Page 47 of Tailwind

When my hands touched the towel I had an internal crisis. It was the softest thing I’d ever felt. Fluffy without being heavy, absorbent yet not rough to the touch. The luxe life wasn’t normal for me, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate it.

‘Soft, right?’ Theo nudged me ahead with an elbow.

I tossed the towel over my shoulder. ‘I guess.’

The clouded glass door to the next area slid open. I’d heard about this carriage enough to have expectations. A fully kitted out gym, training area and steam rooms for the riders. As such, I’d been preparing myself to walk into a wall of sweat and musk.

My expectations were thrown out the moment I saw it all. Like Gottyk’s cabin the roof was entirely glass, letting in natural light to bounce off the blonde wood floor while the walls held racks of equipment. Regular workout gear lined the sides of the long room: free weights, cable stations, benches, training mats and more.

Then it got more specific – resistance-training equipment for any and every body part affected by G-force while flying, high-end augments for reaction training to keep the riders sharp and racks of faux weapons for combat practice.

At the end of the carriage were smaller areas blocked off by more clouded glass. Beautiful soapy smells drifted from that end of the carriage – the spa. I smiled. Thorne hadn’t ever used this train, deeming it too lowly for him. Yet I’d have made a decent bet on him wanting to trade spas with me now.

It was everything I could ever need to hone my skills – and it was just a bonus carriage on the train. The facilities at the headquarters of Kiestral were likely bigger and better. I couldn’t even imagine what Victrolia had as the most well-funded team.

Theo was watching me, holding his towel around the back of his neck. ‘What do you think?’

I took it all in. Maybe I didn’t need Theo to get the most out of this. I could borrow a pass from Josie and sneak in at night. ‘I am going to get so ripped.’

His head fell back as he let out a laugh that echoed around the gym. ‘All right, but you need to let me spot you the first time you use this stuff. It can get intense.’

I rolled my eyes, but followed him anyway. I didn’t need lessons for the regular equipment and thankfully, Theo didn’t offer. The G-force setup though he sat in to demonstrate. I’d heard of it before, seen it briefly on behind-the-scenes Volitant casts, but had never had the opportunity to use one.

‘Okay, your turn.’ He got up from the low-slung seat.

As I prepared to get into the tangle of elasticated bands one of the clouded rooms opened. A plume of steam began to escape, but was sucked away through vents in the walls – that explained the lack of gross man smell.

Through the cloud came another rider. A flop of red hair, wet and dark, made it clear who it was before the steam cleared: Quinn Potts. A fellow rider from Gedeinia, quiet and ridiculously talented. He’d been flying for Prevere for six years after winning the Wyvern Cup the year before we – before Theo – had.

He was also only wearing a towel around his waist.

‘Hey, Quinn, what’s up?’

Theo addressed him like he couldn’t see the pale six-pack still glistening from the sauna. Like the square jaw, freckles and dark eyebrows weren’t at all distracting from the green eyes that flicked between us.

I was staring. I wasn’t entirely sure if my mouth was open or closed.

The ceiling suddenly became the most interesting thing in the room. There were no nearly naked riders up there. Completely unrelated to the situation, I tried to remember how long it had been since I’d last had sex.

‘Hey.’ Quinn was a man of many words.

‘Do you remember Paldon?’ Theo draped a bare arm around my shoulders. ‘You probably didn’t see much of her since she didn’t overtake you once during our wyvern days. She begged me for a tour of the gym and I was feeling generous today.’

‘Okay. Thanks, Theo,’ I said through gritted teeth. I brought my eyes back down from the ceiling and shoved his arm away. I kept my gaze above the neck as I nodded at Quinn.

‘Yeah, I remember.’ His voice was low, both in volume and tone. He stood straight and confident, despite the accidental audience he’d ended up with. He wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed, at least not that I could tell.

He also remembered me. A surprise, given how much earlier he’d succeeded in racing than us.

‘Good to see you again, Quinn.’

I expected him to turn away, to return to wherever these guys got changed for the spa rooms, but instead he looked at me with absolute sincerity.

‘You’re racing again?’

The dam holding back the worry over being discovered burst in an instant, flooding me with panic. My body locked up, overloaded with anger that Theo had blabbed before I’d even given him my answer.

‘Nah,’ said Theo, relaxed. ‘She’s a keeper now.’