Chapter 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Two days later, we graduated, and were all anxiously awaiting our orders for deployment. My father said the investigation into the train attack turned up nothing, and I could tell it bothered him that the enemy was able to get so close to me and leave no trail. We knew they were Luskin but that was all. Was the Luskin prime leader trying to take me out? If so, he must have spies in our city to know that I was attending the Imperial Fleet Training Center and exactly where I'd be on the train that day.

"You okay?" Tetra asked as she braided my hair down my back, interweaving the red and black sides. We were back at my house, having moved out of the training campus this morning. We would go to a graduation ball tonight at an event center near the training campus and then tomorrow morning we'd get our assignments and ship out to live on base somewhere across the country. Everyone would get sizeable weekly imperial coin payments for their service, some more than others, depending on how valuable they were to my father, and every two months we'd get one week off to travel home and see our families. It wasn't a bad gig to keep everyone we loved safe at home. A lifetime in the Imperial Fleet dedicated to fighting the war.

"Yeah." I smiled. "Just thinking."

Tetra's flare had subsided, and we'd all kept Anika's secret. She made it back to the training center in time to take her next dose of medication and all was well. She pulled me aside and told me that she hadn't had an issue in years. I didn't see a need to tell anyone so long as it wasn't a problem that inhibited her duty to the Imperial Fleet, and as far as I was concerned, it wasn't.

"Thinking about Kohen?" Tetra asked as she dusted my neck with shimmer powder. Tetra was always more into makeup than I was, so I let her give me makeovers all the time. The ball tonight was black tie, and Tetra had picked out a red dress for me that clung to my body like a second skin. I wore my locket with my mother's picture at my throat—thanks to Kohen. The yellow cast clashed a bit, but what was a girl to do?

Tetra was wearing an emerald-green dress that belled out at the knee, something her mother bought her with some of the coin from the hunk of ember Tetra had brought her from The Wilds.

I laughed. "No. But now I am. Thanks for that."

She grinned.

Kohen. The temptation I couldn't get out of my head.

"I've requested that my father give us assignments far away from each other. He agreed," I told her.

She stopped what she was doing, hand frozen over my cheek with blush. "You did?"

I sighed. "T, he's the prince of Imbria."

Period. Enough said.

She frowned. "I know. But… he's also like… so protective of you, and there's a vibe there. You guys are electric."

Tetra was a romantic.

I rolled my eyes. "So what? A vibe fizzles out. I need to be thinking long-term. Who will lead Amersea by my side when I'm empress one day?"

Tetra blew air through her teeth. "Man, you are so responsible. I'd be thinking: How long can I have a secret affair with him until people find out and my dad makes me break up with him and marry someone boring for the good of the country?"

I barked out in laughter. "Oh, Tetra, I love that the filter between what you are thinking and what you say is broken."

Now it was her turn to laugh. "But seriously, you never wondered what it would be like to kiss him?"

Kiss him. Bed him. Make beautiful babies with him. I'd wondered it all. And it all ended with me lying naked in bed with a knife in my back for allowing myself to trust the enemy.

"Have you ever wondered why he's so protective of me?" I asked Tetra. "Maybe he has some kind of long game."

She laughed. "Are you serious? You don't think he would have killed you by now if that's what he was looking to do? You've been alone with him plenty of times."

She was right. At the club in the closet he could have just strangled me and left me. In the alcove at school. In the woods. So many places. If he wasn't trying to get revenge on me for my father, then he could have.

Tetra grasped my hand, forcing me to look up at her. "I think Jace messed you up. I think you are having a hard time seeing that Kohen might just like you because you're hot, and smart, and powerful, and funny, and all the things."

I gave my bestie a soft smile, because she really was sweet to talk me up like that. "T, I don't live by the same rules as you. I'm the future empress. My father killed his dad. I can't."

Tetra nodded. "And he doesn't seem to care about that as much as you do."

Damn. She was really driving this home. Was she right? Had I seen him as the enemy this entire time and he didn't feel the same?

Moments flashed through my mind, like when he stepped aside at the Lottery after Tetra's name was called so she could stand next to me. How he'd punched Jace for eating a French fry off my plate—but probably really because Jace cheated on me. How every step of the way he'd been sweet to me and I'd just punished him for where he was born and the history between our people.

I punished him for who his father was. I felt a little disgusted with myself.

I stared at the yellow cast on my wrist, the cast he saw ahead of time because he could see the future. Which meant everything else he saw between us was true too.

