Page 44

I awoke to the sound of Marnie humming the words to an eighties pop song and groaned, feeling as if I had the flu. Which, in ways, I would rather have it. It’d be easier than dealing with Celestials.

“Morning to you, too.” She chuckled, tying her hair into two French braids. Once she finished, she came over and jumped onto my bed. “So, I wrote down a list of things we could do now that we are officially roommates.”

One of my brows rose. “Is one of them karaoke?”

She blinked. “Yes, but—”

I chuckled, sliding out of bed to get ready, but my stomach dropped when my mind immediately went to Hunter.

I hadn’t seen him since that night we kissed, and worse, today, we were supposed to train outside of academy hours.

It bothered me that he hadn’t spoken to me before deciding that the best plan was for me to leave his dorm.

I knew he wanted to steer away from me, that our kiss was a mistake, but I so wished it wasn’t.

“You know, I’m starting to think you’re not happy to be rooming with me anymore,” Marnie said from where she was sitting cross-legged on the bed.

I grabbed my trousers and shot her a look. “You know that’s not true. It’s just...”

“You miss the boys?”

Yes . Who would have ever thought that would be the case?

“I do strangely miss Brandon making lightsaber noises in the morning.” What I did not miss was Silas telling us all that his dick was better than a lightsaber and that he could prove it if we didn’t believe him.

“And Hunter?”

I went rigid, and the shoelaces of my combat boots slipped through my fingertips. “What about Hunter?”

‘Do you miss him?’

Yes. “No.”

“Hm, well, do you think he’ll stop training you?”

“Who knows?” I shrugged, trying to sound indifferent, but my voice cracked slightly, betraying me. “Hunter does what he wants. Maybe I should do the same.” But I didn’t want to. I really didn’t want to.

Marnie hummed in agreement but as I tightened the knot in my laces and stood, there was an ache in my chest that I wasn’t sure if I was ready to find out what it was.

Marnie tilted her head, her lips curving into a knowing hum. She didn’t press further, but her silence was heavy, as though she could see right through me.

I exhaled deeply, tightening the knot in my laces as I stood. I hoped to shake off the weight in my chest, but it lingered—almost like an ache, deep and insistent, that I could not rid myself of no matter what.

I had a feeling it would stay with me for the remainder of the day.

When I stepped onto the training grounds, my eyes scanned the space, searching for Hunter’s familiar silhouette. Instead, I saw Silas by the weapons rack, his hair tied into a bun behind him, and Brandon standing beside him, stretching his arms out.

He smiled when he caught sight of me and jogged over. “There she is,” he greeted. “Missed you this morning. Had to deal with Silas’s nudity all alone.”

Alone?

Silas seemed to have heard Brandon from the racks and shouted, “Oh, fuck off!”

Brandon laughed, sneering at him, but all I could concentrate on was Hunter’s absence. And if he hadn’t been at the dorm this morning, then where was he?

“Where’s Hunter?”

Brandon’s face fell. He crossed his arms over his shoulders before shrugging, “I don’t know, we haven’t seen him since this morning. He’s not really spoken to us lately.”

“Right,” I said, all my resolve crumbling before me.

“I can fill in if you want,” Brandon suggested with a shrug, “It’ll be a lot better than having Azrael yell at you for not doing anything.”

Disappointment simmered in my chest, and Brandon could see it himself, but he didn’t dig for more. He understood, and he was always more understanding of the three.

After a minute, I nodded, and he steered me towards the other side of the field where fewer people were.

Brandon was patient for the remainder of training as he walked me through the basic maneuvers I’d first learned with Lucas and Hunter.

But it wasn’t the same. His critiques lacked the sharp edge Hunter’s always carried, and no matter how hard I tried to focus, my frustration grew with each swing of my fist.

Azrael watched us from afar, and his eyes narrowed on me, which only made me more tense. After training was over, I decided I didn’t want to head back to the Healer’s quarters. Instead, I searched for Hunter when I knew I shouldn’t.

He wasn’t in his dorm, and Brandon had mentioned he hadn’t seen him since this morning, so my last resort was to wait until the canteen was shut and sneak into the same place Hunter took me to where the armory entrance was.

It didn’t take long to find him after that. He was there, standing over a table as he sharpened a dagger under the dim light of an overhead lamp. The armory smelled just as it had before. Metal and oil mixed with the sound of the blade against the echoes of the whetstone.

