“I’m not going to argue with you about this. I’m not going to plead.”
“Though you might begLorant.” His lips twisted and the skin around his eyes tightened. “Oh, yes, you call himLore.”
“I’m calling him Lorant now. I’m not sure why.”
For whatever reason, that sucked the air from his windram, so to speak. He blinked, staring at me. “Good.”
I tilted my head, watching his face. “Why good?”
“Reasons.”
Was it worth incorporating his “reasons” into my next question?
He dipped forward in a bow. “Will you allow for training at the same time?”
“I haven’t warmed up yet.”
“I’d be happy to warm you.”
“Stay where you are,” I growled. My emotions kept flipping around inside me. Despite all this, it was hard to dismiss how much I liked Merrick. Too much. I’d been close to loving him, and you couldn’t shut that off because you were angry. Especially when they’d had a valid reason for withholding information.
As for Lorant…
I wasn’t going to think about snarly night guy.
“Alright,” I said.
After we’d warmed up and eased through a series of moves, he strode over to the wall and selected two blades.
“I noted you’re ambidextrous.” He returned to the middle of the room, facing me.
“I wasn’t born that way but developing the skill paid off.” I pulled my own blades, the ones he’d given me, and advanced up to him, keeping enough distance between us to watch his face, hisbody. Study his moves.Hewas overdressed in his own leathers, but nothing would drag the taunt from my mouth.
Seeing him in any way, shape, or form made my skin quiver with need.
His lips curled up. “I like that I unsettle you, Wildfire.”
“I’m not committing to anything, especially when it relates tothat. Fight. Answer my questions, please.” I needed to maintain some sort of control or I’d fall apart. Or take him up on his offer to climb his body. Kiss him. Drag him down to a mat and drive this heat between us to what I’d ached for last night. What little control I had over the tattered bits of my heart appeared to be fluttering in a wind determined to latch onto them and carry them away.
“I’ll be as honest as I can,” he said.
I hadn’t only gnashed my teeth for most of the night, I’d also thought about what I could ask and how I could phrase my questions. “You said you and Lorant share everything.” Odd how night guy was no longer Lore in my mind, though I wasn’t sure why.
I’d been scorched by the realization that if I was forced to pick between the two of them, I would not be able to decide. I’d wavered and gone to Merrick, but now that I knew they were the same person, I would not waver again.
Merrick blinked.
A dangerous calm rippled through his body. I adjusted my stance, knees loose, blades at the ready in my hands. This wasn’t the first time we’d sparred, but every time felt as if we were learning something new about each other. Today I was determined to discover it all.
“Hopefully you two don’t discuss intimate things.” How mortifying that would be.
A blood vessel ticked in his temple, and his lips thinned. “Idon’t like to think of my wife with someone else, let alone hear about it from another male’s mouth.”
“Then don’t ask.”
He gave me a curt nod.
“You talk to each other, though not for long,” I said.
