Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
T he training ground—or what we were using for hand-to-hand combat—was empty when I arrived.
Until I felt him.
Maalikai stood at the far end of the field, back turned, shirtless. Golden scars caught the morning light like ancient etchings carved into stone. His presence was thunder before a storm. Cold. Still. Waiting.
Like his anger was barely simmering beneath the surface.
So pretty much, usual Maalikai.
“You’re late,” he said, still facing away.
“I wasn’t aware this was scheduled,” I shot back, folding my arms.
“It wasn’t.”
He turned then—eyes locking onto mine, dark and unreadable. Yet something flickered beneath the surface. His gaze traveled down my body, faltering at my hips and the blades sheathed there. A ghost of a smile pulled at his lips.
“You plan to wound me today, princess?”
I knew he meant the blades. But his tone rubbed me the wrong way.
If he wanted to say something—just say it .
“I thought I already had. Straight through the heart. Don’t you remember? Or do you need a refresher?”
His eyes darkened—just for a second—before the cruel, controlled smile returned.
“Bringing up my broken heart isn’t going to help you, princess .”
He crossed to me in four unhurried steps. “You’ve been hiding behind element training. Theory. Honing your skills. But that won’t cut it with me.”
“You want brute force?”
“No.” He said, stopping in front of me, close enough to steal my air. “ You want it.” That smile again—shadowed, slow, curling its tendrils around my already fractured heart.
Before I could ask what he meant, he moved.
A sweeping kick nearly knocked me off balance, but I flipped easily out of reach.
“Are you sure you want to stay in that?”
His eyes dragged down my body—slow, deliberate—clearly referring to the dress.
He knew exactly what he was doing to me and I hated him for it.
I rolled my shoulders and assumed my least provocative stance. Not that it would help. Not with the way he was looking at me. “Not particularly, but what choice do I have?”
He took a step closer, voice casual, but laced with wicked intent.
“I don’t mind if you take it off.”
I arched a brow. “Screw you.”
He smirked. “Suit yourself.”
Before I could move, his hand shot out. Fingers curled around the fabric of one of my skirts. With a swift yank, he pulled me off center—my balance gone in an instant—and I crashed into his chest like gravity had chosen sides.
Solid heat. Controlled strength.
And he’d done it as easy as breathing.
Damn it.
His voice dropped to a near whisper, the air between us taut.
“Still sure?”
I shoved hard against his chest, breaking the contact. Then, without another word, I yanked the dress over my shoulders and head and let it fall to the dirt.
My skin prickled against the morning air, but I was thankful I’d worn full-length pants and a cropped bra—something I could actually move in.
He was circling me now, slow and sure, like a predator ready to taste its prey.
“There she is,”he murmured, dark eyes gleaming. “Finally ready for a fight.”
He launched. Air brushed past me as I barely managed to parry his first strike. The force of it sent shockwaves up my arm. He didn’t give me time to breathe—his assault was brutal, relentless.
But I moved with him. Matched him.
Strike for strike. Step for step.
Then I saw my opening.
I twisted low and drove my elbow toward his chest. He caught my arm, faster than what should’ve been humanly possible, and twisted hard. Pain lanced through my shoulder as he used my momentum against me—and flung me.
My body slammed into the dirt, a grunt ripping from my chest as the wind left my lungs. Dust rose around me. The taste of it bitter on my tongue.
My fingers curled into fists, nails digging in–tearing up the dirt. I needed something to ground me. Something real. Anything to keep me from losing control.
Too late.
Rage tore through me, calling the icy depths of frost to my fingertips. Sharp, pointed, icicles spread across the ground, freezing everything in its wake, as I fought to control the barely-contained coldfire.
“Maalikai,” I warned, breath hitching. “Don’t.”
“Why?” He advanced, slow and predatory. “Because you’re scared of what happens when you stop holding back?”
I knew he wasn’t talking about magik. Or fighting.
He was talking about us .
About my refusal to let myself be with both of them.
I launched a blast of freezing wind. He sidestepped, fluid as always, and slipped in behind me. His hand grazed my hip—unintentional. Maybe. Or maybe not.
I spun, fist aiming for his jaw. He caught my wrist mid-air. The contact was electric. Obliterating. My heart shattered into tiny, splintering pieces on impact.
“Come on,” he said, voice low and taunting. “Let her out. The girl who burned through twenty guards. The girl who nearly drowned a man in her grief. Let me see her.”
“I’m not her,” I growled, rage barely hidden.
“Yes, you are.” He twisted, dragging me into a hold. “I just have to remind you.”
My back slammed into his chest, arms pinned. I could feel every inch of him pressed to me—his breath hot against my neck, his heartbeat maddeningly steady against my spine.
“I could drop you,” I rasped.
“Then do it.”
