Chapter 14

14

“ D

o the exercise we talked about, Kasim !” Dax yells, watching from the sidelines.

I didn’t realize he had explained to Kas what to teach me. But it seems he is going off script and doing whatever he wants. If the gleam in his eyes tells me anything, it’s that Kas is enjoying kicking my ass too much.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I huff out, “ Yeah , Kas . Do what your prince told you to do.”

He shoots me a typical Kas glare from his position. “ I have been improvising. An enemy won’t care if you know how to perform a move or not. You should focus on protecting yourself instead of trying to get your sword to my throat.”

“ I’m trying!” I screech.

“ You are possibly the worst person I have ever trained,” he says with a smirk.

“ He’s trying to bait you, Snow Bunny ,” Ash shouts from the sidelines.

I know he is trying to bait me. That doesn’t stop me from bristling at Ash’s words. Seems Kas is back to normal after our talk the other day. I hate him. Well , I hate him right now. Groaning , I rub my shoulder. I really hate him right now. “ Thanks for the encouragement. Are you naturally this much of a pain in the ass, or do you try extra hard just for me?”

He shrugs as he gets back into his fighting stance. “ I may try a little harder just for you, Princess .”

I hear Bene yell, “ He’s normally this much of an ass.”

Kas’s attention shifts to Bene , and he arches a brow. “ Seriously ?”

Taking advantage of the distraction, I rush him. But before I can lift my sword to his throat, he spins and has his sword's edge to mine instead. Ugh !

His lips brush against my ear as he chuckles darkly. “ I’m a trained soldier. A minor distraction won’t give you an advantage with me, Princess .”

He removes the sword from my neck and backs up several steps. I’m convinced he’s not holding back an ounce of his training. He enjoys watching me fail each time he holds his sword to my throat.

Huffing out an exhausted sigh, I scuff the grass with the edge of my boot. Branimir saddles up beside me while I continue to pout and kick the grass. Looking up, I find him smiling softly, and he says, “ You are going to make it. This is only practice. The more practice you have, the better prepared you will be on the battlefield.”

Taking another deep breath, I glare at his smiling face. “ I think you are overestimating my skills here…”

He shrugs but continues to smile. “ I’m not overestimating anything. If you can beat Kas once, then you’ll be golden on the battlefield.”

“ He’s enjoying my suffering immensely, Mir ,” I whine.

He chuckles as he rubs my sore shoulders. “ I’m sure he is. But just think how elated you will feel when you finally beat him.”

Looking around the circle, I see Alair giving me a thumbs up. Rev stands with his arms crossed over his chest but offers me a nod of encouragement. Dax is wearing a look of concentration as if trying to gauge the situation. When he notices me looking, he gives me a wink.

I hear a whooping sound and find Ash acting as my personal cheerleader. I suppose with that kind of encouragement, I don’t have much choice but to quit my temper-tantrum.

With a final whimper, I move back into my fighting stance. My brain may say I need to continue this fight, but my body is groaning in protest with each movement.

Kas arches a brow. “ You ready, Princess ?”

I nod. “ As ready as I’ll ever be, Grumpy Man .”

I roll over again as I try to find a comfortable position on my bed. No matter how I lie, I’m somehow on a bruise. They are worth the pain, though, since I was able to get my sword to Kas’s throat one time. I was only able to do it once, but that doesn’t matter. I feel accomplished, having managed that.

Twisting in my sheets again, I let out a frustrated sigh. I’m not going to be able to sleep anytime soon. Briefly looking around my room, I jump up from the bed and put on a robe and slippers. I could walk the castle, I guess? Avoiding the areas with the creepy mirrors of course. Guards are stationed everywhere, so I don't exactly need someone to follow me around. Dax had also made it very clear that if any of the guards touch me, they will lose their lives. So , castle investigation while avoiding the creepy hallways? That seems doable.

I open my door just enough to peek my head out. I don’t see anyone, so I open it the rest of the way and step out into the hallway. Quietly closing the door behind me, I look to my left, then my right. Which way? Hum … I wonder if the kitchen has any leftover food. Oh ! Maybe they have some leftover desserts! I do love their spiced butter apples. My mouth waters at the thought. But I would have to pass by a few mirrors to get to the kitchen. I don’t give it much thought, just begin making my way there. I will just cover my ears and walk fast past the creepy mirrors.

On my way to the kitchen, I look for any open doors along the way. I may as well investigate while I can. It’s on the way anyway. I nod to the guards as I pass, each giving me a nod in return.

As I peek into one of the open doors, I have to do a double take. The room is softly lit with candles, and standing next to the bed is Kas . But this isn’t the Kas I normally see. His fingers are threaded in his hair, gripping it tightly, and swirls of darkness kiss his bare chest and weave around him through his cloth-covered legs.

