Chapter Nineteen #2
I pull away and swing the fridge door open, revealing a double-fudge chocolate cake with thick frosting.
Happy Twenty-First is written in messy red cursive.
I hand it to him.
He looks at the cake, then back at me. “How did you pull this off?”
I wink at Carter. “I have connections. Friends in high places.”
Leo grins. “This was thoughtful. Thanks, Lia.”
Zayne enters the kitchen holding a full, vibrant bouquet of roses. He hands them to me. “Don’t thank me. This was Leo’s idea.”
My fingers curl around the cool stems, stunned by their beauty—deep reds, soft pinks, yellows, and creams, even a few orange ones peeking through.
“I might’ve also asked Carter for a little birthday favor,” Leo admits with a laugh.
My eyes mist with tears. “They’re beautiful,” I whisper, hugging him again. “Roses like Mom.”
“Don’t get sappy on me,” Leo teases.
“Did I miss something?” Kylo asks, standing in the doorway.
“It’s our birthday,” Leo answers casually.
Kylo’s eyes soften when he looks at me. “I didn’t know that was today. Happy birthday.”
I’ve always loved sharing birthdays with Leo.
“Leo, do you want the day off?” Carter asks.
Leo sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “As much as I’d love to kick back, hang out with my sister, and eat cake all day, we should train.”
My joy deflates.
Carter glances toward Kylo. “How are Lia’s sessions coming along?”
“She’s improved.”
Funny, considering he’s the one who told me I’m not strong enough.
“Awesome,” Carter says. “Keep it up, Lia.”
Leo turns to me, a trace of worry passing over his face. “How’s your stomach been feeling?”
“It’s better.”
The nausea is gone. Leo would’ve known that if we’d spent more time together.
“I think your body was adjusting to your abilities,” Carter says. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Thanks, Carter.”
Leo walks over and hugs me once more. “Thanks for the cake. I’ll see you tonight.”
He leaves the room with Carter.
“You didn’t tell me it was your birthday,” Kylo says.
I shrug. “It didn’t cross my mind.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-one.”
“Ah. The big twenty-first.”
“What did you do for yours?”
He shrugs. “We were tracking Aether Hunters with Uncle Piero.”
It’s strange.
To me, this place is temporary.
To him, it’s home.
He catches the drawstring of my hoodie, tugging me closer. “I didn’t know you were sick.”
“I was sick a lot when we first arrived, but after my powers manifested, the nausea eased up.”
His thumb twists the string, his movements slow and thoughtful. “Tell me if anything changes. I don’t want you collapsing again.”
My conversation with Carter sits in the back of my mind.
“Carter told me about your parents.”
I want one less secret between us.
His body stiffens. Something deep inside him fractures, rippling between us like a fault line cracking open.
His thumb brushes the corner of my eye, catching a tear before it falls. “You feel it, don’t you?”
A nod is all I manage, my throat too constricted for words.
I want to take it from him.
All of it.
I conjure a memory of salt-kissed air.
Leo’s laughter echoes across the beach as the volleyball sails over the net, our knees sliding through the sand.
That sense of tranquility rises, then rushes through me like a current. I wrap my fingers around his wrists, letting it flow into him.
He exhales as if something inside him loosens. “I could get used to that. Want to trade?”
“You don’t want this. Sometimes I’m hit with your emotions and mine at the exact same time. It’s like trying to breathe underwater while the tide keeps dragging you back beneath the surface. But the training is helping me build the lungs for it.”
“I’m glad it’s helping.”
“Do you feel better?”
He laces his fingers through mine and gives a squeeze. “The pain is gone.”
“I think it’s only temporary. I wish I could take it away for good.”
“Temporary is better than nothing. Thank you,” he breathes against my skin. “You know…” He leans closer. “When you touch me, I pick up on your emotions here and there.”
What scares me is how little of myself I have left to hide from him.
“Is that a bad thing?” His thought brushes against mine.
“You tell me,” I think, repeating his own words back to him.
He steps back. “I think we should finish our training.”
The shift is immediate and jarring. He’s blocking his thoughts now, and I don’t dare reach for what he’s feeling. I’m not ready to feel his rejection.
“This isn’t rejection. It’s focus. Practicality. Your training takes priority.”
“What are we working on today?”
“Everything.” He clasps my hand and leads me toward the training room.
His answer is as vague as it is revealing.
If Kylo wants everything, then everything is exactly what I’ll give him.