Cold surged from my skin, crackling through the space between us. He hissed, stepping back. Steam rose where the frost had kissed him.
We circled.
“You cheated,” he growled.
“You said unleash the unapologetic me.” I shot back without remorse.
“And what if your power dries up? What if you can’t use magik—what then? Are you just going to give up?”
“No,” I snarled, teeth bared.
“Then again,” he said, voice sharp as a blade. “This time, no cheating .”
He lunged. I dodged.
We collided, broke apart. Again and again. Our bodies locked, twisted, rolled across the frost-slick field.
I didn’t know when it stopped being combat.
All I knew was that I ended up tangled around him—my thigh hooked over his hip, my palm pressed to the place where coldfire had once marked his skin.
We were both breathing hard. My body ached from impact. My mind from everything else.
“Why do you keep doing this?” I whispered. “Why do you keep pushing me?”
“Because you’re the only thing in this world that makes me feel alive.” His voice was ragged. Honest. Wrecked . “And like hell I’m going to give that up without a fight.”
My fingers curled against his chest.
“And maybe,” he added, quieter now, “because I want you to push back. Because I want to know if the power in you… is strong enough to claim me.”
He leaned in—forehead nearly brushing mine.
Every line of him pulled taut, like one wrong breath would snap him in half.
But he didn’t kiss me.
He didn’t have to. The restraint was the intimacy.
The not touching—the hesitation—that was the most devastating touch of all. He was still waiting. Waiting for me to claim him. To demand his touch.
Until that moment came, he wouldn’t falter.
No matter what it would cost him.
And Gods help me—I was so close to surrendering.
The air between us was molten. Maalikai hadn’t moved, and neither had I. His breath fanned across my lips like a dare, like a promise.
If I just tilted my head to the right, our lips would graze. And I knew—if they did—that this wall I’d built between us would cease to exist.
All of my control would disintegrate into nothing.
“Well, this looks cozy.”
The voice was familiar.
Too familiar.
My stomach dropped. Maalikai blinked—slowly, like he’d known it would happen. Like he’d been waiting for the interruption.
I turned just as Sebastian stepped through the treeline, light catching his golden skin as he crossed into the clearing. His arms folded lazily across his chest, but his expression was anything but casual.
Like he was too okay.
His gaze didn’t miss a thing—not the way Maalikai and I were tangled, not my thigh still hooked around his hip, not the tension that hummed between us louder than any kiss. His eyes burned into mine. And Gods—he smirked . But it wasn’t amused. It wasn’t broken, either.
It was armor.
Shielding everything from me—like he was still trying to protect me.
“You two done throwing each other around? Or should I come back when you've finished the foreplay?”
“Might be safer,”Maalikai muttered, not looking away from me.
I slipped free of him with a sharp breath, backing away like distance could extinguish the fire still crawling beneath my skin.
“Sebastian—what are you?—”
“Training session,”he said lightly. Too lightly. “With you. Or had you already filled your quota for the morning?”
“Maalikai was just?—”
“Yeah,”he cut in, smile tightening. “I saw.” He tilted his head. “But it wasn’t his turn, was it?”
“What?”
“I came by your room. But you weren’t there.”
I froze. You’ve got to be kidding me.
My eyes pierced Maalikai—molten steel as I stared him down.
“You!”
“What did I do?”he drawled, unfazed.
“You said to meet youhere this morning for training. With you . That Sebastian was doing an errand.”
He shrugged. “I did.”
“You lied .”I shot back, seething.
“I told you I’d fight for you,”he said, voice even. “And I don’t mind getting a little dirty.”
“Oh. Wow. Don’t mind me,”Sebastian muttered. “You two keep going at it.”
My heart slammed into my ribs. Both Maalikai and I turned—but it was Maalikai who moved first. He stepped forward, rolling his shoulders like he wasn’t still burning from need.
“She needed a push.”
We all knew he wasn’t talking about training.
“Oh, I’m sure you were about to give her one,”Sebastian said, his jaw flexing.
Gods, he was barely holding it together.
“This isn’t what you think,”I said quietly. “We were just training.”
He met my eyes then. Really met them.
“I think you’re falling in love with both of us,”he said. “And I think that terrifies you.”
Silence dropped like a blade. Neither of them looked at each other. Only at me. And I—I had never felt more split down the middle.
An audible sigh left Sebastian. “Look, I’m fine with this. Truly, I am. But I just can’t watch it unfurl in front of me. I’m not that… well-adjusted.”
His gaze flicked between us—my flushed face, Maalikai’s bare chest, our closeness. And the way I hadn’t moved far enough away. Like I was still drawn to him, even as I tried not to be.
“This wasn’t—” I swallowed. I didn’t even know what it was . “That.”
