“You can,” she said aloud. “We will help you.”
An icy presence hovered at the edge of her senses, and Sean dropped her hand to turn toward David. The network evaporated as if it never existed at all.
“There he is,” Sean said. “I thought you’d finally decided to abandon us.”
“I considered it.” Sunlight glinted gold on David’s hair as he approached, and Anna was immediately transported to that secret room, his arm around her, the press of his body, the brush of his lips against hers. Heat soaked deep into her cheeks. Green eyes absorbed that response, and his mouth tilted into that smile that made every hair on her body rise to attention. “Hey there, pixie girl.”
Her gaze dropped to the ground as the emotions whipped into a frenzy inside.
Sean’s attention bounced between them. “Have you two…made up?”
“I’m not sure,” David said. “Anna, have we made up?”
“Are you going to stop smiling like that?”
He shook his head, that tempting smirk still firmly in place.
“Then we haven’t made up.”
David’s lopsided grin only grew. “I think you like my smiles.”
“I don’t.”
“No?” He took a step closer. “I could prove it, if you’d like.”
She huffed. “You could not!”
With a click of his tongue, David glanced at Sean. “That felt like a challenge.”
“It wasn’t,” Anna said while Sean’s emotions blossomed into fluffy tufts of amusement.
David pressed a hand to his heart. “I accept.”
Sean finally gave in to his laughter, but Anna sighed. The man was going to make things very difficult, wasn’t he?
“Apprentice,” Cathaire shouted as he entered the field. “Today you take the Shadow. I will work with the Savior.”
The Shadow.
That moniker had never bothered Anna before, but a twitch of annoyance tickled her thoughts as they retreated to the farthest corner of the clearing. Her training lessons used to be discreet, but with Sean and David added to the mix, onlookers tended to gather—in awe of Sean and keeping tabs on David. As Sean and Cathaire began, people collected to watch.
“Does it bother you?” she asked David in a low voice so none would hear. “That they call you the Shadow?”
Green eyes flashed her way, the teasing from moments ago absent. “I’ve had worse nicknames.”
Anna swallowed. “Right. Well, what do you want to do today?”
His mouth curved intothesmile.
“Stop!”
“Admit you like it.”
Ignoring him, she reverted to her training persona. “So you have options: I can kick your ass in sparring, or I can kick your ass in knife play.”
“Those are my only options?”
Anna crossed her arms.