When I quietly walk inside, I see that his eyes are squeezed shut, and his face is contorted in agony. I take a few steps closer and whisper, “ Kas ?”

His whole body jerks, and he growls, “ Get out.”

I know I should. I should run back to my room. But I can’t. As much as I want to deny that I care about this man, my heart won’t let me walk away when he’s in this much pain. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I step further into the room. I’ll take a chance that he won’t hurt me. I slowly make my way over to the edge of the bed and sit down.

A few wisps of darkness caress my skin, and I have to hold back a hiss from the sudden kiss of pure ice against my skin. Is this what he is consumed by right now? Complete and utter icy darkness? I shuffle a little closer so that I’m sitting right next to where he’s standing.

“ Get out,” he grunts.

“ No , I’m not leaving.”

Time passes as silence surrounds us. After taking a deep breath, Kas settles on the bed beside me. I shiver when the shadows kiss my skin. Peeking out of the corner of my eye, I see his shoulders droop and his head slump forward.

I debate if I should try to comfort him or not. He isn’t one to exchange niceties. Biting my lip, I decide to scoot a bit closer and lay my head on his shoulder. My body heat seeps out of me the moment of contact.

He stiffens, but he doesn’t push me away. I feel my cheeks heat as I whisper, “ I’m here. You can talk to me, or not, but I am here.”

“ Why are you here?” he rasps. He doesn’t sound angry or irritated, which is odd for him. Instead , he sounds exhausted, like he’s fought a thousand battles in his head during the last few minutes.

Taking a chance, I grab his hand to weave my fingers through his. I give it a squeeze as I say, “ Because I care about you, you asshole. I may not like you. I may even hate you… occasionally. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care. Even if I don’t really want to… sometimes.”

His body slowly relaxes the longer we sit in silence, and eventually, the wisps of his dark power begin to recede as he takes deep breaths. “ Why are you not in bed? You should be sleeping,” he asks, his voice rough.

“ I could ask the same of you.”

He grunts before replying, “ I … I don’t sleep. Much .”

“ Why is that?” I ask quietly.

I watch as his thumb caresses the top of my hand, and he answers, “ My mind is a scary place with the capability of being dark and demented.”

“ Is it not normal for villains to be plagued with dreams of that nature?” I try to joke, but it falls short as he stiffens. I squeeze his hand and quickly say, “ Ignore me. That was meant to be a joke. So , you don’t like your dreams?”

“ No ,” he murmurs.

Damn , I’ve ruined this. He was finally opening up, and I made him feel worse. Caressing the back of his hand in return, I ask, “ You are afraid of your dreams?”

“ Yes ,” he rasps.

Trying to think of anything to help get his mind off his dreams, I remember his tattoos. I reach my free hand up to run my fingers around the inked designs on his forearm. “ Do any of your tattoos have meaning?”

He’s quiet for a moment before softly replying, “ Not really. It was more of an escape.”

“ An escape?”

He huffs out a sigh. “ My head can be a pretty dark place, Princess . Getting these tattoos caused physical pain, which helped with the psychological pain.” He’s silent another moment, but then his fingers tighten around my own. “ But now that I’m saying it out loud, it sounds stupid.”

I squeeze his hand back. “ Not at all.”

He hums in reply, so I hum back. We sit in comfortable silence for a while longer before determination starts to fill me, and I can’t stay quiet anymore. My grumpy man is not acting like his typical grumpy self. So I'm going to fix it. Jumping up from the bed, I tug on his hand. “ Come with me.” He looks up at me, confused, and I can’t help but smile when I see his eyes are back to their normal dark hazel instead of black.

He sighs. “ Where are we going?”

I tug on his hand with a laugh. “ Come on!”

His eyes narrow, but he relents and lets me drag him into the hall. Glancing over my shoulder, I find he’s still glaring at me. I give him a wide smile, and he grunts.

“ Stop that.”

“ Stop what?”

He gestures to my face with his free hand. “ Doing that thing with your face when you’re happy. It’s making me nauseous.” Then he grumbles under his breath, “ This whole night is making me nauseous.”

I laugh as I drag him toward the kitchen. I'm still determined to find dessert. But my heart feels lighter when I hear his annoyance; it’s his version of normal. “ I hate you, Grumpy Man !” I say but can’t hide my giggle.

He huffs as he quietly says, “ Hate you, too, Princess .”

There’s a flutter in my chest at his words. Because this time, they don’t sound hateful. They weren’t filled with his normal venom. The way he spoke almost felt… affectionate?