His arms flexed as he pushed off the bed and took a step back, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black, leather pants. “I know you are, but you can't shut down. You need to help me help you.” His frustration seemed to ease with the release of his words.
“How?”
“My father wants us to train your wielding daily, but after what happened last night, that's clearly not going to work.”
I nodded in acknowledgement. “Not if you want me practicing more challenging commands.”
“It’s not that I want you to, but it's that you need to. You need to learn to use the full extent of your power, but it can’t be done as often as I’d like.” He began pacing the room. “We’ll keep our combat sessions in the mornings, but we will only train your magic every few days. That way you'll have time between sessions to recuperate. We'll be able to practice more effectively and prevent another episode like last night. You’ll get the experience you need without the negative side effects…hopefully.”
“How will we get away with that?” I asked. “King Hawthorne has eyes all over the castle. Don't you think that he’ll learn rather quickly that something is going on?” I'd noticed that we sometimes had peering eyes on us during our training sessions.
He paused to think, swaying a little where he stood. “We won't say anything, but if he asks, we’ll tell him that we're training in various locations to get you used to having distractions while you wield.”
“What will we actually be doing and where?” I questioned him.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don't know. The archives are pretty empty at night, we can go there or to one of our rooms. It doesn't really matter where, it's just important that we are together in case someone sees us. If they do, we can pretend to be practicing.”
“So we just lie?” This was actually not a bad idea. It was a simple plan, but sometimes simpler was better.
“We lie,” he confirmed. “I'll tell my father that you haven't been feeling well. We can't push it too long or he will get suspicious, but it will buy you a few days to get your strength up before we start training again. Sounds good?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
He turned towards the window, and I could see the tension falling off of him with the confirmation of our plan.
I finally removed myself from my bed to stand beside him.My fingers grazed over his hand that grasped the window sill, trying to reciprocate the comfort that he always gave me. Right now, he seemed to need it more.
“Why do you care so much about what happens to me?” I asked, my voice so faint I wouldn't have been surprised if he couldn't make out the words.
He intertwined his fingers with mine, rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. “You know damn well why.”
My heart pounded against my ribs.
Is he implying what I think he is?What I hope he is?
I wanted to ask, but we were interrupted by another person banging on my door.
His hand slipped from mine, and we jumped apart just in time for Pia to waltz through my doorway.
She raised her eyebrows, sucking her lips in to fight back a smile as she glanced between the two of us. “What's up?” she chimed, not acknowledging how close we were to each other.
Sebastian shuffled to the side, putting even more distance between us. “I was just about to leave,” he stammered. “I was going to walk with Maeve to the castle, but she said she's not going for lunch this afternoon.”
Pia nodded slowly. “Ahh. Of course.” Her tone said that she didn't believe him.
Sebastian cleared his throat and turned to me. “I'll see you later,” he said with a nod, then strutted out the door, hands stuffed in his pockets.
Pia beamed at me when he was gone.
“Nothing happened.”
“Bullshit. The tension in the air here isthick.”
“Nothing happened,” I repeated.
“Mhm.”
“I'm serious.”