Why would he lie about that?

"You girls need to be home by midnight." My father's voice came from the doorway and I jumped. How long had he been standing there?

"I'm nineteen-years-old, Father. And a graduate of the Imperial Fleet now. Do I really still need a curfew?"

"You do while living under my roof," he replied flatly.

"Yes, sir," I said with a sigh. I was so ready to get my orders and ship out.

"Yes, sir." Tetra saluted him, but in a lazy way that I knew he hated, because the muscle in his jaw ticced.

"Aisling, can I have a word with you privately for a second?"

Oh boy.

I got up, putting a black coat over my slightly revealing red dress, and met him in the hallway.

Zuri was standing in the entryway outside his office, peering at me with her tail swishing. No sign that she was in distress, which meant I probably wasn't in trouble.

"I wanted to talk to you about your assignment before you hear about it tomorrow from your squad leader," my father said.

I braced myself, praying he was sending me to Sky Reach or Thunder Cliff, where I would get the most action and training. Even Evergreen might be okay.

"First tell me where Tetra is going. I want to make sure she's safe."

He nodded. He'd stopped questioning my love for that girl long ago. "I'm making her a drill instructor at the Imperial Fleet Training Center. She'll be safe right here in Riverine teaching cadets."

I sagged in relief. So the rumors were true. I felt like I could handle anything my father told me after that. I just needed to know Tetra was safe. "Thank you, Father."

He inclined his head in my direction. "And I'm sending you to Storm Haven."

I scoffed. I couldn't help it.

"So I can learn to knit?" I retorted. Storm Haven was the safest base we had. It was the farthest from the war, basically a glorified storage unit for extra supplies that we packed and shipped on trains.

My father glared at me. "So you can stay alive and learn to one day take over for me."

"You never go to Storm Haven. How am I going to learn to take over for you if I'm counting meal rations and bottles of water?" It was pretty much all I'd be doing there.

"How can you take over for me if you are dead?" He matched my tone and I pursed my lips. "This is to keep you safe, Aisling. My decision is final," he said, then spun to walk away.

"Where did you post Kohen Badshah?" I called after him. I had to know.

His whole body stiffened and he turned back around to face me with one of his scary looks. The expression that said Be careful you don't take this too far. "Sky Reach," he said. "Because I don't care if he lives or dies."

With that, he stepped back into his office with Zuri, and I saw the glow of fire as he likely made a portal and went to some warfront.

Sky Reach. He was sending Kohen to the most formidable base in operation. A base that saw more casualties per week than there were hours in a day. I shouldn't care. My father did as I asked; he put us at separate postings. But the news tore a hole in my heart until it began to physically ache.

Sky Reach for a rookie? It was suicide. Sure Kohen had Onyx and was super powerful, but bombs went off at Sky Reach daily. The Luskins called it Easy Reach, because they could just throw firebombs over the border wall and hit it. It was one step down from sending him to stand atop The Wall and become a living bullseye.

Tetra knocked on the door casing behind me and I fixed my face from one of horror to excitement.

"Ready?" She smiled.

"Ready," I confirmed, ignoring my wounded heart.

Tetra was going to be safe, and I was going to focus on that and not on these new feelings that had bloomed in my stomach every time I thought of Kohen Badshah.

Because that scared me more than anything else.

The ball was elegant, with a chocolate fountain, live band, and fancy linen tablecloths, but it was also really loud. Tetra went in search of a quieter room a half hour ago, but I was locked into a conversation about poisons with Meera against the far wall. She told me in detail about how she was able to make tasteless, odorless poisons that would kill a man in seconds. I still had yet to see any of the guys, including Kohen, and I wondered if they were hiding from me after I said all that stuff when I was on pain pills.

I was only slightly mortified. Jace deserved it.

"You should tell my father that. He could use that on the war front," I told her.

She nodded. "I mentioned it to my instructor at the training center but they didn't seem interested."

"Well, tell your squad leader once you get posted to a base. That might come in handy." Like in assassinating foreign leaders. I hated to think like that, but the Luskins started this war anyway, and if we took out Prime Leader Vlek it could all be over. He was the driving force behind the desire to expand his borders and steal our ember. It wasn't our fault our lands were rich with the stuff and they had little to none. They should buy it from us like everyone else, not attempt to steal it.

"I'm going to grab a drink," Meera told me and I nodded.

