Chapter Nine
Kylo
The punching bag swings side to side as my fists slam into it.
Right. Left. Right again.
Leather creaks. Chains rattle overhead. I’m still reeling from my session with Lia.
Training her is a special kind of torture.
Every time I press, she turns a simple drill into a psychological marathon. She questions each order, then snaps at me when I try to push her through it. Every step forward becomes a fight that drags this miserable process out longer than necessary.
Carter must’ve lost his damn mind assigning her to me.
She hesitates and looks for exits instead of objectives. In war, that instinct gets people killed and drags everyone else down with it.
My fist connects harder this time. The bag jerks away and swings back.
What pisses me off most is how aware I’ve become of her.
The way her jaw locks when she’s forcing herself not to react. The split second where her shoulders tense, like she’s bracing for something that hasn’t happened yet. I’ve seen that look more times than I should have.
Like she’s waiting to be hit.
Every time my voice makes her recoil, something in my chest wrenches.
The bag swings back toward me.
I stop it short.
I hold it there, unmoving.
Carter steps in front of me, the bag swinging between us. “Why did you storm out on Lia again?”
“I’ve trained hundreds of soldiers. She isn’t one of them.”
I channel a spike of telekinesis into my right hook. The chain screams as the weight nearly tears itself from the ceiling.
“Since when do you walk away from a challenge?”
When I picture what could happen to her, Blair’s face flashes in my mind. I feel the shot that dropped me and hear the car tearing away before I could get back up.
I failed Blair. I won’t fail again.
“I’m not the one for this.” I turn away, grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from my neck. “She’s nowhere near ready for a fight.”
“We’re not throwing her into a fight. I know she’s not ready. That’s why I assigned her to you. Your job is to make her ready.”
I laugh once. There’s nothing amused about it. “Assign her to someone else.”
“You like her.”
The towel stops mid-swipe. The gym is unnervingly quiet. I open my mouth to shut the idiocy down—to tell him he’s lost his mind—but nothing comes out.
Carter lets out a low whistle, a smug grin pulling at his lips. “Wow. I didn’t think it was possible to shut you up.”
“It has nothing to do with liking her. She isn’t meant for this world. If we take her on a mission, she’s coming back in a body bag.”
Or worse. They’ll take her.
“Very doom-and-gloom, Kylo. Why is your first thought her death?”
I look toward the window, the dark woods outside blending into the memory of a different forest. “You know why.”
“How many times do we have to do this?” Carter says. “You were severely outnumbered. What happened to Blair wasn’t your fault.”
“Force this, and she won’t come back.”
“Lia isn’t Blair.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then what is it? There’s only one reason you’re making this harder than it has to be.”
“There are plenty of reasons—”
“You like her.” He cuts me off. “Whether you admit it or not. She draws your attention, and that’s what bothers you.”
A short, brittle laugh escapes me. “Whatever attraction exists is irrelevant to her training.”
Carter’s brows lift, a slow, knowing look spreads across his face. “You wouldn’t be clarifying it if you weren’t.”
The trap opened, and I walked right into it.
“I’m done discussing this with you.”
“I don’t want to talk about this either.” Carter’s voice turns into the tone he uses for mission briefings. “Aether Hunters were spotted near here. If they keep closing in, we’ll have to move. Lia’s training isn’t optional.”
Weeks.
That’s what he’s given me.
Weeks to do what takes most telepaths a lifetime. I spent a decade breaking my own mind to keep the voices out. Carter expects her to master it in a few weeks. It’s like asking someone to learn to fly while they’re already falling.
I can teach her to fight. I can teach her to break a hold. But I don’t know how to keep someone from drowning in other people’s feelings.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I press. “If this is about safety, we can send her to a safe house and stash her where they can’t find her.”
“I had a vision. I can’t share the specifics. What I will tell you is that preparing Lia is nonnegotiable.”
“What should be nonnegotiable is her listening to me. Half the time she’s fighting me instead of learning how to stay alive.”
“Lia is stubborn,” Leo interjects.
Leo is suddenly there beside Carter, his face grim. “She’s reluctant to learn. Trust me, I spent a month trying to get her to throw a punch without apologizing for it. She’s a wall of resistance, but out of everyone here, you’re the best man for the job.”
I look from one brother to the other. They stand like a united front. A wall built on half-truths. Carter gives me a look that is infuriatingly calm. His classic seer’s stare, protecting a future I’m not allowed to see.
“The best man for the job? That’s what you’re giving me?”
“I’m too busy training Leo,” Carter says. “You’re the only telepath here aside from Marco, but I need him on patrol.”
Lia would only last one day with Marco.
If I weren’t tethered to the hunt for Blair—if my entire existence wasn’t a countdown to the Aether Hunters’ heads on a pike—I’d walk out that door and never look back.
“How do I get through to her?” I relent. “Nothing sticks. Every time I think I’m making progress, we lose ground.”
