake. What does she mean when she says she’s trying to survive?

I huff out a frustrated breath, which makes Ara look up. But she doesn’t ask, and I don’t explain. She’s the first person I have met who has maybe even more secrets than I do. And I want—no, need—to know all of them.

Warmed up and our bellies full, we thank our host profusely, and she declines our offer of compensation. We head back to the post, the silence between us still intact. It seems unbreakable by now.

Ara’s face is unusually somber, and she keeps so much space between us that another person could walk there without touching either of us.

I have a plan to get her in, and since I’d rather not have a knee in my groin or a dagger between my ribs, I decide that breaking the silence is the least painful option.

“Let me handle it and play along,” I tell Ara gruffly before I wrap an arm around her and tug her into my side.

She stiffens at first but then relaxes and snuggles into me.

Fuck, she fits perfectly.

The guards operating the gate come into view. Thank the gods, no one here knows Ara, and we’ll be leaving the following morning, so the chance of running into those two guards should be minimal.

The leather of my armor is still soaked and looks slightly darker, the surface a little rougher, but nothing overly noticeable. My hair is dry again, and my boots are no longer squelching with every step.

Ara is a different matter, though. Her dress is still wet and clings to her body in very distracting ways. Her hair falls down her back in damp strands, slightly ruffled from when she rubbed it dry earlier, and her cheeks are slightly pink from the cold.

She is beautiful, and I’m not the only one noticing.

The way one of the guards ogles her makes me want to punch him, but since a scene is the last thing we need right now, I glare at him instead.

The one demanding my name smirks knowingly before he notes Ara down as “visitor female” without even asking.

That was easier than I thought.

I keep my arm around her until we reach my room, even if we don’t run into anyone. I turn to her but don’t have the chance to say anything before the door to my room flies open. Jared lifts his brows when he sees us, and his posture relaxes. His hair is even messier than usual.

He grabs our arms and yanks us inside, grimacing at the damp coldness of our clothes.

“Where the mists were you?” he hisses while he closes the door. “And what the fuck did you do with her?” He takes in Ara in her wet dress and shakes his head.

“He threw me off a cliff,” Ara replies, which makes Jared’s eyes go wide and look in my direction for clarification.

“I did not throw you off a cliff,” I disagree.

“Okay, you grabbed me and threw both of us off a cliff, which is basically the same thing,” she states, raising her eyebrows in challenge.

I grin, remembering how cute she had looked with water running down her face, her eyes blazing while she launched herself at me.

“Okay, that’s a story I need to hear,” Jared declares.

“But first…” He levels a glare at Ara. “Never skulk off like that again. My heart nearly stopped when I realized you were not with us, and I was dreading telling this moody bastard I lost his…uh…runner. Which brings me to you…” Now, I’m the one in his focus.

“Why didn’t you let me know she was with you? ”

“Oh, you’ll understand as soon as you hear where I found her, but first…” I grab a set of training clothes out of my closet and thrust them at Ara. “Change.”

“I’m fine,” Ara protests.

“We are not having that conversation again,” I tell her. “Once you are dry and your lips are no longer blue, we can talk about fine.”

“Alright.” She takes the clothes. “Turn around, both of you.” We do, but I realize quickly that the dark window works as a mirror.

“Close your eyes,” I hiss at Jared, who does as I say but shakes with silent laughter. I concentrate on my feet while trying to ignore the fact that Ara is undressing behind me and that I only need to look up to see her reflection.

Fuck. I’ve never felt so tempted in my life.

“All done,”she announces finally, and I release a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

When I turn, I find Ara sitting cross-legged on my bed, combing through her hair with her fingers. My shirt is too big for her, the soft fabric flowing over her curves and slipping down over one shoulder. I swallow.

She rolled up the sleeves a few times, and black lines peek out from under the right one. I reach for her hand, and the sleeve falls back when I lift it, revealing a pattern of black lines on the inside of her arm like vines winding around a line. That has not been there before.

“What is that?” I snap.

