Page 30 of The Claiming

The distance is deceiving and as we reach the middle of the river, my lungs are bursting. However, my determination to win overrides my body’s weakness and I suck it up and power through, matching Frankie stroke for stroke.

It’s an eternity before we reach the opposite bank and as Frankie pulls up out of the river, I’m touched when he reaches for my hand to help me out.

We catch our breath, shivering from the cold as we lie side by side and he gasps, “I consider that a draw.”

“Same.”

We share a grin and in this moment he is no longer my adversary, not so scary anymore and somebody I wouldn’t mind losing to in the challenge ahead.

He removes his sneakers and shakes the water from them and grins.

“It’s a good job I have several other pairs. These are only fit for the trash.”

I shrug, pouring the water from mine back into the river.

“They just need to dry out. Failing that, I have a reserve pair. The trouble is now–” I glance around and then whisper, “How the hell are we going to explain this when we walk back through the grounds of the academy?”

Frankie grins and it’s infectious. “Let them talk. Anyway, our house isn’t far. I’ll loan you some clothes and then you can sneak back to your dorm without anyone staring.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Once again, he reaches for my hand and pulls me up and as I dust the grass and twigs from my wet legs, I don’t even care what I must look like. I have just had the wildest adventure with a man I never expected to share it with.

* * *

We headto the house in a companionable silence and after a while, I whisper, “Thanks for the tour. I mean that. It helps.”

“You’re welcome.”

“But why? I still don’t understand why you’ve given me more of a fighting chance?”

He shrugs, his arm brushing against mine as we limp back along the path.

“If I didn’t, you would have gone there, anyway.”

“You don’t know that.” I hide my smile because, of course, I was going there.

“And now you have. Does it change your mind about the challenge?”

I shrug. “A little. I suppose it’s taken away the mystery and the fear.”

“You were afraid?”

He chuckles beside me, causing me to snap. “Wrong word. It wasn’t fear. I just don’t want to be chained to anyone. It’s a little archaic if you ask me, and I’m only doing it to give Siri a fighting chance at an ordinary life here.”

“You say an ordinary life, Cassie.”

Frankie sighs. “None of us have that, not in the real world, and you will be doing her a disservice in showing her another way. When she leaves, her destiny will be waiting and she may resent the freedom she was allowed because it would upset the order of things.”

I make to speak and he tugs me around to face him and I’m mesmerized at the pain in his eyes.

“We don’t get to enjoy a normal life. What is considered normal, anyway?”

He leans closer, his damp skin brushing against mine as he hisses, “Our parents didn’t live a normal life; they never did. The only choice we have is how we deal with it.”

He grasps my chin between his fingers and stares deep into my eyes and says huskily, “That is why we crave adventure. The unknown – the unattainable perhaps. We live like kings with the wealth our families enjoy, but our emotions are kept firmly in the background for a reason. We arenotnormal and never will be, so get used to that and stop craving something you can never have and would never want if you had it.”

He releases me and moves away, leaving me staring after him in surprise. I never expected that reaction and yet if anything, I like him more because of it.

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