ROGUE

25

Evelyn walked through the Sanctum gates toward the vast landscape below, the feeling of magic returning to her body in a breathtaking lurch. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever felt. She suddenly wanted to run and never stop. Climb all the trees. Swim the length of the Sanctum River without stopping for air.

Unable to resist the urge, she shifted into her feline body and purred at the feeling of fur over her skin. She couldn't remember the last time she'd gone an entire day without shifting, let alone nearly two.

Kam and Leah were already ahead of her, their canine forms even taller than hers, but much leaner. They may have been faster, but when it came to power, she had them beat.

Finn sauntered up behind her, his lumbering paws leaving tracks in the soft earth. She had missed it—training beside her friends, pushing themselves to their limits. The sorry excuse for sparring the other day hadn't counted. No, they needed real exercise. Even before this trip, it had been a while since they'd all been in their animal forms at the same time. It felt right, being back together as a pack .

At breakfast, the group had discussed how they wanted to spend their last day before the Royal Assembly and Legion Council arrived, and training was the unanimous consensus. They'd all needed time to rest their aching bodies from the tenuous journey through the pass, and then again to the Sanctum, but they'd since recovered and were ready to move again.

Unfortunately, trying to coordinate group training in the very limited open space outside the Sanctum grounds had proved difficult, so they'd agreed to go their separate ways and reconvene later that afternoon. Of course, Kam and Leah had paired up. So had Taren and Aria. Finn had already taken off to gods knew where, which left Evelyn to her own devices. Just how she preferred it.

***

Aria watched Evelyn take off down the hill where the Sanctum overlooked a forested valley below. It was as if the woman couldn't get away fast enough. Aria understood the feeling. She jolted a bit as her magic surged back into her body with the subtlety of a bolt of lightning and heard Taren grunt behind her at the same feeling.

"So weird," they snorted to themselves with a shiver.

Luka soared through the overcast sky above them. A plume of flames periodically jutted out in front of him generating a trail of smoke that quickly merged with the clouds as he bobbed and weaved through them. In the short time he'd been up there, he must have completed dozens of maneuvers if the crisscrossing white lines in the sky were any indication. Aria shook her head in disbelief.

To the left, Kam and Leah practiced some sort of sparring that more closely resembled choreography. Over and over, Leah approached Kam from behind—he would sense her, whip his head around and feign a bite, and then they'd do it again. She'd wondered how combat worked for him in the field if he couldn't hear, and apparently the answer was the same for him as it was anyone else—practice. Lots of practice.

"Ready?" Taren asked. Aria nodded. "I'm going to send spikes and blocks of stone at you from all directions. All you have to do is keep them from hitting you." That was Aria's only warning as she felt vibrations in the earth below. A slender pillar of white stone—just wide enough for both of her feet—sent her nearly a hundred feet into the air.

She really hated this one.

She balanced carefully on the balls of her feet and summoned her wings to help her balance on the tiny platform, which was arguably harder than just keeping herself aloft in the air. Suddenly, chunks of earth hurtled at her from every direction—just as Taren had promised. They varied in size—some were easy for her to crush before they made it to where she hovered. Others required a bit more effort, sometimes assisted by gusts of wind to send them back to the ground where they belonged.

"Start aiming!" Taren shouted.

Fine, she thought, but she didn't have time to roll her eyes in annoyance. Each shard that approached, she twirled and sent back to the ground in a careful circle around Taren. The larger blocks, she sandwiched back into the hole Taren had drawn them out of like puzzle pieces.

Luka must have noticed their exercise and decided he wanted to join in on the fun, because a shattering roar came from the clouds as he descended close enough to participate. A flash of light drew Aria and Taren's attention upward. Down rained deathly orbs of fire, coming right for her .

That fucking dragon, she thought with rage. She would kill him. She would absolutely kill him the moment he was mortal—

No time to be angry. She had to act. And fast. Aria sent a spiral of wind toward the bright orange orb closing in, careful to smother and extinguish it rather than fuel it further. As it fizzled into smoke, she was surrounded with a blast of the remaining hot air. She sent more gusts, narrowly blowing flame after flame out of her way. But she hadn't seen the last one, a smaller blast that was hidden behind the larger one she'd just sent hurling toward the sea. It came at her too quickly. She was too slow. It brushed the side of her arm leaving a trail of burns in its wake.

