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“It looks like you’re my first teacher in this endeavor.” Immediately, I cringed, wishing the words had never left my lips. I’d said something similar my first time with him. Hell, it had been my first time ever.
The need coursing through me reignited, and all I wanted to do was run out of the room and hide.
Idiot.
“Forget I said that. I didn’t mean to?—”
“Stop talking,” Theo said through a clenched jaw as undisguised heat and lust lit his gray eyes. “This is fucking hard enough.”
I swallowed, trying to push the desire down. “I’m sorry.”
Instead of acknowledging my apology, he grabbed his shirt and slipped it on. “Get your gear. We aren’t training in here. There’s a better location for what we have planned.”
I frowned. “What do you mean? I thought you were going to teach me all the skills of your soldiers?”
“We are, but you need a more private setting.” Without looking in my direction, he strode to the gym exit and then nodded to Xander. “Let’s go, asshole. The boss wanted us to show his wife the Caves. Let’s make it worth her while.”
Andraius wanted me to see the Caves, did he? I’d grown up running its halls. I could navigate every nook and cranny blindfolded. Another secret kept from the piece of shit I’d married.
“What are you two up to?”
“The Assassin Squad wanted us heavily involved in your training, so you will have to wait to learn all the details,” Theo responded over his shoulder, not bothering to look toward me, so I fixed my gaze on Xander.
Who sighed, shook his head, and picked up his discarded shirt, donning it as he moved in my direction. “It’s been a few years since you went for a visit, Angel. It’s time to make an appearance and show everyone you aren’t a petrified lamb.”
“I know what happens down there. I’m not scared.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of your experience of the Caves.” The smirk on Xander’s lips shouldn’t send the quiver deep into my core the way it just had. “However, not everyone knows the depths of the knowledge Theios Peter passed to his heir.”
I almost said,“Or what you and Theo demonstrated to me,”but kept those thoughts to myself since going down that rabbit hole would only make this mess I lived in bigger and bigger.
But of course, Xander caught the train of my thoughts and whispered, “One day, it will happen again.”
“No, it won’t. No matter how much I may want it, there isn’t a possibility.”
“Not now. But one day when you’re free.”
Free.
The concept of that word made me laugh. Whether Andraius died or I disappeared, I’d remain locked in shackles. No one saw this but me.
The Angelos Angel carried the weight of centuries of tradition, history, and lineage. My death would mean it passed to my sisters, and I’d never allow them to take on such a burden.
“I’ll never have true freedom.” I turned away. “There are only two choices for me, and neither situation allows the scenario you want to happen.”
“Wait and see.”
“I won’t leave fate in anyone else’s hands but mine from now on.”
“You still haven’t forgiven us.”
“When I said I forgave you, I meant it. That doesn’t mean I will sit around letting others make my decisions. Those days are over. I’m going to become the Nerine Papa raised again.”
“Fine. Let’s go.” Xander gestured toward the elevators as if I didn’t know where they were.
I glared at him and stepped into position next to Theo.
“Want to explain the details of this field trip the boss ordered?” I asked the moment the elevator doors closed, leaving the three of us the only ones in the cab.