“Fight me like you mean it, Lia.”
I’m trapped in Kylo’s telekinetic grip. Every joint is locked, every muscle straining against an invisible force that feels like solid stone.
Seven hours of relentless training have drained me to the marrow. My muscles quiver, pushed past their limit.
“You can break this,” he says, his tone clipped and demanding. “Stop fighting the air and start fighting me.”
The hold snaps, and I stumble.
“I want you to throw everything you’ve got at me.” He squares his shoulders. “Punches, kicks, telekinesis. Make it hurt, or it doesn’t count.”
We reset and go again.
Over and over, nothing lands.
Until it does.
I take him down, locking my arms around his neck in a chokehold that drains what little strength I have left.
He taps twice on my forearm. A genuine, surprised grin breaks free. “Well played.”
I let go, collapsing with my hands on my knees, heaving.
“You’re advancing.”
“Do you think I’m ready?” I ask, looking up through the strands of my sweat-soaked hair.
“I think I’ve figured out why you struggle to keep me out of your head,” he says, not quite answering my question. “You’re pouring all your focus into blocking emotions.”
“Why can’t I do both?”
“They’re equally intense skills. Each demands everything from you. Trying to master both is like standing between two forces—one pulling at your thoughts, the other at your emotions.”
“When I silence the thoughts, the emotions break loose. I can’t hold both.”
“Practice with me. If someone gets inside your head”—his finger taps my forehead—“death would be a mercy.”
If Kylo can slide into my mind without trying, an Aether Hunter determined to destroy me will tear me apart.
“I’m ready.”
He lifts his hand to my cheek. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Block me out.”
Clearing my mind only makes it worse. The harder I concentrate, the more tangled my thoughts become. Kylo’s restraint brushes against mine, like he’s holding something carefully contained.
“Don’t tune into how I feel. Focus on thoughts. Yours and mine. Shut me out.”
He skims the surface of my mind, testing the boundaries. I let him see surface-level scenes from my old life. The safe, mundane fragments of a girl who didn’t know about wars or Aether Hunters.
Me sitting in the dim light of the university library.
Crowded classrooms.
Condensation on an iced latte in a corner café.
Keep it simple. Give him the shallow water.
To distract him, I pull a brighter memory forward.
My mother.
The warmth of her hands as she curls my hair, the soft hum of her voice.
In the mirror, she catches my eye and smiles—pure, untainted love.
I summon another.
Leo leans against the rough bark of an old oak, counting down from ten, his voice muffled by the wind. I’m six years old, crouched behind the tallest bush near the beach, my knees tucked tightly to my chest. It’s my favorite hiding spot, the place I feel invisible.
Even though he always found me, it never mattered.
He reaches for more, but it’s time to close the door. I visualize an iron-bound box buried deep in the back of my mind. One by one, I fold the stray thoughts into the dark and seal them away.
When I open my eyes, the training room comes back into focus.
“You did it. You locked me out.”
“How tragic for you.”
A deep laugh rumbles from him. “How did you figure it out?”
“I used meaningful memories. I went back to where Leo and I used to play hide-and-seek. I imagined a box and locked my thoughts behind my favorite childhood hiding spot. If I could hide from Leo, I could hide from you.”
Before, the walls came up out of panic. Now I have a solid memory to anchor them to.
“That’s your safe place. You can return to those thoughts whenever you need to, but the key is that you decide who sees them. You’re in control now.”
Am I in control?
Lately, the more mastery I gain over my powers, the more I lose my grip on everything else.
Especially my heart.
The pull toward him isn’t subtle anymore.
It’s a gravity well.
It drags through my thoughts and distorts my focus, turning every second of training into a desperate fight to stay professional.
“You’re letting your guard down. I hear you.”
“It’s difficult with you here.”
“Can you sense my emotions?”
“There’s a connection between us,” I whisper. “I don’t understand the mechanics of it, but I feel it.”
“We can’t go there,” he says, though he doesn’t pull away.
Why does he retreat when we’re on the verge of—
“Stop,” he cuts in, a sharp hitch in his breath. “Lia, stop. I hear it all. You have to stay guarded. Especially if we run into Aether Hunters. If your focus slips, they’ll find that opening and use it to dismantle you.”
I pull my focus inward, rebuilding my walls brick by brick.
He sighs, running a hand through his messy post-training hair. “Let’s stop for today. We’ll pick this up tomorrow.”