“Let’s do this,”I roar across the arena to my teammates.
We’re up thirteen points in the last period. The crowd goes wild, and my personal cheer team starts chanting something about me being the best. I glance up to the stands, my eyes immediately finding Raea there with her usual group of friends, her white hair like a beacon.
She’s changed out of that cute skirt I wanted to strip her out of and is now wearing her Xori pants with a Drithm AerBall jersey. Her hair is pulled up, and she has a sparkling tattoo on her cheek with the school insignia. She looks like a damn fantasy. The only thing that would make it better would be if my name and number were printed across her back.
I’ll have to beg, probably, but it’s something I need to see. Hell, maybe it’ll be a birthday present for me. Just her in the jersey, some pretty white lacy panties beneath, and sprawled out in my dark sheets. The image has me growing hard again, but I’m learning to live with it. It seems that’s a new constant state for me.
Her asking me earlier if we would have sex before The Ceremony almost made me drop to my knees before her and beg her to let me take her right then and there, but that would have made me anasshole. Not for her first time. I knew she was a virgin, but never kissed anyone else either—hell. I’ve never been so godsdamn possessive in my life, but when she told me that, I almost demanded she not even look at another guy. It took every bit of restraint to hold that weird possessive shit back.
It doesn’t help that I can’t stop thinking about the way she was grinding herself on me last night. The filthy thoughts filtering through me ever since have kept me in a constant semi-hard state.
Raea’s gaze meets mine, and I watch as her creamy skin floods with pink as she smiles shyly at me. If it wasn’t against regulations for royals to be dating, hell, for us to even be friends, I’d run over there so fast and kiss that shy smile right off her face in front of everyone, making sure they all knew who she belongs to.
She might not be ready to admit she’s mine, but it’s just a matter of time. I’m going to do everything I can to prove to her she can make the jump, and I’ll be there waiting, ready to catch her.
“You ready?” Savenne asks, breaking me from my thoughts.
I nod and focus back on the bunker just before the bell sounds. Just having Raea here watching and cheering me on has kept my energy levels up the entire game. I beat their guardian to the balls and scoop them up, heading back to the water.
I don’t feel the burn of the ice-cold water when I jump in, moving quickly toward my teammates. I make it back to Orion and Breckn, the junior who replaced Cole. They grab the ball and dive over me into the water, swimming around the island to the far side where the obstacle ring is located.
I swim after them, keeping the AerBall tucked away in the net on my stick. I catch up to my team and spot Savenne already climbing a tree, but one of the asshole defenders pulls her down, slamming her onto her back. The crowd gasps, and my anger simmers. She groans as she rolls to her side. She throws out a hand to signal she’s okay and doesn’t need the healer.
I hoist myself up out of the water, nodding for the groundball attackers to move on. The defender comes straight for me, and I can’t dodge him. My only chance to reach Savenne is to knock this guydown a notch. I toss my stick and drop my shoulder, throwing my weight into the defender.
He goes down like a felled tree, hitting the dirt hard. Savenne pulls herself up to relax against the tree out of the corner of my eye. The defender beneath me throws a punch to my kidney, and I wince but knee him in his gut until he groans. I stand and grab my stick, making sure the defender stays down before checking on her. Her right pupil is dilated, and when I hold her head, she brushes me off and starts vomiting. She is most likely concussed.
I signal for a healer, and for Kalli, one of the senior girls, to come take her place. Savenne whines, but I tell her to knock it off and get help. She nods and groans again. The defender hovers near us, no longer allowed to attack during the pause in the game. Once the bell sounds for us to resume, he’s going to be the next to be hauled off on a stretcher. I play by the rules only as long as the others do. Hurting one of my ladies is completely unacceptable, and he’s about to learn that. I can’t afford to be thrown out of the game, so I make a quick plan to keep it all legal.
I position myself in front of him as the switch happens and jerk my head to the right, telling Kalli to go that way. When the bell sounds, she sprints right and disappears into the forest of obstacles while I use my stick to shove the defender. I’m bigger and stronger, and his feet slide against the hard path. He throws a punch that I dodge, throwing my elbow right into his face, making his nose bleed. Once the trail is clear, I shove hard and then take off running for one of the traps. It’s my nemesis, but if I time it right, I can get clear just in time for the restraints to wrap around him instead of me.
I suck in a sharp breath just before I step into the trap zone and launch myself across just before the restraints fly out from the ground. The defender did precisely as I hoped and followed, not paying attention. He screams when the restraints wrap around his arms and legs, sending him face-first into the ground. The more he fights them, the tighter they get. The trick with the restraints is to relax long enough for them to loosen. One by one, you can slide your limbs free slowly.
Once he’s down, I kick dirt in his face as retribution, holding myanger back from kicking his head in, and instead take off before I do something that will end with my name in the media. I’m sure my publicist would love that. I have seven minutes left to get past the bladefish and get the AerBall into the net.
The opposing team cheers, and I look up to see they’ve scored a groundball. One point isn’t going to get them close enough. A collective groan comes from the crowd, and I smirk, guessing they just missed the AerBall.
I dive headfirst into the bladefish, ignoring the burn of micro-cuts against my skin that won’t be healed until after the game is over. Orion and Breckn are fighting off the second defender, keeping him busy.
The goalie sees me, and his face pales. He has twenty seconds at best to decide if he’s going to leave his goal unattended and come after me or just attempt to block. I run close and release the AerBall. His stick flies up but misses, and I whoop once the AerBall hits the back of the small net. Orion and Breckn cheer, running after me, clearly giving up on the groundball. The buzzer sounds, and we dive back into the water, ignoring the bypass, and head for the island where the rest of our team meets us.
We’ve only lost one game this season and are well on our way to winning the championships if we keep this up. After the formalities are done, the rest of the team heads back to the locker rooms, our high from the win still pumping through our bodies, but I pause at the steps just as Raea comes down with a flirty smile on her face. Gods, I wish I could just hug her right here in front of everyone, but she’d probably kick my ass. It’d still be worth it.
When she reaches the last step, I keep eye contact with her, grab her hand, and tug her down the last step. Her breath hitches as her chest brushes against me, and she’s forced to look up at me. Neither of us says anything despite knowing we’re drawing the attention of the crowd around us.
I lean down, brush her cheek, and whisper, “Meet me at the gates in twenty.”
She nods and blushes when I let my lips softly graze her ear,careful that nobody else sees it. She smells so good. I wish I could just bottle the scent.
“Good win,” she says breathlessly.
I don’t care that I’m wet and dirty and probably stink. I pull her in for a hug, tucking her into me and allowing myself three seconds to soak it in, soak her in, then I leave, glancing back and watching her cheeks flush, both of us ignoring the questioning looks on everyone’s faces.
Thirty minutes later, we’re sprawled out in the living space of my room, the books and scrolls spread out before us. Even the Book of Beginnings is humming with its mysterious power.
“Here,” I say, handing it over with the prophecy page open.
She rereads it, chewing on her lip. I’ve studied it so many times that I’ve memorized it. “What do you think it means?”
