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“Are you sure, Lacey?” Seb asked, waggling his eyebrows. “I’d be happy picking the short straw for you to share my bed every night.”
The guys were pissed when Seb offered her his bed. More again, when she thought it was sweet and asked him to sleep with her. We all felt he had the upper hand with Lacey. It was something I would have to think about but, he and she had a closer bond formed than anyone else. Even Carter was jealous of the way they were together.
But after yesterday, Carter was staying quiet because he knew more than anyone how wrong it nearly went. It looked close to her ending it forever, and I didn’t know what Seb said to her, but she was a changed person this morning.
"I’ll come over a few nights a week, and we’ll see how it works… I mean, if it works,” she said as she ran her hand over Seb’s leg. She liked to sit with him. I’d see them gazing at each other and inside I was fuming, but I held tight to those emotions.
"Lacey… you need to be with me, the Dark King is getting closer," Seb whispered.
“I’ll be fine if I defended myself yesterday with no knowledge of how to fight a demon. Today I’m stronger, better equipped," she replied, shaking her head.
Kane stood away from us, and I watched his muscular back as it rose and fell. His head leaned forward. It was as though he despised the fact they appointed him as a knight, but I was sure he could have turned that down. I was going to call him out on that… eventually. Kane didn't scare me, but I tried to keep out of arguments with him. He had quite the temper.
“Anyway, I don’t want to leave Polly by herself. I think I’m her only friend.”
“Polly isn’t a friend.” Kane twisted his body and faced Lacey. His face was red and full of rage.
“What is wrong with you? I think I preferred it when you didn’t talk to me,” Lacey spat at him. “Of course she’s a friend.”
“She’s a fucking knight. You do not owe her anything. You don’t owe us anything.” He waved his hand around the room.
“Polly is a knight.” Lacey narrowed her eyes, rubbing her fingertips over her brow.
Kane and Lacey glared at each other, and I wasn’t sure if Kane was such a good choice for our group of knights. He and Lacey seemed to hate each other. He definitely made it his mission to rub her the wrong way.
“Now, now. Let’s not start a fight. You saw her fight the demon and you now know you won’t beat her.” Seb turned to Kane and stared at him, and the showdown between them intensified.
Kane blinked, made a huffing noise and turned away. “I know that. I’ve always known that.”
Carter sighed and walked closer to where Kane stood. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Carter said. Normally Carter and Kane were close-knit, but lately, ever since Lacey came on the scene, that tightness had slowly disappeared.
Kane was quiet for a while. He kept his back to everyone, but as his back rose and fell, I could see he was trying to remain calm. He sighed heavily and turned around. “Because I’m here because she beat me in a martial arts tournament. I turned up, expecting to beat this fifteen-year-old girl, who I didn’t want to fight against because she was… a fucking girl. Not only a girl, a dancer, a fucking ballerina!”
Kane looked at Lacey and glanced away. “But my father was told she needed to test herself against the best the kingdom had.”
“And that was you?” Lacey whispered, obviously remembering the fight. “I knew I recognised you.”
"You recognise him?" Seb asked, almost to himself.
“That was me.” Kane turned from facing the window to look at Lacey. “And you made a mockery of me. You were so fast I couldn’t keep up with you. And then you suddenly stopped and stared at me, and said sorry.”
”… and then I knocked you out.”
Kane gave a tight smile.
“Sorry,” Lacey said. “I didn’t want to be there. I just wanted it over so I could go home. My brother had been—” She stopped talking and glanced away. I watched as Carter stared at her.
“It’s not just that… My father was angry at me.” He hesitated for a beat. “I’m here because my father signed me up before I knew what I wanted.”
Lacey gasped, the sound so loud, as though it came from the deepest depths of her lungs. “Does that mean you didn’t choose to be my knights?”
“I did,” Carter said.
“I think we all know that,” Kane argued.
“They liked my magic and trained me up—comprehension skills,” I said. “I’ll direct you in the War.”
“Oh,” Lacey said.