"I'm gonna go find Tetra!" I screamed back over the rock band blaring out of the speakers.

I went in search of my bestie, leaving the main ballroom and swerving down the hallway. This event center held weddings, birthdays, funerals, meetings, and much more. They had a main ballroom for bigger events and then tons of smaller rooms. I passed two closed doors before stopping near an opening to the game room, where there was a pool table, because I'd heard my name.

"Aisling is the hottest chick in our class," someone said—it sounded like Alek but I couldn't be sure. I smiled at the nice compliment.

"Careful, Kohen's already pissed on her and marked his territory," Jace said. I'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Screw you," Kohen shot back. "You're just mad that you had your chance with her and ruined it."

"Whatever, I'm just saying it's obvious you want Aisling," Jace said. "But you'll never have her. For one, her reputation would never allow her to be with a Badshah. And secondly, even if you got her, she wouldn't put out. So it's not worth the struggle in my opinion."

A bunch of male voices laughed in response and fury washed over me. Wouldn't put out? That's what he thought of me?

"Don't talk about her like she's some trophy to acquire!" Kohen's voice could cut glass. "If Aisling was ever my girlfriend, the last thing I would be thinking about was her ‘putting out.' You're a piece of shit, Jace."

That was it, the final proof I needed to know that Kohen Badshah was good. He always had my back and stuck up for me. I'd read him wrong this entire time, and right then I wanted to prove Jace wrong. I didn't care about my reputation and I couldn't fight my feelings anymore. I was exhausted.

I strode into the room just as Jace opened his mouth to respond and everyone turned in my direction. Jace's gaze flicked to mine and I could see the panic there. He was with Tucker and his other cronies. Kohen looked like he'd been attempting to play darts with Nikhil before Jace had confronted him.

Kohen's gaze locked on mine. I walked straight towards him with purpose, never taking my eyes off of him.

"Hey, Aisling," Jace laughed nervously from my left. "We were just going to play a round of?—"

I pushed Kohen hard until his back hit the wall, and then my lips crashed into his in a passionate kiss I wasn't prepared for. Pressing my body flat against him, my heart beat frantically between us as he smiled against my mouth. My fingers wrapped around the back of his neck and I hungrily opened my lips to deepen the kiss as desire bloomed inside of me. His fingertips trailed at my lower back and heat flushed along my body.

Holy crap! I'm kissing Kohen Badshah… in public. And I didn't care.

His hands came around my hips, digging my pelvis into his and I moaned. As our tongues swept against each other, it felt like the climax of my secret unspoken desire. For so long I had pushed down these feelings, fearful of bringing them to the surface, but now they burned their way to the top, bright and hot. It was as if time stood still, the world fading away as we surrendered to the sweet intoxication of our first kiss. I exhaled into his mouth and he swallowed it, as if wanting to capture everything about the moment, even my breath.

"Holy shit," Jace said beside me, as Kohen pulled my bottom lip into his mouth and sucked it. Desire bloomed deep in my gut and I finally pulled away from him, panting. Kohen was grinning ear to ear, which in turn made me smile.

I spun, facing Jace. His jaw was unhinged as he stared open-mouthed at me.

"That was so much better than in my dreams," Kohen declared to the room, and I decided that was a good note to leave on. I knew he meant his visions, not his dreams—and I had to agree, it was pretty epic. Reckless. But epic. The only thing ruining it right now was the sad look on Alek's face as he watched from the corner of the room. I hadn't meant to do that so publicly. Something had just come over me.

Strolling out of the room, I ran down the hall in search of my bestie. There were probably going to be consequences to that kiss, especially if word got back to my father.

But I didn't care. It was worth it.

I couldn't find Tetra inside so I stepped out into the garden and passed a couple making out. Where did she go?

Tetra giggled and I spun, eyes wide.

She was the couple making out. With Dev.

"Umm," I said, as she spotted me, laughing into Dev's chest as he grinned down at her, red-faced. "Sorry, I'll leave you to it."

I ran back inside to give them privacy, beaming and happy for my bestie, when I slammed into someone's chest. I knew the moment the scent of cardamom and ginger washed over me that it was Kohen. After our kiss, I wasn't sure how things would go, but when I looked up into his eyes and saw yearning there, I couldn't help but grin.

