Fine, I could go into specifics.
“I hate your house.”
He looked around the mess hall, brows drawn. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s too big. Too minimalistic. There’s no personality to it.”
“Why does it matter whether there’s personality to it? It serves its purpose.”
“Yes, but it’s not ahome.”
“I never claimed it to be one.”
“Why do we all have to live here?”
“As opposed to…? Where else would you have me put thirteen mortals where I can simultaneously monitor their treatment and ensure they’re training adequately?”
I rolled my eyes. “I hate how argumentative you are.”
“Some might call it banter.”
“Banter is supposed to be fun. It’s not supposed to feel like banging your head against a wall.”
“Speak for yourself. I’m having fun,” he said dryly. His face was a blank mask, his body all serious lines and unrelenting edges. He didn’t look like he’d know the definition of fun if it smacked him in the face.
“I hate the link.”
“That I do know. But it did save your life in the caves, so a little gratitude might be nice.”
I clenched my teeth. “Afteryouput me there.”
“Irrelevant.”
“I didn’t mean to draw from it.”
“But you did. And you enjoyed how the power felt.”
I glared at him. “Those are private thoughts and feelings.”
“They belong to me now.”
Anger hissed inside of me like a whistling teapot. “You can’t justdothat. It’s not fair, and, in fact, it’s emotionally manipulative. You’ve already kidnapped me. You can’t also follow me around and demand I talk to you, listen in on my thoughts or kiss me in hallways.”
He raised his brows, amused now. “That wasn’t a kiss. I could provide a demonstration if you’d like to do a comparison?”
My cheeks flushed, interest stirring inside of me at his suggestion. “No, thank you,” I said primly. “My point is, I’m in a vulnerable position and you’re using the situation to take advantage of me.”
“It’s notmyfault you’re not using the link to your advantage. I keep telling you, it’s reciprocal. Maybe if you let me train you, you might be able to find out some useful information. Maybe then there wouldn’t be so much of apower imbalance.”
“It won’t be that easy and you know it,” I insisted.
“You’ll never know if you don’t try,” he said in an infuriatingly self-explanatory way.
“Oryou could just tell me what I need to know,” I said firmly.
“But then you’ll never learn how to properly channel the magic.”
I considered it. All the extra hours we would have to spend together for any meaningful training to occur. Just him and I, nothing but his scent, his voice, his eyes, his all-consuming energy. I thought of his lips on my jaw, how much I’d enjoyed it despite the multitude of reasons why I shouldn’t have, and decided that I vehemently did not trust myself around him in ahallway, let alone in dedicated training sessions. Training with him might save my life, but it would not be without a cost. And my heart was too high a price.
