He nodded towards Dev. “He likes you, you know. So does K.”
“Kieran will never choose me, Ash. Not over the cause.”
“Then choose him,” Ash said, frowning slightly. “He’s a good person, deep down. I think so, at least.”
I looked at Kieran. He was watching me closely.
I wasn’t sure if it was me he saw—
or my power.
And I wasn’t sure which answer scared me more.
Chapter 11
Seph
After finishing my run, Ash pressed a water bottle into my hand and I wandered over to Sy.
He sat on his haunches at the edge of the track, vast and still. As I approached, his tail shifted, curling around my legs in an unmistakably protective gesture.
In front of him lay the bloody remains of a large animal. A cow, maybe. Or what used to be one.
“Gross, Sy,” I said, though I was smiling despite myself.
He huffed, a low vibration in his chest, and I felt the echo of his amusement brush against my mind.
I took a long drink of water and watched the compound. Dev was talking to Ash near the weights — but his gaze kept drifting back to me.
I sighed.
Sy let out a quiet, questioning sound and angled his head toward me, watching closely. Assessing.
Like he was asking if I was all right.
“I’m fine,” I murmured, resting my shoulder lightly against his scaled flank. “Just stupid, traitorous hormones.”
Sy grunted — thoroughly unimpressed.
I sat down beside him, the stone still warm beneath my legs, and drank the rest of the water in silence.
“I bet you never thought you’d get such an unskilled disaster as your charge, huh, big guy.”
Sy let out a low growl in response.
“I don’t know how to fight. Or run. Or… do much of anything,” I went on, the words tumbling out now that they’d started. “I’m not super trained and—”
Sy turned his head, fixing me with that steady, ancient gaze.
I swallowed, then blurted, “And I’ve kissed exactly two people in my whole life. And nothing else. And not even— I mean—”
I stopped, flustered.
Sy waited. Patient. Unmoving.
“I think I’m getting feelings for someone else.” I glanced at him quickly.
“Maybe a couple of someone’s,” I admitted more quietly.