"You think you can just kiss me like that and walk away?" he breathed, stepping closer to me as I backed up. My butt hit the brick wall and Kohen raised his arms, boxing me in and leaning against the wall on his forearms. Delicious anticipation danced on the tip of my tongue, waiting for him to kiss me, but he simply looked down at me with adoration and a sort of reverence. It was as if he was cataloguing all of my features, never having been this close to me before. I hadn't really been paying attention before either, but seeing him now in his full black suit made my stomach flip over.

"My stars, you're beautiful, Aisling," he breathed. Leaning forward, he dragged his lips across my neck and my legs went weak as tendrils of desire skated from my nape to my navel. "And that kiss…" He pulled back and looked at me with a halfcocked grin. "…was almost as good as the look on Jace's face after you left."

I smacked him and he dropped one of his hands, threading his fingers through mine. He pulled my left palm over his chest and I felt his heart beat wildly against my fingertips.

"Aisling Everhart?" he asked.

"Yes," I practically panted.

"I crave you every moment of every day." The words barely left his mouth before his lips were on mine. Now that we were alone in the dark hallway, I held nothing back. My lips parted as our tongues stroked each other's in a perfect rhythm that had heat building up in my core. I reached under his shirt, stroking the skin that was tightly pulled over his abdominal muscles. A carnal need came over me, one I'd never had with Jace. I wanted more of Kohen, I wanted all of him. I moaned, breathless, when he pulled away from me suddenly.

I was shocked to see horror on his face. He was staring at the wall beside me as if in a trance. Was he having a vision? It looked a lot like the one he'd had when he had been returning his practice blade and touched Anika.

"It's happening soon," Kohen said dreamily.

I frowned. "What is?"

He looked out the back garden in the direction of the training center. "The attack on the training center. I just had another vision. You need to get Tetra home. Everyone needs to get home and lock their doors."

Chills ran up my spine. We were close to the training center campus, if an attack was about to happen there—too close.

"Kohen, if you know there is going to be an attack on the campus tonight, you have to tell my father."

He reached up and grabbed the side of my face gently, forcing me to stare into his blue eyes. "Aisling, believe me when I tell you that your father cannot be trusted with knowledge of my gift."

My stomach sank. "Do people die? Our people?" I asked him.

He sighed. "Yes."

I couldn't just let someone die to protect one person. "Get everyone to go home. I don't care what you have to say. And promise me you will personally take Tetra home," I begged.

He frowned, reaching out to brush the bottom of my lip with his thumb, sending shivers down my spine. "Why, what are you going to do?"

"Don't you already know?" I countered.

How much did he see?

He swallowed hard and shook his head. "I don't know what you do. I only know that right now is the last time I kiss you for a long time."

I frowned. "Wh—?" Before I could question him, his lips were on mine again in a greedy kiss that I matched. My hands gripped him tightly, running over hardened muscle as his tongue slicked across mine, making heat run down my chest and settle between my thighs.

Stars, have mercy on me. This man was liable to make me explode. By the time he pulled back, I was breathless.

He looked so sad and I wasn't sure why.

"I want you to remember something, okay?" he breathed.

All I could do was nod.

Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to my ear. "Remember that no matter how things may seem, everything I do is to protect you."

I frowned, and then Tetra and Dev stepped into the room holding hands and laughing. I broke apart from Kohen, remembering the urgency of his message about the attack.

"Get her home," I told him.

He nodded, and then I pulled my fingers from his and ran out the front door of the event hall with Tetra screaming after me. Liana was already there, waiting with her head down and wings tucked in so I could leap onto her. I had to ride sidesaddle since my dress was so tight.

‘Don't tell me you are about to do what I think you are,' Liana said.

‘Am I a loud thinker or are you a mind reader?' I asked her as she took flight and headed for my house.

‘What's the difference?' she asked, and despite the current situation, I couldn't help but laugh.

‘So are you doing what I think you are?' she asked again, a seriousness in her tone. ‘Are you going to tell your father that you see the future?'

So she could read my mind.

‘Yes,' I said without hesitation. It was the only way to try and save lives without endangering Kohen's.

‘I advise against that,' she said, and I could feel her worry through our bond. We didn't disagree on much, and to my knowledge we'd never really argued. But there was a first time for everything.

‘Noted. But I have to do this, unless you have some other way to warn the soldiers at the campus that an attack is incoming without putting Kohen's life at risk by revealing his gift.'

She was silent, and that was that. Sometimes as a leader you had to do hard things for the good of all. My own father told me that.