He gave a half-laugh that didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s fine. I mean… he’s already shirtless and so are you, so clearly he had a head start.”
“Sebastian,”I said, stepping forward.
He raised a hand. “Don’t.” He took a deep, shattered breath. “I shouldn’t have come. Looks like I missed the warm-up. You guys keep training. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
A pause. “I’ll sleep in the guest house tonight.”
Then he turned to go. But he faltered.
And added, quieter: “You two kids have fun.”
His smile barely reached his eyes. But it was there—tucked into that smartarse remark like humor was the only defense he had left.
“No.”
Sebastian turned, amber eyes flaring as he watched me—confused, but curious. “No?”
“The two of you are impossible.” I threw my hands up. “This love-hate thing you’ve got going on is sending me crazy. You both need to stop the crap and decide what you actually want.”
Maalikai didn’t move—just crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby tree, maddeningly calm.
“I thought I was pretty clear,”he said. “I want you.”
Sebastian took a step forward, nostrils flaring. “And I want her to know, without a doubt, that it’s meshe wants—when she finally chooses.”
“Then let her reallychoose,”Maalikai shot back. “Let her feelit. All of it.”
“I am.”
“Clearly,”Maalikai sneered, eyes flicking over him. “By the way you stormed in here with your panties in a twist.”
The gold in Sebastian’s eyes darkened—scarlet bleeding into the edges. It wasn’t just fury.
It was something primal.
Sebastian’s hands curled into fists at his sides. Maalikai didn’t flinch, but his jaw set like stone—too quiet. Too still. Like he was already calculating exactlywhere he’d land the first punch.
Their egos were in full force, sharpened into blades. Both predators, staking their claim. Trying to out-intimidate the other. Yet, all they were achieving was pissing me off.
I stood between them—emotionally bruised and so damn over it.
“Enough!”I snapped.
They kept talking. Over me.
Like I wasn’t even there.
“I swear to the Gods…”I muttered, spinning on my heel. “I’m about to strike both of you down.”
Sebastian hesitated. “Where are you going?”
“To actually do something productive and catch us some lunch—while you two stand here comparing the size of your blades.”
They followed. Ghosts behind me.
Of course they did.
I didn’t hear them. But I feltthem. The way you feel a storm looming behind you, like thunder settling against your spine, heavy and still–just before the sky decides to split open before a strike.
Their footsteps were soft.
Trained.
Measured.
Protective.
I crouched near the stream, fingers skimming the surface, watching fish dart through shadows.
The hunt settled something inside me. Reminded me who I was. Not someone torn in half. Not a prize to be claimed.
Just me.
Behind me, one of them murmured. “She’s going to be the death of us.”
A pause.
“Not if we kill each other first.” Sebastian shot back, a visible smile making its way into his voice.
Silence.
Then Maalikai, dry as ash: “You’re not leaving, are you?”
“Not unless she tells me to.”Sebastian’s voice was soft. Certain. “And even then… I’ll follow her until my dying breath.”
I smiled. Just a little.
“You?”
Maalikai’s voice dropped into a low growl, deep and deliberate. “Death will be the only thing that can take me from her.”
It wasn’t a promise. It was a claim.
“And if she chooses me?”Sebastian asked, voice flat but firm.
A wry chuckle slipped from Maalikai, its tendrils crawling up my spine.
“I doubt that. But if it comes to pass… I’m enough of a man to step aside. What about you?”
Sebastian didn’t flinch. “I’m her best friend. I’ll never have to step aside.” He paused, quieter now. “But if she chooses you—I can respect that.”
Maalikai raised an eyebrow. “And you’ll let her decideproperly? Experience everything she needs, before she chooses?”
“Of course. You?”
Maalikai's eyes gleamed. “I already have, haven’t I?”
Sebastian’s smirk was instant. “I promised her as many times as she needs until she knows with complete certainty. So your time of waiting? Not done yet.”
Maalikai’s gaze darkened. Something ancient stirred in his posture—possessive and volatile.
But he didn’t strike. Didn’t speak. Because it wasn’t a challenge anymore.
It was a deal.
An incredibly weird deal where they’d decided to share me.
Heat struck deep at my core at the thought of it. That I was still contemplating this.
But then the truth hit me.
The moment I’d shared with Maalikai on the sparring field would’ve ended verydifferently if Sebastian hadn’t interrupted us. There was no doubt in my mind—the tethers on my restraint were slipping. And as much as I didn’t want to even considerthe possibility of sleeping with both of them... at this point, it felt inevitable.
Just a matter of time.
Because Sebastian was right. I did owe both of them the truth. And more than that—I owed it to myself.
Not out of lust. Not out of guilt.
Not even out of loyalty.
Out of love.
This wasn’t about having both of them. This was about finally being brave enough to choose.
To find the one my heart truly belonged to.
* * *