Kai shot his friend a look, then stepped in front of her. He reached for her waist, but paused before he touched her.
“Can I show you?”
Adeline raised an eyebrow. As though she was suddenly going to have a problem with his hands on her. Though it had certainly been long enough since she’d last felt them. She nodded impatiently and a smirk flickered over his lips.
He laid one hand on her waist. Ger began a low whistle, but Adeline bared her teeth at him and suddenly the sound became a tune that carried him away in a nonchalant slouch with his hands shoved into his pockets.
“Walk for me.”
She moved, and he came with her, his hand still hovering at her middle.
“Now, see how you’re propelling your body from here?” He drew a careful line from her hip to her stomach as he spoke, erupting a thousand unseen goosebumps beneath her training gear.
“Mm-hmm,” she nodded, not sure she wanted to risk a wavering voice in front of Ger and the others.
Kai’s dark brows narrowed as he brought his fingers to the arch beneath her ribcage, hardly seeming to notice that her chest rose and fell in uneven stutters beneath his hand. “You want to centre yourself from here instead. And it helps if you lean forward, like this.”
His touch was warm, always; so much warmer than one might expect of a man newly liberated from the icy embrace of the Laune. He pressed his other palm between her shoulder blades and the heat of his skin sank through the leather of her protective vest and her thick undershirt. She clenched her jaw against the pleasant shiver that rose beneath his hand all the way to the nape of her neck, the fine hairs standing in salute to him. Perhaps he’d been right to warn her before he’d touched her. Not that it had made much of a difference.
“Good,” he said quietly. Very quietly, in fact.
She glanced up at him over her shoulder, and found his hazel eyes startlingly close. She’d never seen them in full daylight, never seen all the glimmering hues that bound his irises; the greens and golds and autumn browns. It brought to mind thoughts of warm sunlight filtered through green leaves and young bark - a forest unknown to the icescape of Eisalaan. Her gaze drifted to his lips, parted and slightly shimmering, like he’d licked them as he watched her study his face.
Goddess save her, she wanted to kiss him. When was the last time he’d been this close? A week? Two? It was like her immunity to him had faded in those few short days, and she was just as dazed and breathless as that first night in the forest. The impulse to lean in swelled uncomfortably in the tight hollow of her chest, rising up until she almost choked on it. She swallowed down the urge with some difficulty, and turned away.
“Thank you.”
Kai seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then let go of her and stepped away. It wasn’t the time, nor the place. They had yet to really talk about their kiss in the woods, or the one in the training room the next morning, and nothing had happened in the days that had passed since then - save for tense moments like this one.
The thing was, she sometimes got the uneasy feeling he was keeping her at arm’s length, shutting the door on those longer nights he’d promised. Other times he looked at her as though he’d devour her given half a moment alone; she went a bit lightheaded just thinking about it.
“Ready when you are, Ade,” Ger called jovially, though his eyes danced like he knew just what she was thinking. He probably did, to be fair.
She released a long breath and steadied herself; then planted her feet and leaned forward slightly, holding her weight from beneath her ribcage like Kai had shown her.
“Ready.”
???
It wasn’t quite as bad after that. She still wasn’t nearly as graceful on the ice as Kai or Ger, but she didn’t need to be. She just had to be better than Mareda - and maybe not get landed on her ass in her first two matches, where she’d be up against the champions of the Eisalaan Gard. Or even a Queen’s Gard champion, if she was particularly unlucky.
“Maybe you’ll be picked as champion and you can let me win,” she said to Ger, thinking aloud.
They were walking back toward the palace, having left the Merrow back at the clearing. There’d been a sticky moment after Adeline said goodbye to Ceri, Al and Os where she’d hung back a moment too long before realising that Kai was not, in fact, relacing his boots, but avoiding having to leave with her. Ceri’s stare had nearly burned a hole in her brother’s back, and Adeline wished she’d burn the ground beneath her instead and let the stream swallow her up and carry her away. But Ger had stepped in, smooth as ever, and loudly announced that he was ready to go, as though he was the one Adeline had been waiting for. She was grateful for the lifeline, and to Ger for going out of his way to see her home.
But now he snorted at her wishful thinking.
“What? You’re young, strong, and talented, it’s highly likely you’ll be picked.”
“Oh I have no doubt I’m in the running.”
“So?”
“So? Everyone’s seen us together for years now, Ade. There’s even less chance of Doran pitting me against you than there is of me letting you win.”
He was right, of course, and she’d neveractuallyexpect him to throw a match for her pride, but she rolled her eyes anyway.
“Supportive as ever.”