Liana landed in front of my house and I leapt off of her. ‘I'll be right out here waiting for you,' she said.

That made me nervous. Was she expecting some kind of retaliation from my own father? Sure, he would be pissed I had kept such a gift from him, but he'd protect me.

Right?

‘Then why haven't you told him you can control minds?' Liana asked.

That wasn't fair. I planned to take that to the grave and never use that magic again unless I absolutely had to. That was one of those powers you didn't tell anyone about. Even Tetra. To do so would put everyone who knew at risk. It was a forbidden power that no one should have, least of all a future empress who was going to be in control of the entire Imperial Fleet one day.

But so was the gift of seeing the future. To tell my father about it now would anger him. He hated lying and secret keeping. I wasn't na?ve, I knew he'd be pissed, but I hoped he'd lay it aside and put our people first. I was his daughter after all.

"Aisling." My father's voice came from behind me just as I was about to knock on his study door.

I spun to find him in his robe watching me with a scowl.

"I know it's late. I'm sorry if you were sleeping but it's an emergency."

The scowl lifted to curiosity and concern.

I glanced down the hallway as Valor peeked her sleepy head out of the triplets' room.

"Can we talk in your office?" I asked him.

He pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. The moment we slipped inside, Zuri included, I launched into a ramble.

"I'm sorry I've kept this from you but I've been too scared to tell you and now it's a matter of life or death. There is going to be an attack on the training center campus tonight, like any minute, and we have to?—"

"Stop," he said, eyes wild. "Take a deep breath."

I did as he asked and he took off his robe, revealing black military fatigues. Then he walked over to the cabinet in his office that held his armor. He began to suit up, which let me know he was taking this seriously.

"How do you know? What intel do you have?" he asked.

It never occurred to me that I could just say I had gotten some intel, but at this point I wouldn't even know where to begin with that. What intel and where did I get it at a graduation party?

"I can see the future," I blurted out, and my father froze halfway into putting on his chest armor.

The glare he gave me sent chills down my spine. "What?"

I would rather die than have to live this lie out right now, but there was no other way. I was hoping he would be too busy focusing on the fact that an attack was imminent than interrogate me. But I forgot about Zuri. She pranced around me in a circle, sniffing at my legs as if my lie was like a pungent odor.

"I… had a vision tonight, just now. I assume it's a latent gift acquired from my creature. I saw the campus being attacked. Tonight."

Zuri shared a look with my father and he slowly clicked his chest armor on, peering at me in a calculated way that made my skin crawl. "You have foresight and you kept this from me?" There was a growl in his tone but it was also laced with hurt.

I swallowed hard. "I'm… telling you now."

He sighed, pulling his blade from the cabinet and slid it into its scabbard at his waist. "Stay home and protect your sisters," was all he said as the fire portal began to open in his office.

He believed me, and he was going to help.

"I want to help. Liana is just outside. I could?—"

His head snapped in my direction. "Stay at home! That's an order. You and your sisters are the most important thing in this world to me."

He'd never said anything like that in all the nineteen years that I'd known him, and it shut the retort in my mouth.

"Yes, sir," I said, as emotion clogged my throat. Sometimes I thought my father regretted having children and the emotional burden they were. Other times, I thought he just didn't know how to handle emotional burdens and he was so stern because he cared so much and didn't know what to do with that.

The campus' courtyard became visible just beyond him, and I watched as he strode through the ring of fire and into it. A group of soldiers ran over to him and he began to bark orders. Just before the portal shut, Zuri peered back to glare at me, and I knew in that moment that my father had sensed my lie, but also maybe some truth because he'd gone on my word and rallied the troops. He believed in most of what I said and was going to help because I'd asked, and that meant the world to me.

I spun to go check on my sisters, then saw Elaine standing in the open office doorway in her robe.

"I normally don't eavesdrop, but I heard your voice and wanted to make sure you were okay and…"

Crap.

"What did you hear?" I asked, my heart hammering in my chest. Lying to my father was one thing, but to Elaine? I couldn't.

"Enough," she said with a frown. "Aisling, how big will the attack be?"

I had no idea, because I was a freaking liar and I'd never seen the vision.

"Enough to lose lives." Hadn't Kohen said something like that?

"Will it spill over into the city?" She peered back down the hallway at my sisters' room. "Should we flee with the girls?"

I didn't know if it would spill over. In fact, I didn't know anything, and if it did come close to our house…

"Yes. You should take the girls and go to the country house in Cedar Creek for the night," I told her, rushing to pack a bag for them.

