Page 73 of Wicked Dove
It’s like dealing with a petulant teenager, and I’m the actual nineteen year old here.
Irritated, I dart for the exit in silence with Kael at my side. He holds the door open for me and I mutter my thanks as I step back outside into the mid-morning sun. All of the students are gone, the field completely empty now, and worry churns in my gut.
I glance at Kael, trying to get a read on him, but it’s impossible. He does scrub at the back of his neck, and his shoulders are slightly deflated, but I have no idea what either of those things mean when it comes to him.
Clearing my throat, I fold my arms over my chest. “Every time I think I’ve met the most insane person here, someone else shows up to prove me wrong,” I grumble, and he snickers, eyeing the door we just stepped through. The sound is foreign from his lips, like it’s light and airy, without the usual weight his haunting chuckles usually carry.
“She’s something,” he mutters, and I twist my lips as I turn to face him head-on.
“Is she in love with him?”
He doesn’t seem surprised by my question, but he does try to shake me off. “He’s a lovable guy.”
“I’m worried about him,” I mutter, knowing the words are true, even if I can’t quite decipher where the concern is coming from.
He looks away from me. “We’re in Thirteen for a reason. We can handle ourselves.”
My eyes narrow, but he still doesn’t turn to look at me. “That’s bullshit.”
“We’re the bad guys,” he hums, stuffing his hands in his pockets as I sigh in frustration.
“He’s not a bad guy, he just does… questionable things.” That’s the best explanation for it. He stuck true to his word yesterday. A bad guy wouldn’t do that. I know a bad guy when I see one, and he isn’t one.
“You talk about how insane we all are, but you’re madder than mad,” he states, tilting his gaze in my direction, and I shrug.
“That’s almost a compliment coming from you.”
He offers me a half smile. “Were you this worried for me yesterday after I defended your honor?” he asks, and I blink at him.
“That had nothing to do with my honor and everything to do with your ego.” His jaw falls slack in surprise, an achievement I bask in accomplishing. “Don’t look at me like that. You spent all morning lurking over me, wrangling the little control you think you have. You weren’t bothered about that guy touching me because it’s me, you were jealous because he was touching something you thinkbelongsto you. But newsflash, Kael, I don’t belong to you. I don’t belong to anyone.”
My chest tightens, my emotions getting the better of me, and I hate how he has the ability to get under my skin at every turn, no matter how hard I try to fight against it.
I’m suffocating again.
Shouldering past him, I drop my hands to my sides, desperate to put some much needed distance between us. Every step I take is faster than the last until I’m on the pathway that leads toward the rest of The Vale, almost sprinting, but just as I think I’m home free, fingers curl around my wrist, halting me.
I whirl around, knowing who I’m going to face off with, but as my gaze latches onto Kael’s, I don’t anticipate the storm in his green eyes. Our chests are pressed together and my breathhitches as he leans forward, so close that the tip of his nose almost brushes against mine.
“Is that what you really think?” He searches my gaze with an intensity I’ve never seen before, seeking the truth.
“What else am I supposed to think? Ever since you agreed to be my guardian, you’ve waved it around at every opportunity. Yesterday was no different. If anything, it was the worst of it.”
“Yesterday, I watched that fucker hold you back. Do I do that? Yeah, but not with the same intention as he did. I didn’t hit him because of that, I’m not a hypocrite, for the most part. I did it because…” He gulps, his throat bobbing with something I can’t quite place as his eyes stare deeper into mine. “I was fucking furious. I’ve never been jealous, not of anything, not ever. Maybe that’s what it was, but I didn’t get a choice.”
My heart thunders in my chest as his words wash over me. What am I even supposed to say to that? Before I get a chance, someone clears their throat.
“Kael Forrester.”
I cut my gaze to the sound, surprised to find Professor Morton. She’s in a similar outfit to the first time I saw her, a long, navy skirt with a cream blouse tucked into it.
If she’s surprised by our close proximity, she doesn’t acknowledge it. She doesn’t even acknowledge my existence as she stares intently at Kael.
“Yes?” he bites, and she sighs, rocking back on her heels as she nods at him.
“The Sanctum will see you now.”
TWENTY-FOUR
