Chapter Eighteen
KYELLA
“What?” I tilted my head in confusion after Elijah woke me, ushering me from bed and into the living room area. I was bleary eyed and exhausted, already wishing I was back in bed sleeping and cuddled up with the two vampyres who weren’t keeping watch.
It couldn’t be morning already, right?
I eyed the heavy curtains, not seeing any light leaking from beyond the closed edges, and wondered why he’d woken me up.
I would have thought it was something bad considering the time, but the man had a light smile on his face.
I continued to stare at him, hoping to make sense of his words I’d only half heard.
“Myrin wants to see you,” Elijah repeated easily, looking amused.
I offered him a befuddled expression before looking back toward the window.
Stepping toward it, I tried to wrap my head around what was going on as I pulled back the curtains, revealing the dark skies.
Dawn sunlight was just starting to color the horizon.
So I wasn’t wrong—it was super early.
“Myrin wants to see me…” I drew out, turning back to him. I started slightly, not having realized he’d traveled across the room toward me in a blink of an eye. “Right now? Are you serious? Has something happened?”
“Not sure, but yes, she wants to see you.” He cupped my jaw, tilting my head back as he softly spoke, “Come on, go get ready, love. I’ll take you there.”
I knew Myrin wouldn’t have wanted to see me this early if it wasn’t important, but it was sort of hard to focus on that type of thing with how tired I was. After the orgasmic experience I had yesterday with my men, all I could think about was going back to bed and curling up between them.
Grumbling under my breath, I left Elijah standing near the window to get dressed hastily.
I hustled into the bathroom, washing my face and pulling my hair into a low ponytail at the back of my neck before reaching for the clothes I grabbed on my way through my bedroom.
Pulling on pants, boots, and a tunic, I found myself hoping that Myrin wouldn’t be offended that I wasn’t wearing a dress.
After a quick look in the mirror, I nodded at my reflection, knowing this was the best it was going to get, before walking back into the living space.
“Have you slept yet?” I questioned Elijah, who had moved from the window and waited for me in the middle of the room.
There was no way he had just woken up, the man looked absolutely chipper.
My question drew a chuckle from him as he tucked me against his side, not answering as we made our way out of my room and toward Myrin’s quarters.
Elijah was buzzing with energy, and despite being a bit grumbly about waking up, I was glad I had a chance to experience this side of him.
Maybe he was always like this in the morning.
Or maybe it was because of how connected I felt to him.
There was no way he didn’t feel the same thing.
Heat tinted my cheeks slightly, remembering that the three of them had said they loved me.
My flush turned into a blush as I realized I couldn’t remember whether I had returned the sentiment before passing out.
When we turned down the hall toward Myrin’s quarters, Elijah stopped us and turned me into him, drawing me from my thoughts. “I will be right out here if you need anything, okay? Anything at all.”
I nodded, feeling a bit shy, which was ridiculous after everything we did yesterday, so I tried to channel some of my boldness from yesterday.
I pressed up on my toes and kissed him softly.
He let out a low rumble, running a hand over my back and pulling me against him.
We were lost in the kiss and didn’t pull out of it until one of the guards outside of the Empress’s quarters cleared their throat. Crap.
I immediately pulled back, and Elijah shot them a glare before looking back down at me. His voice was rough when he spoke, “Go on, before I take you back to the room.”
“To sleep?” I asked hopefully.
He smiled before nodding toward the door, gently pressing on my back. “You know that’s not what I meant, love. Go on.”
With a huff that covered a small laugh, I turned around and approached the guards.
They pulled the doors open, and I strode through them more confidently than I was feeling as they closed behind me.
I felt my eyebrows shoot up at the sight of the Empress.
I don’t think Myrin realizes how early it is either.
She stood in the center of the room, dressed in what appeared to be a training uniform, with her hair pulled back and away from her face in a tight bun.
