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“And you promise never to piss me off again, or I have permission to murder you in your sleep?”
I squeezed her hands, smiling at her and thinking how much like a Drexian she’d become. “I promise.”
She bit her bottom lip as she stared down at me.
“I love you, cinarra,” I said before she could tell me no. “Let me spend the rest of our days proving it.”
She tipped her head back and forth, finally giving me a small smile. “Okay, I guess I love you, too, but as long as you understand that it’s against my better judgment.”
I stood and yanked her to me and wrapped my arms around her back so she could not escape, lifting her off her feet. “Understood.”
“I still think you are a bad boy,” she whispered.
“And you are my very bad good girl, “I husked before I crushed my mouth to hers.
Chapter
Seventy-Two
Jess
“Where are you taking me?” I put a hand to the blindfold over my eyes, tempted to pull it off.
Torq grabbed my hand before I could peek. “You will see soon. Do you not trust me?”
I sighed. “I trust you.” Despite all that had happened between us, I did trust him. When he’d believed I was in danger, he hadn’t hesitated. And when he had been given a chance to deny me and save his status, he had chosen me. At least he had the second time, and I was learning that long memories weren’t always a good thing when it came to complicated relationships with Drexians.
We had been walking for a while, but we were inside the academy. Was he taking me to his quarters? But why would I need a blindfold for a place I’d been to before? Maybe he was taking me to see the view of the sea or the peaks from a tower. But that would hardly be worthy of a blindfold.
Then the air changed from cool to moist, and my feet crunched on something that was not the hard stone floors of the academy. When had we stepped outside?
Just as I was about to tear off the blindfold, Torq untied it and swept an arm wide.
I inhaled sharply and stared at the inside of the cave under the waterfall. I spun to Torq. “How did you walk me through the woods without me knowing?” Then I realized something was missing. There was no curtain of water behind us, or the sound of it rushing into the pool.
“Because we are not outside. We are in a holo-chamber.”
I inhaled the distinct scent of moisture and dirt. “It even smells like the cave.”
“That took some refining, but your friend Britta was insistent that we get the smell right.”
“Britta did this?” I shook my head in disbelief. “I had no idea. That girl can keep a secret.”
Torq beamed. “Do you like it? I wanted to bring you back to a place that had good memories.”
Admittedly, I had never had a boyfriend before, but I thought this might be the sweetest gift anyone had ever given me. “It’s perfect.” I threw my arms around him, and he flinched. I stepped back. “What’s wrong?”
He lifted one sleeve of his T-shirt to reveal a freshly tattooed pair of blades on his shoulder.
“You got the Blade insignia on your arm?”
“Jaxon did it for me before he left.” He puffed out his chest. “He and Kann said I’m a true Blade now.”
“I think you always were.”
He nodded. “I’ve never belonged like this before. It feels pretty great.”
“I feel the same way about Assassins and my fellow female cadets.” Then a thought hit me. “Wait, did you tell Britta why you wanted to recreate the cave?”
