Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
athena
I doubled over as Florence’s fist made contact with my left hip.
“Too slow, bitch,” she hissed, bouncing back out of my reach.
It wasn’t the first punch I’d taken, and wouldn’t be the last. Not with Florence as my sparring partner, anyway.
Sinner had insisted he be my partner—even though I’d ignored him entirely for the last few days—but Simon forced claimed partners to split up for today’s physical training.
Can you truly imagine yourself harming your claimed on purpose? he’d asked.
Though I often had the urge to punch Sinner straight in his face, he was right. And even though I hated Florence, at least she wouldn’t take it easy on me.
To fight the Ministry, I needed strength.
Strength blossomed from pain.
“The war games will begin in one week,” Simon announced, circling the field of sparring cadets. “When they do, you’ll be fighting for your lives, using all the physical and magical strength you have. Is that all you’ve got?” He stopped in front of Florence and me. “Is that the best you can do?”
With a growl, I lunged at Florence and wrapped my arms around her waist, tackling her to the dirt.
Screaming, she dug her sharp nails into my shoulders.
I ignored the pain, using my weight to pin her hips down while I scrambled to gain control of her arms.
But she was quick. And strong. And had trained more than me. She clutched my face and dug her thumbs into my eyes, her nails barely missing the sockets.
I roared, pain nearly blinding me, and before I could gather my wits, she had flipped me over and pinned me down.
“You’ll have to be stronger than that,” Simon added.
No shit.
Florence grinned, still holding me against the ground. While she was strong, she wasn’t much larger than me. I should have been able to take her.
She wouldn’t beat me again.
This would be the last time this woman had the upper hand on me.
“You’ll always be a little weakling,” she hissed. “I don’t care how strong your magic is.
I squirmed beneath her, trying to shove her off. Our fight was over—she’d clearly gotten the best of me—but she wasn’t letting go.
“What’s your problem?” I asked. “Aren’t we supposed to be on the same team here, fighting with the Ministry?”
With a sharp laugh, she dug her nails into my wrists. “I have my team, princess. You’re just not on it.”
“You two done with your little catfight?” Alexander’s voice cut through our cloud of hatred.
Finally, Florence shoved me into the dirt and climbed off me.
“It’s called training, isn’t it?” she sneered. “I’m not supposed to go easy on her.”
Sweat dripped down Alexander’s chest, dampening his gray T-shirt. He and his sparring partner—a man I’d never talked to before—were taking a break. They both breathed heavily, hands on their hips.
“Right. You’re supposed to be helping her. Pinning her to the ground and spewing insults isn’t doing that.”
“Why should I bother helping? If she doesn’t get better, then we have less competition when it matters during the war games.”
Alexander rolled his eyes. “I knew you were selfish, Florence, but I didn’t realize you were so damn stupid.”
Her jaw fell open. Frankly, so did mine.
She mumbled words I couldn’t make out, then stormed across the grassy field to where Riot sparred with Sinner.
My breath caught in my throat as my attention locked on them. Sinner threw punch after punch, and deflected Riot’s attacks easily. He’d taken his shirt off, revealing sculpted muscles that had clearly been built from years of hard work.
My throat tightened. I shouldn’t be affected like this. He was nothing more than a sweaty, rude man, just like the rest of the men on this field right now.
But I couldn’t look away. He grunted as his fist made contact with Riot’s bicep. Sweat trailed down his back, soaking into his waistband.
“You’re staring,” Alexander whispered.
I ripped my eyes away. “What? No, I—”
“It’s okay. He’s your claimed, you can look as much as you’d like.” His teasing tone made me blush. I just hoped the flush of the workout covered the evidence.
Right. Sinner was supposed to be my claimed. We were supposed to be ridiculously attracted to each other.
Staring was normal.
“There’s something special about you two. I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Alexander said, touching a finger to his chin in thought. His sparring partner had wandered away, heading to the compound for lunch.
“What are you talking about?”
Sinner would lose his mind if he spotted me talking to Alexander.
