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“Because his education in lore is valuable. I told you as much.”
“Seriously? If a fight broke out, that boy couldn’t even throw a decent punch. He’d probably break his hand,” she argued back. Her lips thinned, and of course, I thought back to her kiss.
Such a dirty trick—one I wouldn’t mind being deceived with again.
I heaved an impatient sigh. “Some strengths do not lie in the physical, recruit.”
“So, we’re back to ‘recruit’? What happened to ‘Kiara’? Which, by the way, I hate. Usually my friends call me—”
“Ki. Yes, I’m aware,” I interrupted. “But I would hardly call myself your friend.” Not after the heat I’d felt between us. I was still burning. Besides, I didn’twantto be her friend. I wanted—
I didn’t know what I wanted. Or maybe I did, and that was the problem.
She scoffed. “I’m not entirely sure you’re simply my commander, either.” Her hand flew to her mouth as the words tumbled out. “I only mean that I’m not a Knight yet, that’s all,” she babbled, her quivering voice giving her away. I said nothing of her fumbling, but I couldn’t stop a smirk from forming.
“WhateverI am, you are Kiara to me,” I affirmed, my voice deepening.
Tension built once again, but I didn’t allow it to overflow. I marched over to where her mare was tied and took hold of the reins. “Come on, then. Before I send you to the Patrol.”
…
“You’ve got bigger balls on you than I do.”
Those were the first words spoken to Kiara the following day.
“Seriously, Jake,” Kiara groused, rolling onto her side as she peeled open a sleep-encrusted eye. “While I take immense pleasure in your warmly thought-out compliment, I must say, having you hovering over me is not how I wished to wake. That, and your morning breath could slay a horse. I’ll have to keep my horse far away.”
By the time we’d snuck into camp, the other recruits were all passed out around the fire, so the surprise of her arrival had had to wait until now. I watched from across the dying flames, pretending to sharpen my blade while studying them all from the corner of my eye.
Jake shoved at Kiara’s shoulder before running a hand through his dark curls, his lips not yet deciding whether to smile or frown. “But really, Ki,” he began, lowering his voice. “Whatwereyou thinking?”
She’d done very littlethinking. My mind drifted back to when she’d kissed me. Reckless indeed. I absentmindedly brought my hand to my face, about to touch where her lips had met mine, when I caught myself.
It had been nothing. A tactic to disarm me. One that had worked too well.
“Jake, you should know I never follow the rules.”
He grunted. “Well, if we run into anything gruesome out there, I’m gonna use you as bait so I can get away.”
“You’re so chivalrous—”
“Ki!” Two arms flew around her neck, choking off her words. Patrick. “I can’t decide whether I want to smack you or hug you,” he said, and she smiled up at the lad, not bothering to hide her joy. I growled softly at the sight.
“Patrick, hate to break it to you, but you’re currently hugging me.”
“Oh.” Patrick’s grip loosened and his hands fell away. “I can still be angry at you while glad to see you,” he said with a frown. Kiara reached out to brush aside a fallen strand of hair from his eyes.
“Is that who I think it is?!” The incredulous voice belonged to Jake’s friend, Nic, who scrambled from the ground and over to where Pat and Jake crowded her.
“Afraid so, Nic,” she said on a sigh. “As I was telling the boys over here, I couldn’t very well let you all go into the Mist by yourselves. You wouldn’t last a minute without me.”
Nic chortled. “There’s the humble girl we all know and love.”
“You’ve known me for like three weeks. Love is such a strong word for a lady of my wistful disposition.” She made a show of fanning her face, her eyelashes fluttering.
I nearly chuckled, but I continued swiping the whetstone against my dagger.
“Definitely going to use you as bait.” Jake gave her shoulder a good-natured shove. She pretended to fall over from its force, eliciting a few chuckles from the others.
