I huffed. “I’m seriously considering punching you right now. Would a straight answer kill you? Especially regarding this?”
His eyebrow arched. “You’re not quick enough to lay a finger on me, Your Highness.”
“Is that right?” I smiled, and some of my frustration with his backward answers evaporated. Teasing the warrior was much more fun, and I missed the times we’d bantered. Besides, playing with the warrior was much better than stressing over whoever wanted me dead, captured, or turned into a hideous creature. Definitely better. “I highly doubt that.”
For a moment, Kole stared at my mouth but then shook himself. “I’m a trained Imperial Warrior with a Solis warrior affinity. I was born to fight. Trust me, you’re not fast enough.”
I smiled cheekily. “And I’m a princess with unique and immense magic. I shouldn’t be underestimated.”
“I never said you should be. In fact?—”
My arm swung out before he could finish his sentence, going for his breastbone, but his arm lifted just as fast, as though his body had anticipated the move before I’d even decided to make it.
Our arms connected, mine striking his while his blocked mine, and a zing of awareness jolted through me.
A wicked light shone in the warrior’s eyes, and I could have sworn he was on the verge of smiling. “What are you doing, Your Highness?”
“Testing you. If you’re the only thing keeping me safe from the big scary monsters at night, I want to ensure you’re up to the task.”
“Oh, I can assure you, I’m up for it.” His arm twirled before I saw it coming, and the next thing I knew, he had my back plastered to his chest with his two arms pinned around me. One was locked around my waist, the other just above my breasts.
My chest heaved.
“Is that a good enough demonstration, Your Highness?” he whispered huskily into my ear.
My knees threatened to buckle from his warm breath and the hard feel of his arms around me, and I was reminded of our time at the Nelive Sea, when he’d admitted to feelingthingsfor me that required the Council’s magic to remind him of his duties.
A zing of recklessness barreled through me. I tried to suppress it. I was aware enough to know that all of the huge recent changes in my life and the fear that someone was after me were beginning to take a toll on me, because I was wound up, rolled as tight as a drum, and I needed some kind of release.
And my crazy self wanted to push the warrior to see how far he would go if I kept baiting him.
“It wasn’t an overly impressive demonstration,” I taunted.
“No?” His lips brushed against my ear, and heat filled my blood. “Would you rather I pinned you completely beneath me? Or perhaps restrained you to your bed posts?”
Lust surged through me, and a part of me realized he’d likely just admitted to the forbidden thoughts he’d had that kept exacting his Council magic upon his wrist.
Before I thought better of it, my magic sprang out of me and shredded through Kole’s Shield, then wrapped around him.
Surprise jolted through his aura just as my magic paralyzed his limbs.
I pried free from his arms and turned to face him. He stood immobile before me but was still conscious since I hadn’t rendered him to fall asleep. “Hmm, just as I thought. I could overpower you with only a thought.” I released mymagic as quickly as I’d ensnared him with it, and a moment of apprehension hit me.
I’d just bested the warrior, and he could very well be angry with me because of it.
But instead of irritation or anger or fear washing through his aura that a female had outmaneuvered him, a grin stretched across his face.
An actualgrin.
“Damn,” he finally said. It was the only word he uttered.
Another pang of heat filled my belly. The warrior was looking at me with pride and respect, as if he saw me, trulysawme, and he liked what was revealed.
Thatthingin my chest tightened again, stretching and yearning.
Kole took a step closer to me, his expression sharpening, but just as fast, a whip of magic flared around his wrist, and he hissed.
My heartbeat tripled, and I glanced at his arm, toward where the evidence lay that he’d been thinking of meagainin a way that’d triggered the Council’s magic to remind him of his vows and his duty not to compromise his job in any way.