The painful singe of her skin was enough to pull her attention away from the spear of earth that was already on its way from Taren. She shattered it, but not soon enough. A splinter of stone grazed her brow where it split the skin. She cried out in frustration, reeling in anger from the multi-sided attack.

" What the fuck, Luka?! " she screamed at the sky before assessing the damage. The skin along her right arm was bare and tender. Her sleeve had taken the brunt of it, a crispy hole burned into the fabric where the flame had skidded across. And now the sweet tang of blood filled the air as a thin stream of it trickled down the side of her face.

Using her remaining good sleeve, she wiped at her forehead, pulling it away to assess the damage. Her reaction time had saved her. Just barely.

"You okay?" Taren yelled up at her from the ground.

"Fantastic!" she yelled back sarcastically, her breathing still heavy.

She could have sworn she heard the dragon laugh at her from above, if that was even possible in his dragon form. The pillar below her began cracking and she spread her wings before it crumbled beneath her, gathering a draft to land softly in front of Taren. Sweat dripped from her hairline and mixed with blood to plaster her loose hair against her face.

"Was that planned?" She pointed at the sky, demanding an answer from her mentor. "Was it?"

Clearly unconcerned by Aria's condition—which must have meant the gash wasn't as bad as she thought—Taren giggled at her flustered expression. "I wish I could say yes, but that was all Luka. You did great, though!" Their grin was interrupted by Aria shoving Taren in the chest. "Whoa, hold on—"

"He could have killed me!"

"Hey, hey, look at me," they grabbed Aria's shoulders and bent to meet her at eye level. "You're one of the most powerful fae in Wren. He knows that," Taren assured her. "Based on what you told me last night, I highly doubt he would have done it if he didn't think you could handle it. And you did handle it. Very well, I might add. These are surface injuries. You'll heal in no time, okay? You did great." Taren gave her shoulders another squeeze as Aria swallowed the knot that built in her throat.

Kam and Leah, back in their mortal bodies, loped back up the hill. "That was fucking awesome!" Kam signed excitedly.

"That's what I'm saying!" Taren signed back. "Go shake it off, take a walk," they directed at Aria, "get some water. Your stress is high, let it level out and then we can pick back up, okay?"

Aria didn't bother to respond, she just walked off into the woods below until she reached a trickling stream and cupped her hands for a drink before dipping her tender arm into the water with a hiss.

She was upset, yes. She hadn't expected Luka to join the exercise and it had shaken her. Scared her, actually, if she was being honest. She'd never faced fire before, not dragon fire. And it had terrified her to her core that maybe she'd read Luka wrong, that maybe he'd used the opportunity to take a swing at her.

But more than that, embarrassment spread through her at how inexperienced she was. At how much it had shaken her. She should have been prepared, should have been ready for anything. Gods , she was so young. So unprepared. How was she going to help lead these people into battle?

She sat at the edge of the stream, gripping the ledge to try and calm her hands that trembled as the energy wore off, fighting off the way her stomach roiled. Between her own shakes, she felt vibrations coming up behind her.

"I'm cooling off, leave me al—" She turned to find Evelyn's honeyed eyes, her dark fur beautifully complex in the daylight. "Shit, sorry, I thought you were Taren." Aria returned her gaze to the water mindlessly. Evelyn gave a low grumble, somewhere halfway between a growl and a purr, and looked up at Aria expectantly. "I don't know what you mean by that," Aria said unemotionally.

Evelyn laid down next to Aria silently, her enormous paws dangling over the ledge, tail swishing behind her. Aria gave the panther a curious look. "Did you just come to check on me?" Evelyn gave her hand a small nudge with her wet snout, which surprised Aria so much she let out an incredulous laugh. "What, am I supposed to pet you? Is that what this is?"