Music played from somewhere in the space and books were spread out across several surfaces—not in a manner that suggested she was looking for something, but more that she was browsing. Like she had been up all night reading.
“Morning,” I called out as she snapped her gaze up. Upon seeing me, she let the large, leather-bound book she had been reading from fall shut and offered a welcoming smile.
“Good morning, Kyella.”
I exhaled a breath, relief flooding me at the warm greeting, before looking around the room. I noticed that Barnabus was perched on an armchair nearby. I offered a small smile at the animal before looking back at her. “Elijah mentioned you wanted to see me.”
“I did.” She motioned me further into the room. “I tried to wait as long as I could since I knew you were sleeping. But I knew if we didn’t start early, we wouldn’t get nearly as much done as we needed to.”
“And what needs to be done?” I asked curiously, feeling far more alert the longer I was in here.
Partially because of the energy radiating off of her, but also because the grogginess was slowly slipping away, allowing for a sense of excitement.
Myrin had something planned, and I was eager to find out what.
“Training. Physical combat, specifically.”
I probably should have expected that considering I had asked Myrin to let me go into battle despite her concern about me not being prepared for combat.
The fact that she wanted to take time from her busy schedule to train with me meant that she was serious—not only about her concern, but in her attempt to try to prepare me for my presumed future as much as possible.
“Okay,” I nodded in understanding. “I have only trained once with Dakath, Elijah, and Kolvar, but that went pretty well overall.”
“Yes, it did,” Myrin agreed, reminding my sleepy brain that she had been there, watching, “but this time, you will be training with me. It was one of the reasons we had to do this so early—I want to be able to train in peace and not worry about anyone interrupting us. I have a private training yard, so I don’t have to worry about wearing a mask; but once the empire starts to wake up, my schedule can change in a blink of an eye based on what is going on. ”
I didn’t doubt the truth behind her words. And if I was to believe Myrin about what my future held, this was a reality I would need to get used to.
“Let’s do it,” I agreed, wanting to take advantage of any time that I had with her.
Her gaze flashed with pride and what I thought was an edge of excitement. “Follow me.”
As we walked through a doorway into a long hallway within her private suite, I realized how complex her space was. We passed room after room, some with closed doors, others with open archways. I spotted everything from a music room to a sunroom, and who knew what was in between.
Wow. My eyes widened in surprise as we took a circular staircase down that opened into the training yard.
As I looked up at the ceiling, I realized the sizable space had a glass enclosure on the top and that the outer walls were made of stone, completely surrounding the space.
It was clear the ceiling could open up from a rope and pulley system that attached to the center beam from the sides, though it was currently closed with moisture forming on the top of it in the early dawn light.
My gaze moved down, wandering around the rest of the space, noticing that outside of the short manicured grass, there was everything from a wall of sparring weapons to a training course that included climbing and lifting.
A flutter of wings pulled my attention upward, eyes locking on Barnabus as the bat circled the space and landed on a high climbing ledge, seeming to settle himself to watch us.
“I like this,” I admitted, the serene space making me feel focused and ready to train.
“As a ruler, you will find that privacy can be hard to come by and having a personal sanctuary is important. You must keep yourself grounded to be a good ruler to your people. The two go hand in hand. You can’t put your people first if you aren’t taking care of yourself, and sometimes that requires a bit of distance to get a clear head,” Myrin explained as I absorbed all of her words.
“I have to admit…There is one element that makes masking my identity a bit nice. People are more focused on what I do for the empire as a figurehead instead of who I am as an individual—as it should be. Too many rulers let their ego make decisions for them.”
Like Malakai.
I nodded, understanding what she was saying, as I considered the concept of having to wear a mask myself.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think I would be able to live a life maintaining that type of secrecy, especially now that I had tasted my freedom.
I also didn’t think Myrin expected me to, though.
Not when she had commented on people likely being willing to follow me considering my background and what I’d overcome.
“So this is a personal sanctuary for you? Do you train often?”