"We," she said, frowning at me.

I looked over at her and gave her a soft smile. This woman was like a mother to me. She should know by now what I would do. "You didn't raise me to run from trouble."

She opened her mouth to speak, but I pulled her into a hug. She was stiff for a moment, before wrapping her arms tightly around me.

I love you, sat on the tip of my tongue, but my father had contaminated those words, making me feel weak for even wanting to say them, so I just held on to her tighter. It was my non-verbal I love you.

When she finally pulled back, she was smiling. "You will make a wonderful empress someday."

I beamed at the compliment.

Within ten minutes I had changed into my Fleet-issued fatigues, and had the triplets and Elaine packed into the car with Elaine in the driver's seat. She wasn't used to driving as we normally had Verik, but she knew how.

"I'll send word when it's safe to return," I told her.

Victory, Valor, and Virtue all peered at me with identical expressions of fear.

"What's going on?" Virtue murmured, hair mussed from sleep.

"What aren't you telling us?" Valor asked.

"Come with us," Victory begged, grasping my good hand.

I reached into the open car window with my good arm and squeezed all of their hands. "Mind Elaine. And be strong. I have to stay and help Father. I need you safe," I told them methodically, trying to keep emotion from my voice.

I moved to step back and then thought better of it. What if this was the last time I saw any of them? It was a dark wild thought that permeated my mind.

The words I was so afraid to say fell out of my mouth in fear, fear I would die and never say them to anyone. "I love you all," I spoke into the car in a rush, freed in that moment.

Victory smiled but the other three appeared shocked at my words, like they were dirty.

"Go," I told them.

With that, I stepped back and Elaine gunned it, zipping onto the main road and heading for our country estate. I'd spent many summers in Cedar Creek fishing in the pond behind the house and going for long walks in the forest. It was sparsely populated and near the Evergreen Fleet base in case something really bad went down. They'd be safe there. Safer than here.

When I spun around, Kohen was landing Onyx right next to Liana, who was still exactly where I'd left her. I hoped my father would agree with my sending the girls away. I needed to keep them safe, and if this attack was from Luska, they might target the emperor's home. His family. I was still confused how this attack was going to go down. If anyone from Luska wanted to attack Riverine, they'd have to fly the entire length of our country or come up on shore. Our scouts with flying creatures would have seen them and sounded the alarm. Unless they found some weakness in our defenses. Maybe the Cove. I had overheard my father speaking last night in his office about the Cove being a weak point of ours that we needed to shore up.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Kohen.

"I got Tetra home safely," he told me. "But your father called for all fleet troops to report at the campus. So I don't know how long she will stay there."

Because she was now Fleet. We all were.

Shit.

"And I had another vision," he added as he gripped Onyx's reins and prepared for flight.

"Tell me," I begged.

He frowned. "You said you didn't want to know the future, that you wanted to just live out?—"

"Tell me!" Did Tetra die? No, that was too dark. I couldn't fathom it.

He sighed, looking at the ground. "You and I help fend off the attack. It's an air assault, and we rain down fire from the sky."

My heart brightened. "We help? Great. Let's go."

He reached out and grasped the top of my shoulder, forcing me to look up at him, and I was startled by what I saw in his blue eyes. "But someone you love dies," he said, and I froze, dread sinking into my bones.

"Who?" I asked, my heart practically beating out of my chest.

He shook his head. "I don't know but… I saw you sobbing with a body on the floor behind you. It was blurry—hard to explain—but it can only mean one thing." He looked away, as if he couldn't meet my eyes. It must be hard to see me like that in the future. Like watching one of those films they projected at the park on the weekends.

Sobbing? That didn't sound like me. I'd purposely hardened my emotions so that I would never be affected in that way. I didn't care about many people, and the few I did were safe. Tetra was home. The triplets were on their way to the country.

Unless it was him? Would Kohen dying cause me to sob?

The very thought made my heart seize in my chest, and I realized in that moment that I had allowed myself to fall for him. Much deeper than I ever should have permitted. Now there was no way back from it.

"We gotta go," Kohen said, gripping the reins of his dragon.

I nodded, peering over at him. How had we gone from kissing an hour ago to riding into battle with each other now?

Stars have mercy on us.

I mounted Liana and we took off into the night and headed for the training center, which I was dismayed to see was now on fire.