Chapter 26 #3
Cobalt eyes lifted to hers. I can’t do this.
“You can,” she said aloud. “We will help you.”
An icy presence hovered at the edge of her senses, and Sean dropped her hand to turn toward David. The network evaporated as if it never existed at all.
“There he is,” Sean said. “I thought you’d finally decided to abandon us.”
“I considered it.” Sunlight glinted gold on David’s hair as he approached, and Anna was immediately transported to that secret room, his arm around her, the press of his body, the brush of his lips against hers.
Heat soaked deep into her cheeks. Green eyes absorbed that response, and his mouth tilted into that smile that made every hair on her body rise to attention. “Hey there, pixie girl.”
Her gaze dropped to the ground as the emotions whipped into a frenzy inside.
Sean’s attention bounced between them. “Have you two…made up?”
“I’m not sure,” David said. “Anna, have we made up?”
“Are you going to stop smiling like that?”
He shook his head, that tempting smirk still firmly in place.
“Then we haven’t made up.”
David’s lopsided grin only grew. “I think you like my smiles.”
“I don’t.”
“No?” He took a step closer. “I could prove it, if you’d like.”
She huffed. “You could not!”
With a click of his tongue, David glanced at Sean. “That felt like a challenge.”
“It wasn’t,” Anna said while Sean’s emotions blossomed into fluffy tufts of amusement.
David pressed a hand to his heart. “I accept.”
Sean finally gave in to his laughter, but Anna sighed. The man was going to make things very difficult, wasn’t he?
“Apprentice,” Cathaire shouted as he entered the field. “Today you take the Shadow. I will work with the Savior.”
The Shadow.
That moniker had never bothered Anna before, but a twitch of annoyance tickled her thoughts as they retreated to the farthest corner of the clearing.
Her training lessons used to be discreet, but with Sean and David added to the mix, onlookers tended to gather—in awe of Sean and keeping tabs on David.
As Sean and Cathaire began, people collected to watch.
“Does it bother you?” she asked David in a low voice so none would hear. “That they call you the Shadow?”
Green eyes flashed her way, the teasing from moments ago absent. “I’ve had worse nicknames.”
Anna swallowed. “Right. Well, what do you want to do today?”
His mouth curved into the smile.
“Stop!”
“Admit you like it.”
Ignoring him, she reverted to her training persona. “So you have options: I can kick your ass in sparring, or I can kick your ass in knife play.”
“Those are my only options?”
Anna crossed her arms.
“I don’t want to do any of it if you’re just going to kick my ass.”
She poked her bottom lip out, mocking him. “Sad that you don’t get a choice.”
His eyes narrowed. “This side of you is strangely enticing. All the leather. The domination.”
Her brain turned utterly stupid. “What—why—what—”
David held out a staying hand. “No, no. Go back to the sass. I was into that. Tell me all about what you’ll do to me.” His crooked smile connected directly to her heartbeat, whizzing it along at hummingbird speeds.
This really was his new armor, wasn’t it? Flirtation. This was David Berkeley torturing her for running rampant with his secrets. He really didn’t like to lose the upper hand, did he?
With a sinking feeling in her gut, she braced herself. “Just shut up and fight me.”
“As you say.”
He fought as he usually did—without effort.
He had a foot of height and at least seventy pounds on her, yet he let her lay him out like he’d never brawled in his life, even after weeks of training with a Blademaster.
Following several bouts of him disadvantaged beneath her, Anna growled and kicked him in the stomach, putting more heat behind it than needed.
She reveled in the vindication as he coughed and doubled over.
“Homicidal again, huh?” he asked after he recovered. “What’d I do to piss you off this time? It was just a kiss.”
Flames engulfed her face, and her gaze shot to Sean and Cathaire, thankfully too far to hear his words.
David followed her gaze, glee lighting his ice. “Oh, is someone embarrassed?”
She hurled herself toward him once more.
He feinted to the left, but she managed to trip his ankle and bring him to the ground.
On top of him, she grabbed his hands, pulled him up, locked her ankles around his neck, and froze him into a triangle hold.
She sighed as she released him. “I know you’re not this bad. ”
He shot her that forsaken smile. “Maybe I just like your legs wrapped around my head.”
Another flare of bewildering heat burst through her veins, but she rolled her eyes and jumped to her feet, holding out a hand to help him up. “Stop flirting and be serious.”
“If you think I’m not serious about that, then I’m doing something very wrong.”
“David,” she hissed, trying to be stern. “You have to learn this.”
His head tilted. “I’ve told you before. I don’t.”
“Yes—”
“First of all,” he interrupted, “if I even look like I’m about to hurt someone, every one of them”—he nodded toward the spectating crowd—“will pounce on me. Second, just the thought of trying to hurt you specifically feels like ground glass in my eyes. Third, we both know I don’t need to fight.”
She ignored the first, set aside the second to think about later, and addressed the third: “Yes, you do. I can take you down in seconds.”
He considered her a moment and cracked his neck. “Alright. I’ll try harder. Let’s go again.”
Anna narrowed her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” He stretched his arms to either side. “Let’s go.”
With a slight hesitation, Anna attacked. She made it to striking distance before his magical voice whispered through her consciousness.
“Stop.”
Her feet ceased at once, falling totally under his control.
“Turn around.”
Anna obeyed, facing the edge of the training grounds where the forest spread out, untouched and empty of onlookers. She sensed David’s slow approach behind her. He stopped so close that the heat of his body penetrated the light cotton of her training tunic, sinking straight into her skin.
His hand slid over her shoulder, across her clavicle, and rested like Luster around her vulnerable throat. “Still think you can take me down?” he murmured against her ear.
Her pulse ratcheted up, pounding right where his hand rested.
“Because I don’t think you could,” he said, voice low. “I think I’m holding your life against my palm, and if I asked in just the right way, you’d let me take it. Wouldn’t you?”
“Yes.” The word emerged despite her attempt to hold it back. Anna’s eyes fell closed, and her body listed toward his, seeking support.