Evelyn didn't pull away, so Aria ran her hand along the top of Evelyn's head between her rounded ears. The fur was so soft, so lush, it almost didn't register against Aria's skin. Evelyn nuzzled her head against the pressure, letting out a low purr. "You know what, I think this is actually helping," she laughed again—in shock that the woman was letting her be so close—before she dropped her hand back into her lap. They sat in silence for a moment before Aria asked, "How much did you see?"

Evelyn looked up at her, those bright gold eyes seeing right through her. "Enough, then," she answered her own question. "I don't know what got into me. I think I was just… stunned." She sighed. "I've never fought anyone. Not for real, anyway. I certainly didn't expect Luka to come out of nowhere spewing fire. I think it just scared me." She paused for a moment, thinking about what she wanted to say next, how much she wanted to say. She decided Evelyn didn't need to know about her talk with Luka the previous night and left it at that.

The panther scooted away from Aria and shifted, resuming her seat by the stream. "I get it," Evelyn said gently. "The first time I actually had to fight someone on a mission, I made a lot of mistakes. I—" she paused. "I ended up hurting myself in the process. I released a knife the wrong way and it skimmed my temple. It's how I got this scar," she pointed to the thin white line along her hairline, barely visible. Aria hadn't even noticed it until now. The woman's dark hair had always covered it. "I was lucky Finn was there with me, otherwise I probably would have bled out before we got back to the Academy. His father was a healer, so he picked up some basic knowledge and kept me calm while he carried me the entire way back."

Aria wanted to comfort her, to reach for her hand the way she'd sort of reached for Aria's, in her own feline way. But she refrained.

"Anyway," Evelyn continued, "Luka loves to catch you off guard," she laughed. "It keeps us all on our toes. We're better fighters because of it. Doesn't make him any less of an asshole, though. "

Aria gave the panther a small smile. "Asshole, indeed. I'm surprised to find you so close to the rest of us, I thought you would have been long gone by now."

"I went for a run, but decided to work on climbing for a bit and wanted to stay close in case I had a… repeat of the other day." Evelyn's smile fell in memory.

"That was a fluke thing," Aria said, shaking her head, finally giving in to the urge to rest her hand on Evelyn's corded forearm. "You're strong. Don't let it get to you."

Evelyn eyed Aria's tattered sleeve now in view, the pink, angry skin that rested beneath it. "I could say the same for you about today," Evelyn replied, using the corner of her cloak to gently pat Aria's wound dry. She lifted Aria's arm, inspecting it. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Better, now. Thank you. For checking on me."

"I know what it's like to doubt yourself. But you shouldn't," Evelyn said, now wiping at the excess blood along Aria's temple, careful not to touch the gash. "You're plenty capable. Don't let a couple of missteps take the wind from your wings, yeah?" Evelyn's mouth parted in concentration as she worked, giving Aria the perfect view of her full, sensuous lips. She brought the fabric to her lips, dragging it across her tongue before taking a final swipe over Aria's cheek. She gripped Aria's chin gently between her thumb and forefinger to inspect her work. Satisfied that she'd gotten it all, Evelyn sat back on her heels. "Good as new," she said with a wink.

Aria suddenly didn't care about her injuries or her training session-gone-wrong. All she could focus on was the swell of Evelyn's mouth. How good it would feel moving against hers. If the panther's goal was to take her mind off things, it had worked. Perhaps too well .

Focus. She dragged her gaze back up to Evelyn's eyes. The panther gave her a dangerous, knowing smirk. Yeah, she really needed to stop wearing her emotions all over her face. "I, uh, need to get back to training…" Aria mumbled unconvincingly.

"So soon?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow in a challenge. Well, no, she thought . She absolutely did not want to go back to training. But if she sat here next to this woman any longer…

"Best not to dwell and all that," Aria stood, backpedaling toward the trees, her heart pounding against her ribs. "Thanks. Again."

Evelyn's light laugh echoed in the clearing. "Any time, Princess."

***

Luka landed behind Evelyn in the small clearing where she remained sitting, enjoying the lullaby of the trickling stream. He'd seen Aria storm off through the trees and had planned to follow after her to apologize until he'd seen Evelyn emerge, and instead decided to watch the events unfold from afar.

