“Of course not. We’re over. We have been for ages.”
“And I’m here to remedy that. You know, as well as get some good schooling like my father has insisted.”
Get some good schooling?Yeah, he definitely needed it. But intellectually was the least of it for him. He had almost zero emotional intelligence and absolutely no sense of accountability.
“There’s nothing toremedy.We’re done.”
More flashing of his eyes.
And then he took an aggressive step closer and growled down at me, “You are mine and I will pursue you as mine. I gave you space to get your head on straight. But you never came to me. Likely a result of Torvek whispering in your ear. But you’re finally away from him now, so we have our second chance.”
“Our situation has nothing to do with him. It’s you. What you tried to do to me, and your attitude in general toward women—especially those who are more powerful than you.”
He sneered. “More powerful? You really think that?”
“I know it.”
“You need a guiding hand, Evira. You’re set to take command after these four years are done. You’ll need somebody like me to deal with such things. You’ve already got the looking pretty thing going and I’ll take care of the rest.”
I clenched my fist, seconds away from calling my power and smashing it into his face, which would fucking well break it upon impact.
But then slithering shadows caught my attention, wrapping around my feet, swirling higher, faster and faster, until I was caught up in a funnel cloud.
I heard Keuric yelling in worry and surprise.
A spark of white power in front of him sent him careening through the open doors of Combat Conclave.
Before I could see anything else, the funnel took me, my surroundings slipping away.
I blinked and pushed at the shadows.
They began fading away, and then I found myself on a balcony of one of the dorms.
When they fully dissipated, I sucked in a breath as I saw Winter standing there smiling kindly at me.
“I’m sorry.”
Those were his first words to me?
He was apologizing? If anything, it should be the other way around.
How was he so… gentle? So incredibly sweet? No matter what?
I swallowed hard, the emotion of it threatening to get the best of me. And, yeah, I guess I was a little shaken from the Keuric thing—a little. I wasn’t a weakling.
“Sorry?” I managed to get out.
“Wrapping my shadows around you like that without your agreement. I didn’t see another way to avoid a public spectacle that would have drawn everyone’s attention, likely that of the administration too. If you’d thrown that punch, you would have shattered bone and the architectural elements in the immediate vicinity as well. While they can bounce back almost immediately with the protection spells running through this place, it would have definitely put you in the spotlight, which I know you hate.”
I smiled. “No apologies needed. Thanks for doing that, lovely.”
He flinched. I wasn’t surprised considering the last time he’d heard that endearment out of my mouth had been while we were… together that night.
Fuck.I cleared my throat. “Winter, I mean.”
“It’s all okay.” He winked at me.“Little dragon.”
I chuckled. “Well, that’s one way to diffuse the awkwardness.”