Leo scratches the back of his head, his eyes dropping to the floor. “Our mom died recently. When things get hard, Lia shuts down. She deflects. Argues. Acts like she’s fine when she isn’t. Pretending this isn’t happening is what’s keeping her stuck. She needs someone who won’t let her avoid it.”
I didn’t know they’d lost their mother recently.
Truth is, I don’t know them at all.
But that explains it. Her resistance.
I’ve been training blind.
“What else?” I ask, ready to absorb anything that might help.
“Ease up on her. She’d make progress if she trusted you.”
There it is again.
A word with teeth on both sides.
Trust.
“You want me to sit down and swap life stories over coffee?” I ask, sarcasm dripping from my words.
“Lia’s trust doesn’t come freely,” Leo says. “You have to earn it.”
Fuck.
Trust invites questions.
Questions lead to answers I don’t give.
“That means you need to lay off,” Carter says. “This isn’t about you. Our fate depends on every one of us, including Lia. Make sure she’s ready.”
I have been going easy on Lia compared to the other men and women I’ve trained over the years.
Despite my reluctance, I swallow my disagreements. When Lia is fully trained, she won’t be my problem anymore.
“I’ll ease up on her.”
“That’s all I needed to hear,” Carter says. “I’m taking a break and getting lunch. I’m starving. You two in?”
The smell of sweat is enough reason to head for the shower. “I’ll see you later. I need a shower first.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Leo says.
As Carter’s footsteps fade, Leo steps into my path. “I know you don’t owe us anything, but I’m counting on you to do right by Lia. Are you in, or am I asking the wrong man?”
I shouldn’t spend more time with Lia.
But the war needs to end, and our sister needs to come home.
“I’ll train her to the best of my ability. You and Carter better be right about this.”
I’m already close to the edge. Adding her to the mix is a shortcut straight off it.
“Our plan will work if you train her and help keep her safe.”
Keep her safe?
Isn’t that his job?
Lia wouldn’t need protecting if she stopped freezing and committed to training. That’s why I trained Blair. I didn’t want her depending on anyone to save her.
I thought my training would be enough.
It wasn’t.
She was taken anyway.
I don’t care what Carter says. Blame lives with me in every breath I take.
“Good morning! I have pancakes ready for you boys,” Blair chirps. She’s a blur of movement in the small kitchen, humming as she slides a platter onto the table.
Carter and I dig in before she takes a seat. The pancakes are warm and fluffy, bursting with blueberry flavor.
“What’s the plan for today?” I ask Carter, my mouth half-full.
“More training,” Carter grumbles, not looking up from his eggs.
Blair’s fork clatters against her plate. “Seriously? We’ve been training for weeks. I’m exhausted.” She plants her hands on the table. “You said today was our free day.”
Carter swallows and jerks his chin toward her. “You don’t get days off until you can control your telepathy.”
Blair’s lower lip trembles—the warning sign of a storm. She crosses her arms over her chest and fixes Carter with a look that would have withered a weaker man. Carter mirrors her perfectly—two stone walls facing off across a plate of bacon.
I drag a hand over my face. “How about a short break,” I say, stepping in before it turns ugly. “We rest, then finish training after.”
“That sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Kylo.” Blair gives me a winning smile.
“What do you suggest we do?” Carter asks.
“Let’s go to the river,” she says, a mischievous glint returning to her eyes. “I want to hit the high cliff today.”
“You two can play the daredevils,” he mutters. “I’ll stay where the ground doesn’t disappear beneath me.”
“You’re no fun.” Blair pokes his shoulder. “Kylo’s up for it. He’s not a coward.”
“I’m not Kylo,” Carter snaps.
Blair winces. She looks down at her half-eaten pancakes. “I’m sorry. I just want time with you that doesn’t involve knives and punches.”
The irritation drains from his face. “I didn’t mean to yell.” His eyes catch on the necklace resting against Blair’s chest—the one that used to belong to our mother. “You know this past year’s been rough.”
Blair reaches across the table, threading her fingers through both of ours. “I love you both. I know why we do the drills. Truly.”
Carter squeezes her hand. “Once the war’s over, we’ll swim in every river you want.”
She smiles. “As long as I’m with you two, I’m happy.”
The weeks after they took her blur together.
Dozens of empty bottles, mornings I don’t remember earning, nights that ended on the floor instead of the bed.
My hands shook so hard I couldn’t keep the glass steady.
Carter found me before I finished the job.
He didn’t yell. Didn’t plead.
He looked down at me and said, “You can’t bring her home if you’re fucking dead.”
That sentence stuck.
After that, I stopped trying to disappear. I turned everything ugly inside me outward, and aimed it at the war.
That’s why I understand Leo.
Why I don’t question his need to stand between his sister and the enemy.
I’ve already lost the one I was supposed to protect.
I won’t make that mistake again.