Evelyn turned and acknowledged him with a nod as he shifted.

"That was nice of you," he said, surprise heavy in his voice.

"I'm nice sometimes, believe it or not," she muttered.

"I just didn't think you had it in you to comfort Aria, of all people. I'm glad to see you two finally getting along."

"What can I say? She's growing on me," Evelyn said with a shrug, eyes still focused on the stream where her feet dangled. But Luka noticed the hint of a smile playing on her lips.

"That's interesting."

"What?"

"Nothing," he grinned coyly .

"Spit it out," she demanded, finally facing him.

"I haven't seen you let anyone pet you but me. At least, not for a long time."

"My gods, how did you see that from way up there?" She rolled her eyes. "It's just a good way to calm people down, that's all."

"Yeah, but—"

"I thought you weren't the jealous type," she smirked, batting her lashes. "Do you miss petting me, Captain?"

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Don't be weird," he scoffed.

She cocked her head and studied him. " Oh . I see what this is."

"What what is?"

"It's not her you're jealous of. It's me, isn't it?" Her eyebrows raised. "I knew it!" she laughed, clapping her hands together.

He held up his hands in innocence. "Hold on, no—" Yes, he thought. Yes, of course he was jealous. He'd been trying for days to have a similar interaction with Aria, and every time she'd just closed herself off again. He'd watched the way Aria opened up to Evelyn, the way Evelyn had so easily comforted her in return. It hurt. He was lying through his teeth, and she knew it.

"You've had it written all over your face since dinner at your estate, Luka. She may not have noticed, but I know you. I know your tells." How? How had she felt it when he hadn't even admitted it to himself until after that night? He didn't protest any further. It wasn't worth trying to convince her otherwise. "It doesn't help that we've always had the same taste in people," she said. "We're both suckers for a challenge. Why do you think we were drawn to each other in the first place?" She leaned back on her hands and watched his face contort as he tried to come up with an excuse .

"We were drawn to each other for a lot of reasons," he retorted.

"But we never backed down from each other," she said, "which makes things a lot more exciting. Admit it, part of you loves the fact that she doesn't fawn over you like so many others at the Academy."

He thought about it. She had a point. Aria was, for the most part, the first person he'd ever had to chase. It made the forbidden thrill of her that much more exciting. But he didn't want to admit it, which he supposed just proved Evelyn's point even more. Damn it. "Listen, I just came to check in with you, I didn't ask for an interrogation," he said defensively.

"Now you're just mad because you know I'm right," she smiled.

"Gods, you're insufferable. I'm not mad, okay? And you're not so innocent yourself, you know."

She gave him her best virtuous doe eyes. "You're going to have to be more specific."

"Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"That, Evelyn. You know exactly what you're doing. You just did it to Aria, too. The poor thing didn't even know what hit her before she was weak in the knees."

"You, of all people, should know I wasn't even trying anything with her. I was simply caring for her in a time of need. Something I learned to do from the best," she gave him a soft, earnest smile that quickly turned nefarious. "But if you want to see me try—"

He was flattered by the compliment but wouldn't let that threat sneak past him. "We're not turning this into some sort of game, okay?"

"Of course not, that would be shitty," Evelyn scoffed .

"So, you truly want her?"

"Your words, not mine."

"Don't be a bud, Evelyn," he played the honesty card with no remorse. Now was not the time for her to be vague.

"Yes, Luka," she said, annoyed, "I want to get to know her. I think she's entitled to feel however she wants to feel about either one of us without the other interfering. Don't you agree?"

"Obviously—"

"Then don't come skulking out of the sky the next time I want to have a heart-to-heart with our little princess, you creep," she winked again.

Gods , she really knew how to rile him. He closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath to calm himself. She might be playing coy, but he knew Evelyn just as well as she knew him. She wouldn't poke this hard if she didn't actually want a chance to get to know Aria. And as much as it pained him that Aria hadn't accepted his advances, he wouldn't take that opportunity away from Evelyn.

"You can have your fun, but I'm not backing off," he said.

Evelyn's eyes twinkled wickedly. "Neither am I."