“Sebastian is gonna bepissed,” Pia dragged out the last word, not even bothering to try and conceal her disapproval.
I stepped over piles of books as I made my way to the vacant shelf. “He can be pissed all he wants. We aren’t together. And there's nothing wrong with sharing a bed with a friend. You and me do it all the time.”
She stepped forward to pass me another pile of books. “That's different, and you know it.”
“You’re making this a bigger deal than it needs to be,” I contested, pulling the top novel off the heap in her hands. “I was having a hard night, and Sawyer was there for me. We just so happened to fall asleep. That’s it. It meant nothing.”
“It meant nothing toyou, I know that. But does Sawyer know that?”
I can’t lose you. I wouldn’t survive it.
His words continued to haunt me every chance they got.
I blew out a breath, then told a white lie. “Of course he does.”
Chapter
Fourteen
It was twenty after eight when Sawyer showed up in Lumosia’s training arena, fashionably late. Unlike when he had trained me in Caelestis, he seemed to have no sense of time in Lumosia.
I tapped an invisible watch on my wrist.
“I know, I know.” He brushed me off with a wave of his hand, then tossed his belongings at the edge of the mat.
“You would be late to your own funeral,” I teased, dropping to the ground to do some stretching. My arm was already feeling better, but I wouldn’t risk using it tonight. This session was about pure mind compulsion.
“Probably my own wedding, too.” He chuckled, and I smiled at the idea of that. There was nothing I wished for more than my loved one’s happiness.
“What were you doing?”
He ignored the question. “What are you thinking for tonight?”
“I haven’t done much training since Caelestis, so I kind of want to try some more challenging commands. You okay with that?” I asked, testing my mended limb by using it to push back up to a stand.
“Sure.” He angled his dagger at my arms. “Now that you have the markings, have you found yourself getting weak at all when you harness?”
“Not yet.” I glanced at the swirling tattoos of starlight coating my arms. “I’m still pretty baffled by these. Beaumont seems so amazed that I have them, but so far they aren’t turning out to be anything special.”
“Um, you can control the damn stars because of those markings. That doesn’t screamspecialto you?”
I shrugged. “Controlis a stretch.”
“Yeah…” he cautiously agreed. “We’ll have to work on that when your arm is fully healed.”
“We can work on that after we get Sebastian out of freakin’ Draemor,” I corrected. As soon as my arm was back to total use, I was out of here. With or without a partner in crime.
Sawyer stepped towards me, stopping about a foot from where I stood. His eyes widened with an undeniable declaration of concern. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“When have I ever done anything stupid?” I inquired, knowing damn well that I had a bad track record.
He held a finger up. “Not telling Seb that your power was making you sick.” Another finger shot up. “Not tellingmethat your power was making you sick, but having me train you every night anyway.” Another one. “Compelling Seb to leave you during the battle.” Finger number four went up. “Arm wrestling Kohen?—”
“Okay, okay, point proven. I won’t do anything stupid.” My hands splayed out in surrender.
“Promise?” He arched a dirty-blond brow.
“No. I’ll try, but I won’t promise.”
