His smile is broad as he looks at me, and I don’t know why. His little rat comes scampering over, crawling up his leg to his shoulder to look at me, and I’m surprised when it settles without yelling at me in rodent. “Dottie approves, so maybe, um… Maybe we should go do one of our practices? I think I've recovered enough from my shifting to do a little work.”
“Are you sure?” I look at him with a narrowed gaze. “Zavida will be furious if I push you too far and you relapse or something. The others won’t be happy either.”
The shrimp chuckles, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “They will, but as long as you listen to me when I tell you something is too much, we’ll be okay. And of course, Dottie will totally tell on you if you don’t. She really likes Salem and Oriel,so they’ll know.”
I suck in a breath, then let it out slowly as the wheels turn in my head. My training wasnotkind or gentle, and I have no idea if I can keep old habits from cropping up, especially if we’re alone. It would be terrible, and I’d ruin everything—the rest of the guys wouldlosetheir shit. “I don’t… I don’t know if that’s a good idea. We need to start, but alone? It might not be the best?—”
Kit snorts, stepping into my space to put his hand on my bicep. “Jasper, I realize this will not be easy for you. I’m in your classes. But I thinkyouneed to know you can do this, andIneed to feel like I’m getting closer to protecting myself. Putting it off until both of us don’t feel nervous about it won’t fix anything.”
Good thing he’s so damn confident; now I need to live up to that and not fuck this up entirely.
Training Season
Kit/Kat
The campus is bustling as Jasper walks Dottie and me across the quad to the arena. I know he just came from here a while ago, and I appreciate him trying so hard to live up to the promises he made last night. But his nervousness is brushing against mine as we enter the stadium; I have to take a few deep breaths to help myself calm as we head straight for the field. My experiences on the pitch havenotall been good by any stretch, and the thought of other people seeing me get decimated by the hulking prince isn’t my idea of a fun time. But the place is empty, and even when I squint, I don’t see anyone hanging about in the stands.
Maybe this won’t be as humiliating as I anticipated.
“Set the rat down and stretch,” Jasper rumbles as he walks around the sideline looking at the racks of weapons thoughtfully. “Even if you were shifting, this is different, and I’m sure the doc would be mad if we showed up with any injury.”
“Dank won’t be mean and don’t call Dottie a rat.”
His snort echoes as I do what he said despite my retort. Giving her a bag of treats to munch on, I put my kinkajou on the bench where she can watch. Once she’s settled, I plop on the ground and start the sequence of stretches I’ve been taught one by one. Jasper turns, giving me a pleased expression as he sees what I’m doing, and then goes back to eyeing the weaponry.
“I thought we were doing physical defense and stuff first,” I mutter as I work on my calves. “Why are you browsing knives and stuff?”
“Because you need to warm-up and also because we will alternate between hand-to-hand and various weapons as we train. It is important to provide well-rounded lessons if we want to get your knowledge base moving faster.”
Okay, that makes sense, and he didn’t even act like I’m a dumbass. Nice.
“Do you fight in human form often? I mean, if I were a dragon, I’d choose that over getting clocked in the face every day of the week.”
The prince laughs, the sound sharp as he growls, “Dragons, even half-shifts, do notfitin every situation, shrimp. Size is a factor in many situations, but also, they are an extremely difficult animal to master harmony with. Their instincts are to raze and destroy completely—mine is powerful enough that it’s often using… What do your people say? Using a nuke to drive a nail? Yes, that’s it.”
I frown as I continue loosening my muscles. “They aren’t really my people, Jasper. You know that as well as I do. I’m part demon and part shifter; I wasneverhuman to begin with. If I have to come to terms with that, so do you.”
“True,” he replies absently. “I suppose you had no control over being left up there for a bunch of donut-eating dullards who obsess over the most trivial things possible. If you’d been abandoned in Hell, you might have at least gotten the basic knowledge of your real species and home before you reached college.”
“Duh. That might not have been any easier than foster care up there, but I wouldn’t be so ‘fish out of water’ now.” I grunt as I work on my quads, moving to a squat before I mutter, “And maybe I wouldn’t be so fucking broken, who knows?”
His shadow suddenly looms over me as he says, “Trial by fire can produce the strongest materials and beings in every realm, shrimp. Perhaps the Fates needed to make you able to withstand the flames to do whatever your destiny is. It sucks, but it’s no less probable than thinking you were purposely screwed over.”
I laugh, shaking my head as I look up from under my floppy hair. “Don’t tell me Jasper Eversore is an optimist. That would be weird as fuck.”
“Absolutely not. But I am a realist, and I understand that positive intent and negative intent have equal chances in the chaos that is the universe. That doesn’t mean Ibelievepositive shit first; I simply recognize that it can’t be ruled out without more data.”
“Now you sound like Annie. He’s very data-centric.” I think about that for a moment and add, “It’s calming sometimes because he doesn’t freak out often. He looks at the facts dispassionately, and it balances X’s endless enthusiasm.”
Jasper watches me as I move to a standing position and do the stretches there. “You’re a bit like both in your ability to see everything, but also communicate with everyone in their preferred style. At least, I assume that because you wormed your way into all of my brothers’ good graces fairly quickly. You’d have to adjust to their quirks without being patronizing.”
I narrow my eyes on him. “Zavida told you that. No way you noticed it on your own, Prince Pricklypants. You’ve been too focused on how I’m going to ‘betray’ you to see the way I interact with people.”
His smile is sheepish as he shrugs. “Guilty. I listen to Zavvie when he is adamant about things, and he’s been quite vocal about my behavior regarding you for a while. I suppose it took having to watch the beating our caliphate took for it to click that despite our immense power and experience, we could still be killed or defeated if we don’t… coalesce better.”
“Bzzzt! Wrong answer. Try again,” I sing-song as my arms and shoulders loosen up. “You’re giving the answer youshouldgive, not the real one.”
Looking annoyed, he runs his hand through hair, tail whipping as he mutters, “Also, I needed support as this is pushing all the buttons I keep protected inside. Or something. Zav said that too, but he’s right, I guess.”