“A promise,” she answers in a duh voice.

“I can see that. Whom did you give this promise to?” I demand to know.

What has she promised that is so binding?

Her gaze flies to my face, and she opens her mouth like she’s going to answer, then her eyes fly to Jared, and she clamps her mouth shut, shaking her head.

“That is none of your business,” she finally says, freeing her hand and smoothing the sleeve back down.

I keep staring at it. She didn’t have it when I healed her, but during training? I would have noticed it, wouldn’t I?

“I’m tired.” Ara gets up and heads to the door. “Good night.” She steps through the door, her expression shuttered when she meets my gaze, and I let her go. I won’t get any answers tonight.

The door closes softly behind her, and Jared steps up to me.

“You are so fucked, man,” he declares, slapping me on the back.I just nod because there is no use in denying it.

Even my reasoning of her being safer if I stayed away starts to waver after tonight. My life sure as hell was quieter before I met her.

Would it really be so bad to give in to my attraction?

The flight back is pure agony. I’m around Ara all the time but never manage to catch her alone. By the end of the second day, I start to suspect she’s avoiding me on purpose. She even chose to share one of the double rooms with Zaza, so catching her alone after everyone went to bed is out, too.

The only good thing so far is that we have seen very little action. Extraordinarily so. There was movement along the mist once, but they retreated as soon as we came closer to investigate.

One more day, and we will be back at the academy. I have no doubt it will be even harder to catch her alone than when she easily avoids me in the comparatively cramped space of the outposts.

I could order her to talk to me, but that feels wrong.

When I return from my shower, I glimpse her slipping outside and seize the chance.

She sits at the edge of the fortification wall, her legs dangling over it, seemingly lost in thought. When she notices me, she’s instantly alert and ready to bolt.

“Please stay,” I say.

She shakes her head, her eyes wide. “I can’t,” she whispers. “I can’t answer your questions.”

“I’m not gonna lie. I’m going to ask questions.” I give her a rueful smile. “But would you stay if I promise not to ask them tonight?”

She hesitates but then nods, and I sit down next to her. The situation reminds me so much of my encounter with Jen that I realize I haven’t cleared that up yet.

It seems strange to state something like that out of the blue, but then I remember her words after I caught her coming out of Cassius’s room.

“I did not hook up with Jen or anyone else lately,” I say, looking over to gauge her reaction. The smile that blooms on her face sparks my own.

“I didn’t talk to the dragon for that reason either,” Ara offers back.

“Why—” I stop myself. “Sorry, no questions. I remember.”

Ara laughs at my pained expression. “It’s killing you, isn’t it?” she asks, and I nod sheepishly. “Too bad because I still won’t tell you,” she teases with a wide smile.

“Cruel.” I can’t help but return her grin. “So since I can’t ask questions, maybe you want to just tell me something about yourself willingly instead?”

“That was a question.” She grins. “I think I’ll ask you some questions now.”

“You can ask,” I agree, “but I won’t always answer.” She snorts in indignation, and I laugh.

“What?” I ask when she simply watches me, smiling.

“Nothing.” She shakes her head, but her smile widens.

“You want to ask me nothing?” I raise one eyebrow. She widens her eyes comically.

“You laugh, and you joke? Who are you, and what did you do with Centurion Grumpy?”

“Smart-ass,” I grumble, and her laughter washes over me like sunshine on a summer day.

“How long have you known Jared?”

“Since before I can remember. I’m closer to him than my brother.”

“So you have a brother. Where is he?” she asks, but I only shake my head. “Okay…how is it to be bonded?” she fires the next question.

“It’s like you gain an additional part of yourself, if that makes sense?” I smile when she scrunches up her nose, but she nods.

We settle on the safe topic of the academy and becoming a skyrider after that.

“So the cliff,” she suddenly says, and I tense. “You and your flight went swimming there before?”

I shake my head.

“You and Jared, then?”

“It was a lifetime ago,” I answer. “I don’t want to talk about it.”