“Fine,” I said through my teeth. “It can be an ‘I owe you’ thing, but you have to wake up before dawn.”
I smiled as her brows furrowed. She stared at her empty cup of coffee. “Ugh. I’m going to need a gallon of this stuff.”
FIFTY-TWO
SIE
I toldSavannah to meet us at the training rings the next morning. I half wondered if she wasn’t going to show, but then I saw lavender hair swaying in the wind. She shrugged out of a gray sweatshirt, revealing a loose top that was too flimsy to be training in and tight black pants that exposed the exact shape of her legs… and ass.
I forced my gaze away from her body and turned to Peter. He kept hounding me relentlessly on how I managed to convince the girl who hated my guts to train with us. I ignored every taunt and told him to shut up unless he wanted me to stop helping.
Savannah frowned slightly as she approached Vallie. “How come you keep dyeing your hair black? You look better as a redhead.”
“I hate the color red.”
“Why?” Savannah pushed, and I wondered if bringing her was the wrong call. She had no filter. She didn’t hold back, and her curiosity got the better of her, regardless of what it caused others. Her mouth was too big for her own good.
“Because it reminds me of fire and because it reminds me of my brother.”
I entered Savannah’s mind, half terrified she was stupid enough to ask Vallie what happened to him.
Everyone knew Vallie was tortured by the King. Her grief didn’t have the mercy of being kept quiet, which I assumed was partly why she wanted to train in the middle of the night while everyone else was sleeping. I rarely saw her leave her tent during the day. But no one knew exactly what went down between her, Scotlind, and the King. A lot of it was assumed, but not everyone knew about her twin.
The King killed her brother,I said to Savannah, hoping she would drop it.
If she was surprised I entered her mind, she didn’t show it. She completely ignored me, instead saying out loud to Vallie, “I’m sorry.”
Vallie just nodded.
“Alright.” Savannah clapped her hands together after tossing her sweatshirt onto the ground. “Show me what you got.”
Princess Dovelyn foundme later that night in the dining tent. I was exhausted and was only just sitting down to eat something for the first time today.
I never left the rings and trained the remainder of the day, trying not to think about Savannah and how her white shirt became drenched with sweat despite the cool draft. We started by running through the drills Peter and I had been teaching them. Savannah nodded, taking everything in, then went right into maneuvers of her own, showing Vallie and Lilia how to move their bodies in a way I didn’t think was possible. She ran through different exercises for them to do every day. It was a mix of stretches, core work, and body weight maneuvers.
“What do you want?” I snapped at Dovelyn, bringing myself back to the moment and shrugging off all thoughts of training.
She sat down next to me. Peter wasn’t around so I was at a table by myself. “I wanted to check up on you. How are you?”
I scoffed, nearly choking on my food. “We aren’t friends, so you can cut the act.”
A prolonged silence stretched between us as I kept eating. I waited for her to admit what she really wanted because there was no way she came over just to ask me how I was doing.
“You know you could be a little nicer and you might actually have more friends.”
That got me to look up. She was staring at me with a narrowed expression.
“I think the same can be said for you.”
“I risked my life to save not only you, but your brother too, the least you can do is not be a dick.”
“Do you want a thank you?” I snapped and regretted it as soon as I said it. Ishouldsay thank you.
She rolled her eyes before finally rising from the table. “Meet me by the fields when you’re finished eating. We can talk without anyone overhearing us. Idoexpect you to come.”
She left without another word. I watched her go. My fork halted halfway to my mouth as I stared after her silver hair.
I took my time finishing my food, even though my curiosity was eating at me. But there was no way in hell I’d let that show. The girl could create shields. We could have talked in the tent without anyone overhearing us, but she wanted full privacy, didn’t even want wandering eyes on us, and I had no idea why.
