“I wanted to earn it.” We were finishing week four of the Infernal Sixty, and I had only slightly improved. My angelic blood helped to accelerate the process of gaining muscle and endurance, but not to the caliber of our squad. This almost seemed like a slap in the face with how easily he just gave them to us. I’d been training hard to build myself up and knew I still had a way to go.
He walked over and leveled me with his gaze. “We’re going to be training outdoors, and I don’t want to have to worry about regulating your temperature or constantly seeing you naked.”
Something glimmered in that golden gaze at the end of his words, but I didn’t look too far into it. He made good points.
“Okay.”
“Both of you get changed. Rune and I will meet you outside.”
“Oliver’s coming with?”
“He wants to rank too, doesn’t he?”
There was something knowing in his tone that I didn’t understand, like his words had a double meaning of some kind.
“I thought you said we wouldn’t rank.”
He lowered his head inches from my face. “I did. And I still believe it. But for me, this is less about you ranking and more about you learning how to delegate your energy, so you don’t do something foolish likedie.” Shadows danced in his irises. “This way you’ll have a friend through your failures, and you’ll learn control.”
I gave him a tight smile, holding back the urge to snap back. He wasn’t exactly wrong, and he had a lot of proof to back up his doubts. But it was still a bitter pill to swallow. Somehow, some way, I would show him not to doubt me.
He straightened, and I swore a smug smile twitched on his face. It threatened to unglue my tongue from the top of my mouth. When he finally left us to change, I closed my eyes and heaved a breath.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.” Oliver rubbed his hands together in glee.
“It’s going to be something, alright.”
We changed into the body-hugging uniform and met the general and Rune outside our doors. His face darkened as he gave me a once-over. Not Oliver—just me. His unwavering attention forced me to glance down at the stiff leather.
“Is it okay?”
“It’ll do,” he said, barking at Rune and turning.
He led us through a back stairwell and to a door hidden in a wall. The general snapped and pointed. Rune descended obediently, her claws clicking against the stone steps.
“Where is she going?” I asked.
“A different way.”
“A different way to where?”
He pressed a hand against a specific stone, opening the door.
“You’ll find out.”
A blast of cold air hit my body. Immediately, my uniform heated, taking away the chill; even the gloves and boots that came with it warmed. The only part of me left unprotected to Hell’s icy chill was my face.
“Yeah, buddy, I could get used to this,” Oliver said, striding out the door with a giant grin.
We walked out onto a roof where Alexei stood with dappled white wings.
I followed the spotted ends, nearly brushing the snow, to the tips that projected a couple feet above his head. I never realized how large angel wings were, but it made sense if they had to carry all that mus?—
Strong arms scooped me up, and we launched skyward.
I flung my arms around his neck, pressing my body against him.
“What are you doing?”