But he was occupied for now. He wouldn’t notice if I exchanged a few words with the guy. And that’s all this was. A casual conversation. Regardless of what made him so damn possessive of me, he had no real reason to hate Alexander.
I was allowed to have friends, and that’s all this man was to me.
“I’m not sure yet,” he said. “And it doesn’t have to do with whatever freaky magic makes you a four. There’s something else…”
“I think you’ve been in the sun too long,” I teased. “You’re delusional.”
“Please.” He broke his look of concentration with a flirty smile. “I have an acute sense of these things. I’m hardly ever wrong.”
“Really?” I asked. “If I asked Karlyle to confirm, would he?”
With a chuckle, he turned and nodded toward the lunch commons.
I surveyed the people around us. Simon was releasing the others, so I followed.
“Karlyle is the logical one,” he said. “One of us has to be. I’m the whimsical, intuitive one. It makes us a perfect pair.”
I cracked a smile. “Right. You mean he grounds you from all your antics.”
He elbowed me lightly. “Which one are you, sweetheart? The logical one, or the whimsical one?”
The question was hardly serious, but I thought about my answer anyway. Sinner was definitely logical. He was fierce. Strict. Firm.
But I would never have considered myself whimsical.
So I shrugged. “Sinner and I are alike in a lot of ways. Though he’s a bit more serious than I am.”
He tossed his head back and laughed. “That guy? Serious? I had no idea.”
I elbowed him back. “He’s not so bad, you know.”
Inside, we grabbed our trays of chicken, vegetables, and rice, then found seats at one of the long tables set up in the large space. Karlyle slid onto the bench next to Alexander and I sat across from them.
Typically, I took my tray outside and ate alone, enjoying the quiet. It was better that way—especially after my secret got out.
But this was a nice change. I missed socializing. I missed being normal—or something resembling normal, anyway.
“You’re telling me that claimed of yours can be anything other than a scary, serious asshole?” Alexander asked.
Karlyle perked up, thrust into our conversation with no warning.
I dipped my chin. “Of course. But here, where half the cadets hate me and the other half want me to join their claimed groups, it’s no wonder he keeps his guard up.”
Karlyle dropped his fork. “They want you to what?”
A dry laugh worked its way out of me. “Yep. Willow pretty much asked me straight up the other day during our run. She said it would strengthen all of our bonds. That it would increase all our magic levels.”
“That’s bold,” Alexander said, shaking his head, smiling. “Does she have a death wish? Surely Sinner didn’t appreciate that.”
I picked up my fork and tore away a piece of chicken. “You could say that.”
We ate in silence for a few minutes before he cleared his throat and leaned in. “You said no, though, right? To joining the claimed group?”
I huffed a laugh. “Of course I did. She couldn’t have been serious, right? Have you even heard of something like that?”
To my surprise, the two didn’t blatantly deny that they had. Instead, they shared a sly glance and angled in even closer.
My heart rate sped up as I looked from one man to the other.
“Willow isn’t wrong.” Karlyle’s bright eyes nearly glimmered beneath his dark lashes.
He was handsome, though not in the same obvious way Alexander was. Karlyle was simply beautiful. He had perfectly symmetric features and flawless skin.
“I’ve heard of claimed groups combining with one another to strengthen their powers. It’s rare. It’s risky, too. Certainly too risky to be trying before the war games even begin.”
Apprehension filled me. “What do you mean risky?”
“There’s no guarantee it will work. One person might take on too much power, and if they aren’t strong enough to handle the extra magic, it could be dangerous. There’s also the possibility that the person gaining additional power can’t control it, meaning it’s dangerous for everyone involved.”
“Take you, for example,” Alexander started. “Whatever magic you have—this mind whispering magic—it’s dangerous, right?”
I swallowed. Of course it was dangerous, but I didn’t know how to even begin to explain it.
“Imagine if that were just thrust onto Willow without any training,” he said when I didn’t answer. “Without any heads-up. She would have no way of knowing how to control it.”
