A pang went through her chest. She pulled her phone from her pocket, swiping into her texts.
Nothing. Like usual.
Diana handed her a towel. “Want some advice?”
Maya wiped the blood off her skin. There were no wounds or even scars. Aleksander had let her use the switchblade, but he’d used a steel knife. Though the metal hurt, it didn’t bite like silver did.
“Not particularly. I have a feeling that won’t matter.”
“You’re moving like you’re scared of getting cut,” Diana said, earning herself a long look.
“And that’s unreasonable?”
“It’s wishful thinking. In a knife fight, the only guarantee is that you’ll get cut. In your attempt to avoid the inevitable, your attacks become hesitant. It makes you easy to hit.” Diana cocked her head. “But you’reveryeasy to hit today. Everything good?”
Another ache flared through her chest. Sudden, sharp, and familiar, given that it had grown from an occasional nuisance to being constant.
A week had passed. A week ofnothing, as she hadn’t heard from Harper once in all the time she’d been at this goddamn outpost. No phone calls, no texts, no reaction to the updates Maya sent. The only interaction they’d had was the tiny ‘Read’ marker under Maya’s messages, proving that Harper had seen them.
She hadn’t sent an update that evening. Granted, between training and following Aleksander around as he rattled off important and boring Court information, she hadn’t really had time.
But she also had a horrible feeling that if she sent a message, it would be ignored. Like all the previous ones.
“Harper’s still not answering?” Diana asked. Maya sighed.
“No. Still radio silence.”
Diana cleared her throat, looking away.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. She’s probably just busy. She’ll get back to you.”
“Yeah.” Maya rubbed her chest. “It’s just… Ithurts.”
That wasn’t the right word. It didn’thurtto suddenly be missing a chamber of your heart. To suffer an absence so severe that it was all you could think about.
This didn’t justhurt. This was torture without thepain aspect.
Diana opened her mouth. Closed it. Then she sighed and patted Maya on the shoulder. A resigned act that only made the pull in Maya’s chest tense further.
“Maya!”
She sat up straight. Aleksander was staring right at her, black eyes dark like bottomless pits.
He gestured her over. “Come. We need to talk.”
Exchanging a glance with Diana, Maya approached him. She was tempted to tell Aleksander to stuff it, but not with his army there as witness. That would probably have painful consequences.
“Something wrong?” She glanced at the letter in his hand. “Is it about that message?”
Aleksander stuffed the paper into his pocket. “Time will tell. For now, you need a lesson of a different kind.”
In a blink, his form went from solid to smear, lines in the snow showing the direction he’d run.
Maya suppressed a groan. One thing she’d learned about the King of Chains since becoming his studious shadow was that he rivaled Angela for impatience. Waiting for others to catch up with him, literally or otherwise, always made him annoyed.
She hurried after him. She wasn’t anywhere near as fast as Aleksander, since he had both age and a Regent title on his side, but she was getting closer. Gaining more control.
At least somewhat. She still stumbled when she came to a stop.
