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Try not to kill her? Was he talking to our group or to Proficient Catherine?
“Move aside, traitor.” Sirena came straight at me, forcing me to jump aside or get mowed down. “Kazran said you’re last and least—where you’ve always belonged and who you’ll always be.”
I barely heard her. Closing the distance between me and Alexander, he tracked my approach like a predator. I just wasn’t sure if the predator was him or me.
Sirena said Galen’s death destroyed him. A brief moment seeing them together and I believed her. Alexander was so light and free that morning, laughing with Galen in the stadium. A freeness I didn’t see during that long journey with his brothers-in-arms or the string of women going in and out of his room.
“Alexander,” I began. “I should’ve come to you before. Said this sooner. I’m sorry about what happened to Galen.”
His face was chipped in stone.
“I didn’t know him but in that short while, he was kind, brave, and strong. He was someone I believe would’ve made me better for knowing him, and I’ll carry the pain of never getting that chance for the rest of my l-life.” I stumbled over my words, growing more unnerved by his stillness. But this had to be said.
Mama used to tell me that it was our duty to apologize when we’d done wrong. Whether or not that apology was accepted. Whether or not forgiveness is given. The true shame was not admitting your wrongdoing at all. She would say a person who goes their whole life without apology was not someone she wanted to meet.
Mothers give more lessons than they do examples. But this is one I can keep on my own.
“I know you don’t have the highest opinion of me, but know if I could take back what happened, I would. I—”
“Come closer.”
A second passed before it penetrated that the words came from his lips.
“Closer,” he repeated, raising a soft hand dotted with calluses. A warrior’s hand. “Aella.”
Maybe it was my name. Maybe it was the way he said it—caressing it on his tongue like he’d done every time since he tricked it out of me.
I moved closer and he came to meet me—the tips of our boots brushing together. My breath caught as he palmed my cheek, skin molding to me as though it was meant to be there all along.
Alexander leaned over me, brushing the tip of his nose against mine as gentle as the ghost of his exhale on my lips. I stopped breathing altogether.
“Uh, Xander,” trembled one of the handmaidens. “I don’t think...”
She faded in the background as everyone did when Alexander brought me closer still. Not a hair could sneak between our bodies, and I blushed at my breasts flattening against his chest. Eight years in a mountain cave did not prepare me for this.
Swirling ponds of lily pads, his eyes were alive with heat, passion, and electricity. Gazing into them, I saw the king of the heavens.
“Why?” I whispered.
“Because.” His lips caressed mine in the barest brush of a kiss. “I think you’re going to keep talking, and skin-to-skin contact makes it hurt so much worse.”
My eyes bugged. Tearing away, my feet tangled and dropped me hard on my ass—jarring pain up my bones. The handmaidens burst out laughing while Alexander eyed me on the ground without interest. In his arms or in the dirt, it made no difference to him. I was nothing.
“Ready?” Proficient Catherine called, flicking my attention to her.
Sirena adopted another pose. “Naturally.”
I blinked, and Catherine was gone. A blur streaked toward Sirena, who shifted even faster. Shooting off the ground, a magnificent creature with the body of a lion and wings of an eagle spread them wide, and flapped a gust of wind that blew my tunic over my face.
It was Proficient Catherine’s turn to be popped off her feet. The blur became a woman, and she sailed through the air only to twist at the last moment and slide across the arena on her feet.
“Excellent,” she said, unfazed by her unscheduled flying lesson. “Who’s next?”
Sirena touched down naked as the day she was born and made sure to give Alexander a kiss on the cheek before getting dressed and sidling up to her friends. The three handmaidens huddled around her, whispering and pointing to me and Alexander. Her eyes narrowed to slits.
Our lone guy took his place as I peeled myself off the ground. “Ready.”
Catherine streaked toward him.
