Page 42 of Where We Belong

Kaed breathes in, dragging his tongue across his bottom lip before his eyes dart back to mine. “Again.”

I groan loudly enough for several soldiers to glance over at us, “For someone this pretty, your personality is excruciatingly disappointing.”

Kaed blinks once. “Pretty?”

A laugh escapes me as I carry on with another death lunge. “Yes. But try to focus on the insult, Captain.” I look up at him, and the tips of his ears darken slightly. He glances back at Nyk who’s lying flat on the bench with his forearm draped over his eyes like he’s about to take a nap.

“Again,” he says quietly. There’s something different in his voice now. Something strained and tight. I dip into another lunge with shaking legs, trying very hard not to notice the way his eyes follow every movement I make. Or the way my heart is beginning to settle. Because for the first time since arriving in Sheyole, I am not waiting for the opportunity to run, hide or escape. And when Kaed steps closer to correct my stance again, I do not flinch.

Chapter 39

Ashley

She brought me purpose, renewed my life,

a reason to rise each day,

Thea and Fawn have done an amazing job. My bungalow looks, well, royal. The white walls and ceilings are now draped in maroon and gold fabric, the kitchenette completely gone. I guess royals don’t cook. No complaints here. Teal rugs cover the once bare floors, and the bed has somehow turned into a wooden four-poster, reminding me of something from a fairytale. I’d always wanted one of those as a kid. Maybe one day I will sleep on it. But not yet.

For the past month, I’ve trained with Kaed and Nyk twice a day. At first, I hated the way Kaed looked at me, like I was fragile and delicate. And I guess I was. I hated how my body would tense every time he came near. It didn’t match how I felt inside, which was, I don’t know. Wandering the line between caution and intrigue. It was awkward for the first couple of days. Small talk about the weather, but it seemed almost forced to hold him at arm’s length. Like I was trying too hard to be angry with him and needed him closer. After a while, I found myself looking forward to seeing him. Nyk is a bonus. Eye candy with a smile that can seduce a kingdom. The two of them are so different, but somehow, they’re the same damn person. The same dry humour and they’re both absolutely obsessed with themselves. Kaed’s more serious, though. He likes to stand straight faced and arms crossed, observing everything and everyone, especially me. He doesn’t even pretend to look away whenever I walk past him. Nyk usually has his hands behind his back, trying not to fidget, which is hilarious, because he never stops moving. Their laughs are equally annoying, but Nyk’s is contagious. Half the time I don’t even know what’s funny, but his laugh still gets me.

I’m shocked at how quickly my body is adapting. Things that should take months to achieve happen in a couple of days. Outside of the quick healing thing, I hadn’t gotten a chance to test this new immortal body out, but my senses are sharper too. I’ve started using them differently in combat over the last week. Instead of just watching for a hit, I track it by the sound of air whistling or the smell of the weapon growing stronger as it gets closer. I still haven’t been able to get in the water yet or change my clothes. I have, however, managed to scrub my face with a dry towel, leaving it pink and sore, but way less grimy. It makes me cringe when I think about these guys with their super sense of smell. But, if I’m supposed to be their saviour, they can deal with it until I’m ready, right?

We started with strength training, circuits, stances, all the basics, before moving on to weapons. Kaed says we’re building my foundation. I say he just enjoys being a bossy bitch.

“Again,” he shouts as I run around the circuit for the umpteenth time. “That security guard is chasing you. Protect your bread. Go, go, go!” His claps echo around the arena.

Sweat stings my eyes, and my lungs burn, but I burst out laughing anyway and throw him a middle finger. Last time I answer any of his endless questions about my life. The first time he told me I was going to start training with a sword, I couldn’t stop giggling, especially when he frowned and stuttered, trying to make sense of my reaction. How medieval. I’d always seen it in movies; it looked easy enough, and I figured I’d pick it up quickly. So, when he handed me a wooden one, I was obviously offended. He told me if I impressed him, he’d let me try his weapon.

“Not very sword-like,” I’d said, eyeing the crescent shaped blade sheathed at his back. “How do you even hurt someone with that?”

“We don’t call him Hacker for no reason,” Nyk chimed in from the side of the sparring pit, reclining on his usual bench with some kind of overloaded sandwich. Half the contents fell onto the plate as he bit into it. Ever since I ate those blood grapes, I’ve been able to tolerate food again. Mostly fruits and vegetables, which Cook brings to my bungalow each morning with a wildly hilarious story. Which is unfortunate, because my abs are constantly recovering from crunches. I’ve doubled over more than once, gasping for breath, clutching my stomach while he just stands there with a smug grin and offers me another slice of mango. Eira comes too, throwing herself across the bed I still can’t bring myself to sleep in, babbling about her wild night with Nyk.

“It’s just sex? Or is it more?” I asked once. Cook took that as his cue to leave with his hands clasped over his ears, humming a loud tune.

“Definitely just sex. He’s gorgeous. And funny, and so wise, but I can’t—I don’t like him like that.”

The blush on her cheeks says otherwise, but I nod along, jealous that she’s even getting some.

Kaed knocked on my door one night, just after dinner and said he was checking in to make sure I was settling in okay. I told him I was fine, but I couldn’t bring myself to close the door on him. So, he stayed. We ended up talking for a bit, sitting on the steps just outside my bungalow with the glow and whispers of the barracks around us. He’s always been the ‘chosen one’ too, the other half of the hope of the people. I asked him if it ever stops being lonely and scary.

“Yes,” he said finally in a deep, glossy voice that drew my eyes straight to his lips. “But some days it sneaks back in.”

I told him about the class with Aiden, what the kids had said about the bond, how absurd it is that something like that is demanded of us. He stared at the ground as if he wanted to say something but changed the subject.

The King asked Vale’s successor to soften some of the wards around the training pit, so we can practice magic and physical training at the same time. Even though I’d managed to call the black flames back in the temple, I’m still nervous in case I hurt someone. Kaed assures me with a hearty laugh that lights up his beautiful face that I am in no way, shape, or form too powerful for him or too much for him to handle. I assure him with a flirty wink that I am definitely too much for him to handle. He rolls his eyes at my innuendo. “I am an immortal warrior with a bed count that would make your eyes water, Princess.”

“Ditto,” I say, just before flinging a dagger with all the misplaced confidence of a girl who’s watched one too many sci-fi films. It misses the target completely, of course, by about ten feet or so and lands near Nyk’s hand. To his credit, he moves it out the way just in time.

“I told you not to sit there,” Kaed calls to his friend.

“I thought you were joking.” Nyk doesn’t even bother hiding his laugh.

I glare at him as I do the walk of shame to retrieve the dagger, and he holds it out to me like he’s handing me back a rattle I’d thrown across the room in a tantrum. I may or may not snatch it. I decide to play to my actual strengths instead, pure thievery and stubbornness, and tuck the dagger into the sleeve of my hoodie. After dinner, I practise alone, aiming at one of the wooden posts on my bed. When it finally sticks, I let out a yelp loud enough to wake the whole barracks. I jump up and down like a kid on Christmas morning, staring at the little blade now embedded, okay, barely, in the chipped post. It clatters to the floor as I approach, but still. A win is a win. I can’t do it again after that, of course. But I’d done it once. And that means I can. I don’t think the kidnapping and torture were necessary, but the desperation to be liberated from something so heavy, so suffocating, that you'd do anything to escape it? That I understand. And I understand wanting to go home. I want to be free. Free from this land. Free from my own mind. Free from fear. Today, I make a promise to myself with a stolen dagger in my hand and little fire tingling in my heart that I will.

Chapter 40

Aiden