“I’ve been ready for months,” she grumbled. “You refused to see that.”
“Perhaps. Just be glad I’m here now.”
“Aethan, if I’m going do this, getting hurt is part of the deal.”
In a preternatural blur, he moved to the sword stand and selected two lightweight blades. “Not if I can help it,” he muttered under his breath.
“I heard that.”
His head snapped to her. “I’m way across the arena, you couldn’t have heard me.”
“I did…”
The next second, he appeared at her side, his gaze skimming over her. “Aethan, look.” She held out her hands. “I worked the punching bags earlier without gloves”—she ignored his scowl—“and, yeah, they were bruised badly, one knuckle even bled, but look at them now.” She wiggled her fingers excitedly.
Aethan went deathly still, his glower vanishing as he stared at her nearly unblemished skin. The swords dropped from his hold, their clang resonating in the quiet. He grasped her fingers. “Your healing abilities are emerging.”
It was an amazing thing to see his smile, considering how much he hated when she got even a mark on her, and only now had finally caved to her pestering. But just as fast, his expression morphed into that inflexible one she’d become more familiar with when it came to her safety. “I still expect you to fight as if you’re mortal and your life’s on the line.” He pinned her an inflexible stare. “In other words, don’t do anything reckless.”
Ugh, she knew that. As if she wanted to get hurt by the supernatural evil out there.
His gaze on hers, he kissed her knuckles and let her go. “Right, let’s begin.”
He picked up the fallen weapons, handing her one.
Echo swung the blade, testing the weight of it like Hedori had shown her. “What made you change your mind about training with me?” she asked him, curious now, considering his previously rigid stance on the taboo subject.
“It’s been on my mind for a while…” he admitted, watching her moves with an undoubtedly critical eye. “When Dagan and I were in the Dark Realm, rescuing his mate’s mother, he mentioned wanting Shae to learn how to defend herself now that she’s a part of this dangerous life we lead. I realized that I could no longer put off what I had to do.
“You are my entire life Echo, but you are the Healer, too, and I cannot bury my head in the ground.” His gray eyes burning with untold emotions were rimmed with pain. “The thing is, you dying in my arms ripped me apart. It’s an agony I will never forget—one I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. It still lives inside me.”
Echo froze at his revelation and slowly lowered her sword. Aethan didn’t speak much about that horrid time a year ago when she died. And she knew, too, that it was never far from his mind. But, finally hearing him give words to his torment hit her in her chest like a giant-size fist.
A lump lodging in her throat, she ran over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, her weapon still palmed. “I’m so sorry. In hindsight, I guess I would have reacted differently in the same situation now, but when the person you love more than anything in this world is in danger, you don’t think. You just react to save them…”
A dangerous demonii had captured her and taken her to Hell, believing he could use her abilities as the Healer to traverse realms and take them over. But Aethan had managed to rescue her and kill the demonii, except the demonii’s human accomplice shot at Aethan with a spelled bullet—which would have killed him—but Echo had taken the hit instead.
She blinked back her tears. “I’m here now,andI’m immortal—you made me so.” She smiled, hoping to chase away the shadows in his eyes. “Besides, I can self-heal also. I’ll be fine.”
A sigh barreled out of him as his hold on her tightened, then he pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss. “I live for you,me’morae.”
“And I, for you,” she whispered, love and tenderness for her hard and very, very lethal mate overwhelming her.
He stepped back several feet, his weapon hanging loosely in his hand. His expression cool, unreadable—the battle-hardened warrior back. “Let’s begin.”
Unfazed, Echo grinned and danced back. “Come on, my big, bad Empyrean.”
Before she could blink, Aethan lunged, his blade swinging. She countered a little too late, the impact of his strike taking her down easily. She fell on her ass, pain jarring up her spine. He didn’t spare her. It appeared he was finally convinced that she could handle this brutal side of training.
“Always,alwaysbe prepared,” he said coolly, but his eyes flashed with amusement as she glared at him. Yeah, the darn wretch had done that deliberately!
Biting back a scowl, she jumped to her feet. No way would she let a little thing like a sore backside stop her from this long-awaited training session with him. Eyes narrowed, her sword braced, she waited, adrenaline pumping through her veins as he circled her like some predator after new prey…
Ten minutes later, Echo gritted her teeth, her damn arms felt like it had been wrenched from their shoulder sockets. Instead of deflecting the strike coming at her—old habit kicked in—she dropped to her knees and skated beneath his swing, smacking the back of his knee with her palm. She jumped up to her feet behind him.
In a blur Aethan twisted, knocking her sword from her hand like it was a toy. It clattered to the floor in a loud twang.
Narrowing her eyes, she stepped back, her obsidian dagger taking form in her hand.