Mouth pressed in a line, I considered his words. “Then why would they risk it? Why would she even offer knowing how dangerous it is?”
He shrugged, returning his attention to his food.
Karlyle sat beside him, listening, but the knowledge in his eyes told me he had more to say on the matter.
“People get desperate around this time,” Alexander said.
“The war games are that dangerous? Would they really want to claim with me to raise their chances of surviving?”
“There are other reasons they’d want to complete the claiming, too.” He spoke as if that were obvious, like I should know what he was talking about.
But I was as lost as ever. “Reasons like what?”
He lowered his fork. “Like how gorgeous you are. Any claimed group would jump at the chance to get you in bed with them for the claiming ritual.”
Karlyle elbowed him, his face turning as red as mine felt.
“What?” Alexander hissed. “The cadets around here were gawking at her even before they found out she was a four.”
Karlyle sighed. “He’s not wrong,” he told me. “But that doesn’t mean it was an appropriate thing to say.”
“Oh, please.” Alexander tipped his head back.
“Let’s not start getting appropriate now.
We’re all here because we had crazy sex with our claimed partner somewhere under the blood moon.
Athena came from the dungeons, right? That means the Ministry was even watching while it happened.
” He leaned in again, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Am I wrong, princess?”
He wasn’t flirting with me. In fact, his claimed was sitting right next to him. He was just curious.
That’s what I told myself, anyway. But it didn’t take away any of my embarrassment. I didn’t want to have conversations like this. Especially after what happened at the claiming.
Sinner and I may not have actually had sex. But something happened there.
And the connection was strong enough to allow Sinner to wield my magic. To allow me to wield his.
When I’d wielded his shadows—his phantoms—they obeyed my every command. No, it was more than that. They urged me to command them. Like they were eager to please me. Like they wanted my approval.
My stomach flipped.
“Look at her,” Alexander teased, interrupting my thoughts. “She’s blushing just thinking about it. It was that good, huh? Maybe you should consider joining our claimed group, after all.”
He leaned across the table again. “I’ve already talked to your claimed about a little alliance. Maybe this is something we should seriously consider.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked, reeling back. “You were just telling me how dangerous it would be.”
He scanned my body—what he could see of my body, anyway.
Okay, this was getting ridiculous. I darted a look at Karlyle. Did this not bother him? Or was he thinking the same thing? Maybe this was their ploy. Maybe their goal was to get on my good side, gain my favor, until I trusted them enough to consider it.
Well, the joke was on them. Because I hadn’t even had sex with Sinner. I sure as hell wasn’t going to sleep with either of them.
Before I could reply, a tray clattered onto the table beside me and Willow cocked her leg over the bench and sat, then immediately picked up her fork and dug in.
The two men froze, their eyes going wide. “Um, hello,” Alexander said. “Can we help you?”
She looked up, taking us in casually.
“What?” she asked. “Is this seat taken or something?”
My stomach twisted. “Actually—”
“She’s not interested, Willow,” Alexander said. “Can’t you take a damn hint?”
Willow hadn’t been loud or aggressive at all since I’d been here. In fact, she’d struck me as shy. Reserved. This brazen behavior was definitely throwing me for a freaking loop.
What the hell was going on?
“I’m not an idiot,” she mumbled. “I’m eating my lunch. That’s allowed, isn’t it?”
“We know what you’re doing,” Karlyle chimed in. “And it isn’t going to work.”
“Please,” she sighed with a roll of her eyes. “As if you two aren’t doing the same thing. You’ve been eyeing her since the day she showed up. That pretty claimed of hers, too.”
“What the hell?” I exclaimed. “I’m not claiming with anyone here.”
“You won’t even consider it?” Alexander teased. “I’m sure Sinner won’t mind.”
The second the words were out, his eyes grew wide and a shadow fell over us.
The next thing I knew, a hand gripped my face and turned my head to the side.
Then Sinner’s mouth was on mine.