I made my way down the stairs. “Busy?”

Hunter didn’t look up, but his jaw tightened. “What do you want, Grace?”

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

He finally glanced up, but his grey eyes were cool and detached. The look he normally gave anyone he wanted to hide his true self from. “I’m not avoiding you. I’m doing you a favor.”

I scoffed. Some kind of favor that was. “By pretending I don’t exist?”

His silence was infuriating as he went back to sharpen his blade. I gritted my teeth, grabbed a blade from a nearby rack, and held it up.

“You owe me a lesson.”

His lips curved into a humorless smile. “Put it down, Grace.”

Stubbornly, I refused.

He sighed when he realized that I wouldn’t do as he said and set his blade down on the table beside him. “If you wanted a blade that would do actual harm, you should have chosen another.”

I frowned, glancing at the golden dagger in my hands. The blade was zigzagged but hardly sharpened at the end.

“The most damage that can be done with that is putting someone to sleep. You should know that by now from your second lesson.”

I straightened, holding my chin up high as if choosing that blade was on purpose all along. “Like I said. You. Owe. Me a lesson.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at me in complete silence like he was daring me to go ahead with it.

I lunged first, my frustration fueling every swing, but he blocked each attack effortlessly like he usually would. It only spurred me on, and I fought harder, putting as much effort as I could into each of my movements—into each thrust of the dagger I’d learned from him.

“Again,” he instructed, his voice steady, almost bored.

I huffed, closing my eyes and drawing a deep breath before my gaze locked on his. With all the force I could muster, I struck quickly. The fluidity of the motion felt right, but Hunter dodged at the last second, eyeing me like he was a predator playing with his prey.

A huntsman and his fawn.

“Use your legs,” he taunted, ducking as I complied, and anger surged in my chest. I closed my eyes again, steadying my breath.

Joe. The Riftkeeper’s. Our kiss. All of it flashed in my mind, feeding that frustration just a bit more each time.

Without thinking, I gripped the dagger in my hand tighter and aimed it directly at Hunter’s throat.

His hand clamped down on my wrist, stopping me before I could make contact.

Our chests matched the upheaval of each breath as our eyes met.

His expression softened, and something a lot like pride flickered in his gaze just for one moment.

“Not bad, Bambi,” he breathed, his eyes tracking the movement of my tongue darting out to lick my lips.

The space between us was suddenly too small. We both knew that, yet we didn’t let go or step away from each other.

“Why did you let me leave?” I whispered.

He knew what I meant. He could even crush me with just one look if he wanted to, yet he was staring back at me like I was the one who might break him. “You know why.”

“Maybe I don’t care.” There was a whole different meaning to those words. I cared enough not to ruin him, but I also just wanted to be near him. “You want me just as much as I want you.”

He shook his head. “You don’t get it, do you?” His voice was raw and desperate. “I don’t just want you, Grace—I fucking need you. And that scares the shit out of me.”

I blinked, my chest heaving with his admission. It was all I wanted— needed to hear.

“You make me want to be something better,” he whispered, voice rough at the edges, sending me almost into oblivion. “And I don’t know how to be that.”

“Then don’t be.”

Hunter’s gaze darkened, and before I could think, his hands were on my waist, pulling me closer as the dagger dropped out of my hand.

Everything after that was a blur of heat and desperation as his lips found mine.

The kiss was nothing like the other night.

It was rough and consuming, as if he was trying to erase every line we’d drawn between us.

He couldn’t get enough of me, and neither could I get enough of him. I molded perfectly into his hold, his touch, and his warmth. I didn’t want this to stop, not like it did last time. I wanted it to continue until neither of us could breathe.

I was lifted onto a nearby table, his hands roaming over my body as mine clung to him, desperate for more.

“This is a mistake,” he murmured against my skin, his voice strained as his bottom lip trailed my neck.

I tilted my head back, giving him easier access, his hands exploring every inch of me. “A terrible mistake.”

“We should stop.”

I shook my head, breathless. “Please don’t.”

He didn’t.

I felt the strength in his grip tighten as he lifted me higher against the table, his body pressing against mine in a way that left no space between us.

He slid his hand under the hem of my training shirt, the roughness of his palms setting every nerve in my body ablaze.

I gasped as he pulled the fabric over my head and tossed it aside.

The cool air from the armory hit my skin, but it was nothing compared to the warmth that radiated from him.