“Fine. Fine. It will do.For now.”
I didn’t miss the inflection he placed on the last two words.
“Come on, Princess, you can flirt with your harem later,” Steele called out, his words pulling me to my feet. “Or if you’d rather I tell Noah that you’re too busy with multiple men doing?—”
“Goodness gracious, I’m coming!” I yelled, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence. Though I couldn’t deny that a part of me wondered exactly what he thought I would do with multiple men.
He flashed me a cocky smirk as I approached. “Can’t say I’ve ever had a woman be so polite when she announced she’s coming. There’s a first for everything.”
I didn’t hold back, driving my now curled fist into his side, just the way he’d trained me. A hiss came from him as he instinctively pulled a hand up to the spot as I strolled out.
Glancing back over my shoulder, I batted my eyes at him. “Have you ever been punched after she announces she’s coming? There’s a first for everything, after all.”
7
KIERAN
After finishingoff my sandwich with a few bites as we made our way down the familiar, forested path toward Noah’s, I broke the silence. “Oh! I meant to ask, how’s Amelia doing?”
“Much better,” Steele answered immediately, his voice filled with a warmth I had a feeling was reserved for very few people. “She’s woken up and is back to ordering everyone around.”
It felt like a weight was lifted off my chest at his words, my relief growing palpably.
Gabe then added, looking over his shoulder at me, “She wants to be up and moving way more than she should while recovering, but it’s probably a good sign that she has so much energy.”
And the fact that both of them were able to joke around about Amelia also meant that she really was doing better, which comforted me to no end.
“When she’s ready to have visitors, I would love to go see her.”
“I’m sure I can arrange that,” Steele said. His tone was gruff but still caused an appreciative smile to appear on my lips. I knew he hadn’t needed to offer that to me, so the fact that he had meant a lot.
“Maybe we can go sometime over the next few days,” I suggested.
“Good morning everyone.” A familiar voice pulled us from our conversation as we approached the cabin.
“Morning, Noah,” I offered pleasantly as some nerves began to unfurl in my stomach.
I wanted today to be amazing—to provide Bash and I with information and actually move forward with understanding our affinities. Part of me still felt jaded about how the information about my affinity had been handled at the beginning, though. At this point, I realized I still had a hard time trusting Noah to be forthcoming.
“Are we ready for a long day of training?” he asked, his attention centered on Bastian and me.
When we both nodded, he clapped his hands. "Let’s get inside and get started."
After we said our goodbyes to the others, we followed him up the steps. As we walked inside, I looked around the familiar space. The long room, featuring dark-green walls and black-mat floors, was lit by the windows that ran along each side, letting in the muted daylight from outside. It hadn’t been long since I was here, but somehow I felt like an entirely different person than the last time. The battle had changed something within me, and while the change wasn’t a bad thing, I felt even more of the pressure to figure my affinity out. I knew exactly what was at risk, first hand, even if what I had experienced was on a smaller scale.
“Please, both of you join me on the floor—you can leave your shoes by the door. Bastian, at first I’ll have you observe while I get Kieran’s training started. Once she is set up, I’ll talk to you about your affinity and what I propose for training. Does that work?”
I nodded while placing my Thermos of coffee on the entryway table.
“Whatever works,” Bastian easily replied before lying on the floor, leaning up on his elbows. I offered him a small smile in passing after removing my own shoes and followed Noah onto the mats and into the center of the room.
“Are you ready to finally start your training?”
I knew how he meant his words—inquiring if I was eager to start—but something about them hit me the wrong way.Ihad never been the one impeding any of this—I was ready to start training and learning from the start. Instead, I felt like I’d been trapped in a cycle of waiting while others, namely the council, decided if it was time or not.
“It would be nice if I knew exactly what we were going to do or how we were going to approach this. I feel pretty lost,” I pointed out, my hands going to my hips as my eyes traced over his steady gaze and placid manner. I hesitated to bring up what was on my mind but realized that if we were going to continue to work together, it would be essential. “Actually, Noah, before we start, I would like to talk to you about something.”
Noah nodded, motioning for me to continue as he sat on the floor. I followed, crossing my legs to mirror him while taking a deep breath and considering how I wanted to phrase my concerns. When my brain drew a blank on how to do so tactfully rather than bluntly, I decided I would just start talking and hope that I got my point across.
