Page 11 of Queen of the Crimson Throne (Queen of Blood and Stardust #2)

11

LENNOX

My thighs burned as I trudged up yet another set of winding stairs. I’d be too exhausted from the stairs to work out when I finally made it to the private training room Luka had promised me.

Eventually, I made it to a landing with a door. Thank the Goddess, I don’t know how many more stairs I could handle. I pushed open the large wooden door, revealing an open loft space. The room took up what had to be the entire east wing of the palace. Windows surrounded the room on every side, basking the room in sunlight.

The space wasn’t fancy by any means. The training facility at home was all sleek lines and steel, but this one—it felt well-used, the floors and walls were all made of well-worn light wood materials. A square training mat sat in the center of the room. A wall of weapons occupied one wall, a row of targets on the opposite side. It was nothing special, it was similar to the general training facility I had been using since I arrived, but this one was private. And that's all that mattered.

No more prying eyes as I trained. Just the way I liked it.

I made my way over to the collection of weapons; I had my daggers strapped to my side and I grabbed my sword, Minerva, before I left. But my fingers itched towards the intricate daggers thrown about in the collection of weapons.

“You made it.” I jumped at the sound of the familiar voice behind me.

“What are you doing here?” I turned to find Luka stalking toward me. There was something different about him today. Yesterday when he showed up in my room he seemed—diluted. He lacked all his normal confidence and charm when he appeared at my door, I had almost thought it was a dream. When I said no to his proposal of a walk I expected a rebuttal, some kind of antic to rile me, but he said nothing. Instead, he turned with his head hanging without another word, leaving me wondering if I had broken him after all. Today he appeared back to normal. The glimmer in his eyes had returned as did his swagger in his walk.

“I’m here to train, why else? I’m the one who invited you after all?”

I bristled. “And you happened to show up to train at the exact same time as me?”

“It’s not a coincidence, Lennox. I asked your ladies maid to let me know when you headed here.”

“You can’t be serious? You’re having me followed?” My hand closed tighter around the dagger in my palm. The decorative edge biting into my skin. I’d have a word with Krissa later about sharing my whereabouts with the prince, or anyone for that matter.

“Not followed, I wanted to know when I should arrive.” He brushed his hair out of his face as he moved past me to the supply of weapons. “I had other duties to attend to today so I couldn’t sit around and wait for your arrival up here all day.”

“Why?” I bit out. He didn’t respond at first, instead taking his time to select a dagger of his choosing. My fingers twitched around the dagger at my side as his cool fresh scent invaded my senses .

“I wanted to spend time with you,” he said without looking up.

I threw my hands in the air, waving the dagger around carelessly. “What is it with everyone’s obsession with spending time with me?”

He finally turned and looked at me, resting his back against the shelf of weapons. “My question is, why wouldn’t anyone jump at any opportunity to spend even a moment with you.”

“I told you I needed time.”

“No, you told Nico to tell me you needed time. I am giving you time Lennox, what I am done giving you though, is space.”

He took another step towards me. There was only an inch between our chests now as I looked up to meet his gaze. Those blue eyes were full of fire.

“There has been too much space between us, Lennox: courts, cities, doors; I’m done with that. I intend to erase every last inch of space between us.” He smirked, the sight causing my stomach to dip. “In time of course.”

I should have pushed him away, I should have done something , anything to get him away from me. To get space between us. But I didn’t have it in me. Maybe I didn’t want space between us either, but I needed it. It would be too easy to fall back into a relationship with Luka. Space, I needed so much fucking space.

My heart beating rapidly in my chest said otherwise.

It was Luka who finally took a step back.

“Now c’mon, Sweetheart. Prove it to me, that you haven’t lost your touch since we’ve been apart.”

Sweetheart . My heart tumbled at that stupid fucking nickname. That stupid fucking nickname I had somehow managed to miss.

Luka and I didn’t talk much as we fell back into our training rituals.

After an hour I was ready to call it quits. My thighs still burned from the climb and I needed space from Luka. But the door to the attic burst open revealing a shirtless Nico followed by Delclan and— my sister.

“Kara.” I sheathed my sword at my side. “What are you doing here?” She pointed to the males beside her.

“These two dingbats refused to leave me alone unless I agreed to come up here.”

I looked between Nico and Delcan. The latter’s expression remained stoic, Nico on the other hand was smiling like a cat. I was convinced he loved nothing more than riling up my sister.

Nico continued towards Luka and me, slinging his arms over our shoulders. “Look at us, the gang's back together again. Well almost, we’re still missing my favorite witch.”

I raised a brow. “When was the last time you talked to Luciana?”

He removed his arm from my shoulder. “Now that is none of your business.”

I made a mental note to reach out to my cousin later and figure out just how much she and Nico had been keeping in touch.

“Now, who wants to go up against me first?” Nico picked a sword off the rack, examining the blade.

The sight of the four of them standing in front of me, the ease they all carried like they were ready to slip back into old routines without a second thought—I couldn’t do this right now. Maybe they could slip right back into things, but I couldn’t. Training with Luka this morning was already more than I was ready for. They were trying to resume things to the way they were before.

But that wasn’t possible.

The past had been shattered. Luka and I had made sure of that.

“I’ve got a meeting to get ready for.” I didn’t look at them as I spoke. I didn’t want to see their disappointed faces. Especially not Kara’s. All I’d done these past weeks was disappoint her.

At least I was consistent.

No one said anything as I turned and left the room.