Page 37 of Ecliptic

Rowen tensed. “You spoke with him alone?”

“I wanted to ask him about that night.”

“What did he say?” my soul flame asked as he raked a hand through his hair, his muscles rippling and flexing with the movement. My whole body flushed, first with desire and then with rage. How cruel to have a half-naked god in my bedroom—one who loved me, would die for me—yet couldn’t touch me?

It seemed I was suffering from more than one dry spell. Not only was I deprived of water, I was deprived of my soul flame. Being in Rowen’s presence, so near yet untouchable, was its own kind of cruel thirst. Much like the glittering ocean in the middle of a drought, they were both beautiful and tempting, yet ultimately off-limits.

I reeled in my thoughts with a deep breath. I couldn’t afford another panic attack.

“He acted like he was sorry and was weirdly concerned that you can’t touch me. But when I asked him why he was still here, he refused to answer,” I said as I changed into a silky chemise and crawled into bed. I was beyond exhausted, cranky, and just downright pissed. I didn’t want to think, or fight, and I couldn’tfuck. Sleeping was all I could do. “I can’t tell what angle he’s playing at. But if he wants to rot in a cell, that’s fine by me.”

“You can still try talking to Takoda,” Rowen offered as he crawled into bed beside me.

“Talking leads to thinking,” I said, rolling away from him and pulling the plush blankets up to my chin, fighting the tears in my eyes. Rowen could go and talk his little heart out. I wouldn’t be participating.

He whispered, “Goodnight, I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered back. Maddock’s smug face was the last thing I saw before sleep consumed me.

16

The next day, Rowen and I headed to the training grounds. Out of habit, I fell into my familiar running stretches.

Before I could even settle into my third pose, Dyani appeared like the flash of a blade you didn’t see coming until it was too late. “I want to resume your training,” she said, her silver hair down and flowing, accentuating her light brown skin. “Whatever this is,” she gestured to my stretch, “it isn’t going to help you in combat.”

My eyes narrowed, and I contemplated saying no, but I knew turning her down would end any relationship we could ever have. So I met her guarded stare and said, “I accept.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” Rowen said as he left the field, and I wondered if he would watch from a distance. He had observed my first lesson with Dyani, and it had been utterly humiliating as she knocked me to the ground again and again. The sting of each fall echoed in my palms, knees, and ego.

“Is this going to be a repeat of last time?” I asked, remaining in the stretch she found so distasteful.

“It was careless of me to start you on your journey and then abandon you. I can’t have people thinking this is my work,” shesaid, making a face and gesturing to my whole body. I realized all the training had stopped as everyone turned their attention to my interaction with the Wyn’s most fearsome warrior. “I’ve seen what you can do, and it’s atrocious. Most of it is just dumb luck.”

“Was it luck when I took you down?” I asked, standing to meet her head-on.

“Watch it.”

“Too soon?”

“How about I teach you the proper forms before you start bragging? You look like a youngling with a stick.”

I tied my hair back. “Should we pick up where we left off?”

“How about we start at the beginning,” she said, tying her own hair into a high ponytail.

“Great. So I’m reverting?”

“I’m not trying to get on Nepta’s bad side. These movements technically fall within her parameters of you not overdoing it,” she said as she adjusted her red jerkin, and I noticed she wasn’t wearing her fighting leathers or weapons. “We need to start at the beginning. It’s where we should have started in the first place."

“What’s the beginning?” I asked skeptically.

“The Five Phases of the Moon.”

“That sounds fun!”

“It’s not. It’s a life-long and studied discipline.”

“Oh. Right.”

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