Page 225 of Interion

“You’re my only friend here, zoozi,” she murmured, holding my hands. “It makes me sad that it’s only one semester, but it’s enough to carry you in my heart forever.”

“You’re the only girl friend I’ve ever had,” I said, my heart aching. “And I’m glad it was for at least one semester. I hope we can stay in touch after the test.”

“Be ready for when I get hurt in battle. You’ll always be my first choice.”

She smiled at me, taking my hands and rubbing them between hers. Aish said goodbye with a bone-crushing hug and a loud kiss on the cheek, her nose like a little chunk of ice against my face. Then she turned and left. Zion arrived shortly after to take me home. He didn’t mention my bright, sentimental eyes.

Chapter 56

That night, we didn’t go to the Dornéu. Instead, we headed down to the basement since it was freezing outside. The house had two ways in, but the main entrance was through the reading room. We went through, turned on the lights, and descended a wooden staircase that creaked with every step. The floor was covered in soft rubber made to look like a tatami mat, and against one wall hung a large red punching bag.

We rearranged the room to make space for training and got into position. Zion taught me more ways to escape if I got taken down during a fight, and despite the cold, my body was burning as I sat on top of his abs trying to break free. Things only got worse when he was the one on top of me, showing me how to win from that position. Turns out, when we did that, escaping was the last thing on my mind. It was his fault for whispering all those indecent things in my ear. Now he was focused on teaching, and I was miserably trying to pay attention only to the moves and not to his body pressed against mine. But it was hard—by the gods, he smelled so good. All I could think about was putting my hands on his abs to check if they were still as firm as I remembered.

“Have you worked out your strategy for the test yet?” he asked, taking a break to drink some water.

“Yes,” I replied, sitting on the third step of the stairs.

“Run through the plan for me.” He tipped the entire bottle back into his mouth. I caught myself feeling jealous of that little bottle.

“Now?” It didn’t seem like a good time—I was too busy thinking about his lips. He frowned at me, then set the bottle down beside me.

“Yes, I want to hear it. I can’t come up with it for you, but I can give you some tips.”

“I’ll tell you if you let me braid your hair while I do.” He frowned, undecided. I patted the step below me. “Deal.”

Zion walked over, letting his hair down, and finally sat down, a bit reluctantly. I buried my fingers in his soft, silky strands. What did they call girls who liked men with long hair? “Shampoo Mary.” Yeah, I think I’d become a Shampoo Mary.

“My plan is to spend the first day running toward the center. I heard there usually aren’t any vials in the first part of the area. So I’ll use the first day to run, look for water, and try to hunt something to eat,” I said, starting a tiny braid on the side of his head.

“Good. Continue.”

Zion leaned back against my stomach, relaxing.

“On the second day, I’ll look for the vials, since the middle of the course should be where they are. As soon as I find one, I’ll run straight to the last section. I’ll also try to find some of my friends.”

“It would be good if you found each other, but I have to tell you not to go looking. Besides wasting time, you might run into people you shouldn’t.” He shifted and tried to turn to face me, but I tugged on his braid, keeping him in place. “And if you come across a group of students who want your vial? What are you going to do?”

“I’ll fight.”

“Wrong. You run.”

“Run? But what about everything you’re teaching me about fighting and defense?”

“You only fight when it’s absolutely necessary. You need to conserve energy and avoid getting hurt, since you won’t have your gift. If you see anyone, run. Everyone there will be trying to take your vial, and it’ll glow, drawing the attention of anyone within twenty meters. Not to mention fae males are more affected by Lúmiran and could seriously hurt you.”

“But doesn’t fighting give me extra points on the test?”

“Yes, but your goal is just to get the vial and get out of there as fast as possible. You just need to pass—you already have good grades on the other exams.”

“Okay, so I run. On the third day, I’ll just keep running until I reach the meeting point.”

I finished another braid and flipped it aside.

“In areas two and three of the test, there’s not much clean water. There are hallucinogenic plants that grow at the bottom of the lakes in that region. So don’t risk drinking lake water—taste it first, and if it tastes like iron, spit it out and keep looking.”

Zion went quiet for a moment, his eyes clouding with weariness and worry. It was so obvious that I had to ask:

“Is something wrong?”