Koen leans against the door frame, arms folded across his arms and hair—air dried, a little frizzy, yet perfectly…perfect.
Which is quite annoying.
“Of course you would be here,” Klayra mutters, rolling her eyes towards me. “Do I need to stay?”
My lips pull into a soft grin as I shake my head no.
“Ah—” She breathes in a deep breath. “Well, try not to kill each other while I am gone. Or let Lykia find out.”
She isn’t wrong. Koen is reckless.
But sometimes, I love that side of him.
My eyes trace down, catching a small spider that climbs along the rocks. “Can I ask you something before you go?”
She crosses her arms, her two teal buns bobbing side to side as she moves. “Go on.”
“You’ve been around the games for many years… when a chosen has bonded with a horse, have they ever communicated with them?”
She chokes on a laugh, holding her hand over her mouth. “Absolutely not.” She pulls away from the window, walking towards the door next to Koen. “We have never communicated with the Gifts from the Gods. No horse. No dragon. Not even a Royal has had the ability to hear from them. I feel as if we will never truly understand why they are here, but we are taking it day by day.”
My hand rubs the back of my neck, forcing a fake smile to spread along my lips. “I figured.”
She grips the door, resting her head against it. “Are you good?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’ll see you at the dance.”
Her hand beats against the door, smiling before turning away to leave.
“Are you communicating with the horses now?” Koen’s brows pull into a confused expression, tilting his head to the side before stepping foot into my room. “And you said I have gone mad.”
I pull my legs up, crisscrossing them. “You have. You are here, next to me again… knowing Lykia watches your every move.”
His boots tap against the floor, his arm hanging over the bookshelf. “Death came to see you, didn’t he?”
My heart skips. “I’m sorry, how’d you—”
“How did I know?Tilly.”
My jaw ticks, brows raising high with the sound of her name. I scuff aggressively. “And how would she know about this?”
“I told you, Skydance is watching you.” His emerald eyes glance out towards the golden sunset. “I can feel her in my mind, communicating with me. She’s a constant reminder of how far I have fallen since you left.”
I lean forward, studying him, preparing myself in case she has him under her control. “You hear her?”
“When she wants me to, yeah.” His jaw ticks, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth. He pushes himself off of the bookshelf, running his hands through his tousled hair. “Trust me, I don’t want to hear her.”
“Why is it important to her that Death came to see me? Why would she care about that?”
His hands fall over his neck as he sucks in a deep breath. “She doesn’t, but I do.”
My stomach twists into knots the moment his eyes lock onto mine. “Why’s that?”
“No man should be in this damn room except me.”
My brows raise, controlling my trembling breath as I exhale. My heart stops beating.
I am speechless, watching him walk over towards me as his eyes never linger from mine. My body shifts backwards as his hands grip the edge of my mattress, the bed dipping under the weight of his hands. My breath hitches as he leans forward towards me, and I lean back, further away from him. His eyes flicker to my lips every other heartbeat, driving me mad.
