Page 22 of The Amber Sunburst

“Thanks but… well, I don’t think Arete will appreciate me shredding her eardrums off.”

“She can deal with it.”

Zeno snorts. “You’re brutal.”

“The brutalest,” she says in a mock-serious voice, turning her head to face him with a laugh.

She struggles not to flinch because, wow, their faces are a lot closer than she thought they were. She can feel the warmth from Zeno’s skin so close to hers.

“Oh, I’m sure,” he says, and she wonders if he feels anything from her.

She pushes herself to stand. “Speaking of which, get up. We’re going again.”

Zeno does the fancy jump to his feet that he knows she finds ridiculous before settling into a ready stance.

And suddenly her world sharpens to the twitch of Zeno’s brow, his tell, before he goes in with a right hook. He’s only halfway through his swing when she dodges and uses the momentum to push him forward. Then she moves in with her own strike, but he reads her mind and parries quickly.

She loses count of how many times this pattern repeats before there’s a loud rap on one of the glass doors of the training room and they both freeze. Theokleia, a member of their cohort, is outside waving, likely with a message for one of them on the tablet she’s holding.

Eudoxia sighs and pushes herself up from where she was straddling Zeno—Forms, that sounds a lot more intimate without the context—to get the door. She was just starting to lose herself in the dance of it all.

“Eudoxos, you have to tell me how you did that pinning move. You’re a genius at reversing momentum,” Theokleia says.

A smug smile pulls at her mouth, because yes, she is rather proud of that move, and no, not even she is immune to flattery.

“Thank you,” she says, and Theokleia nods in response.

Theokleia then turns to Zeno and motions him over. “Zeno, Councilman Bios told me to tell you to go to his office. He said he needs a word.”

“Should I tell you to tell him that I said yes in response or should I just tell him myself?” Zeno jokes with a friendly wink.

She laughs and they do a complicated fist bump as he makes his way out. She’s pretty sure Zeno has a different inside joke or silly handshake or deep secret with all of the Auxiliaries at the Academy. He has a way of making everyone feel special.

“Later, Kleia. See you tomorrow, Xos,” he yells behind him. That leaves her alone with Theokleia, which she doesn’t particularly mind.

Eudoxia likes her. They’re in the same cohort, so they spend a lot of time together, albeit not much of it outside of class. They’d be good friends. At least, Eudoxia thinks so. Partially because she is in desperate need of more female-presenting friends.

And how silly of her, to hope for the best. Because now that Zeno’s gone, Theokleia’s voice goes coy and she says, “So there’s this party tomorrow night. Kleitos said I could invite you.”

Oh, Forms. Is she being flirted with?

Not me, Eudoxia reminds herself. Eudoxos.

“I’ll think about it,” she lies.

Theokleia looks her up and down, biting her lip. “Okay, well, I hope I’ll see you. Maybe we can talk somewhere quiet once we’re there. I want to know more about you.”

Plato and his prophecies, what a joke.

“Goodnight, Eudoxos,” she says before kissing her on the cheek and strutting out.

Theokleia is beautiful and confident and more than intelligent. She deserves a great guy. Eudoxia hopes she sets her sights on someone else as soon as possible.

It’s not a long trek to the showers, but it’s tiring anyway.

At least they’re empty at this time of night.

She chooses the nozzle closest to the wall in case someone comes in, lets down her waist-length hair, and envelops herself in the spray.