Page 79 of The Amber Sunburst

“Then why do I bother you so much?” she taunts, though she is actually curious.

Kleitos stares at her for a long moment, then backs off, scowling at her with all the intensity of a stray dog. “You don’t. I don’t care,” he finally says.

Then he storms off, and Alexander and Zeno replace him.

Alexander glares at Kleitos’ back, but his voice is light when he jokes, “Seems like someone has a little crush on you, huh?”

“I’m flattered, really,” she replies.

She and Alexander share a smile, but Zeno growls, “We need to find a way to shut him up or kick him out.”

Forms, does he sound mad.

And, Forms, does mad look good on him.

“So true,” Alexander responds. Then he looks down to check his ring, and when he sees the time, he smiles. “Um, I got to go, you guys.”

“I thought we were sparring?” Zeno asks.

“I guess I lost track of time. I’ve got somewhere to be.”

Somewhere to be, huh? He’s had a lot of ‘somewheres to be’ recently. She and Zeno are pretty sure he’s found someone. There’s no other place he could possibly need ‘to be’ at midnight. And he and Kallias have become strangely close. Could Alexander have actually charmed the boy made of stone?

She’s not sure she’s convinced, but, hey, all the power to him, right? And may the Forms watch over him because if he makes one wrong move, they’ll find him dead in a ditch come morning.

“Alright,” Eudoxia says, not even trying to keep the warning out of her voice.

“Have fun sparring,” he replies.

“Bye, Alexander.” Zeno waves as Alexander jogs off toward the stairs. Once he’s out of view, Zeno jokes, “Let’s hope he’s using protection.”

“Let’s hope he’s bringing protection. Perhaps some pepper spray?”

Zeno smiles at her. “Hey, give the guy some credit. It would be against bro-code to be anything but proud.”

“Good thing I’m not a bro.”

“Eudoxia, my darling, you are most definitely a bro.”

Everything in her brain goes silent.

My darling.

Oh, that’s infuriating.

He can’t just— That’s just⁠—

That’s just not a big deal. At all.

“If you say so,” she responds, and it sounds suspiciously like a question.

She just can’t get it out of her head: My darling.

“So, are we sparring or what?” he asks.

“Of course,” she breathes, taking off toward the training rooms.

It’s not long until their bags are down and they’re sparring.