The boys give each other a funny look before discreetly rushing out the door.
I giggle to myself as I get back to loading my uniform up with weapons. Feeling a million times heavier, I walk out of the store room and have a quick look around. Still no sign of Rylan or Brett. Curiosity eats at me as I spy the door they talk behind. Damn, doesn’t look like they are coming out anytime soon.
I head back up to my room, making sure to knock on the door before I barge in. Hearing nothing come from inside, I push the door open and peek my head through. Thank god, the room is empty, Trey must have whisked Jacinta away to his room.
I go straight to my wardrobe and rip open my underwear drawer. I search through until my fingers close around the cold metal of Rylan’s dagger that he had given me before we went into battle. I study its designs and run my fingers over his initials that are etched into the hilt before I put it in place on my uniform.
I glance at the clock and realize I only have a few minutes before I’m due for my morning training session with Rylan, so I rush down to the cafeteria, grab myself a banana and head off to the gym.
I find Rylan already in the gym, pacing the floor with his head down, so lost in his own thoughts he doesn’t even realize I’m here. “Hey,” I say, making his head whip around in surprise. “You good?”
He doesn’t answer, just pulls his lips into a tight line and gives a slow shake of his head. “Start stretching,” he says, clearly not ready to talk about whatever it is that’s bothering him which I’m positive has something to do with Brett.
I sit down on the floor and get straight into my stretching routine. Rylan takes a seat on the bench in front of me while he waits. Not saying anything, just watching me stretch.
As soon as I’m done, we get straight into it. After twenty minutes, I’ve managed to flip him onto his back twice, get a kill shot through to his heart with a training dagger and managed to trip up his footing, something that has never happened before. After that, my concentration is completely gone. We’re not getting any useful practice done here.
“Stop,” I say, dropping my hands and stepping back. “I can’t concentrate when you’re like this”
He lets out a deep sigh. “Sorry, I know. I’m not all here,” he says as he sits down on the workout bench.
I climb up and straddle his lap and run my nails through his hair. He closes his eyes as my nails massage his scalp. “You’re the one always telling me to open up. Maybe it’s time for you to do the same,” I whisper.
He reaches up and catches my hands in his, bringing them back down between us. “Brett’s sick,” he says almost in confusion as he looks down at our linked fingers.
“By sick, I’m assuming you don’t mean the flu?” I ask as I feel my mood plummeting to rock bottom.
“No,” he says giving me an encouraging small smile. “He’s dying.”
“Shit,” I whisper as my head drops forward.
We’re both silent for a short while before Rylan drops the biggest bomb. “He wants me to come forward and take over Leadership.”
“What? That’s ridiculous. He already knows it’s not something you want to do.”
“You’re right, he does know,” he says. “But the candidates in line to take over are old school. They’re like Marcus. Every day would be the Dark War over and over again in their mission for dominance over the supernatural races. The Front lines would be seen as disposable pawns in their war,” he explains.
“Shit,” I groan, searching his eyes for some kind of answer. One, he clearly doesn’t have yet. “How long do you have to decide,” I ask.
“Not long,” he tells me. “Brett’s refusing medical attention so he’s going downhill fast.”
“What?” I ask confused. “Why?”
“The moment The Guard discover he’s unwell, he’ll be removed from his duties. He’s waiting for me to make a decision and depending on what I say, he will call a meeting and let them know about his disease so he can then get medical attention,” he explains.
“What are you thinking?”
“Honestly, I have no fucking idea. I literally have the fate of our people on my shoulders,” he tells me as he looks up at me with lost eyes. “What do I do, Bianca?”
“Is there really even a choice?” I tell him. “I’m going to support you either way, but I think we both know what the right thing to do here is.” He lets out another sigh and leans his forehead forward against mine. “Why don’t you sleep on it and talk it over with Brett,” I suggest.
He doesn’t say anything, just lifts his head from mine with gratitude in his eyes, finally looking a little more at peace. He opens his mouth to say something when the door flies open with Ms. Peterson barging into the gym.
I try my best to scramble off Rylan’s lap, but it's no use. She’s right there gaping at us and she’s not happy.
Chapter 11
“Get off him now,” Ms. Peterson demands as her eyes flick between us both. Rylan stands from the bench and I let my feet come to the ground. I take a step away from him and face Ms. Peterson. She narrows her eyes at me in anger. “I come down here to see how you’re going, thinking that this morning’s talk of the Fey would have been hard for you and instead, I find this,” she spits as her eyes flick between us again. “How long has this been going on?”
“Not long,” I lie as Rylan comes out with, “A while.”
I cringe as I watch Ms. Peterson close her eyes and take slow, deep calming breaths. She opens her eyes and steps towards us. “This ends here,” she demands. “I will not allow either of you to make a mockery out of my academy and tarnish its reputation.”
I look down at the ground, unable to look her in the eye any longer. “Your morning sessions are suspended from this point on. Apart from your afternoon combat training, you do not see or speak to each other. I do not care that you are over eighteen and both consenting adults,” she says. “If I find out that these rules have been broken in any way, you will both be out of here.”
“Yes, Ms. Peterson,” I say, quickly glancing up at Rylan who looks down at me with a million messages in his eyes.
“I should have known when you went after her,” she says with a shake of her head, referring to when Rylan came to rescue me from the Fairy Kingdom. “Now I think about it, it’s so blatantly obvious,” she says in outrage.
She takes another calming breath before focusing back on us both. “I do not care what you do following graduation, that is none of my business. But for now, this relationship will cease to exist. Who else knows?” she demands.
We both instantly answer. “No one,” we say, not wanting to get anyone else in trouble for our actions.
“Good. Keep it that way,” she says, turning on her heel and heading for the door, yelling over her shoulder. “Get your things, Bianca. You’re finished in here.”
With a sigh, I grab my things and look back at Rylan. “Bad things happen in three’s right? It couldn’t get much worse than this,” I shrug.
“Out. Now,” Ms. Peterson demands from the door.
Shit.
I rush out the door, knowing I’ll see Rylan in my afternoon class. It’s only two weeks. That’s not so bad. We can manage that. It just sucks that it’s come at such a bad time.
I exit the gym and let out a shaky breath. Holy shit. That could have been so much worse than what it was.
Ms. Peterson gives me one last nasty glace before we part ways, muttering about how she should never have allowed Rylan to attend my Navigation test.
I rush back up to my room, happy to find Jacinta coming out of the shower. She takes one look at me and instantly knows something’s wrong. “What is it?” she demands.
I tell her all about my morning as I get ready for classes. I leave out the part about Rylan and Brett, as so far, that has remained a secret. Not a soul in this world knows who Rylan’s father is and that’s the way it will stay unless Rylan chooses to take over leadership, then I’m sure the word will get around pret
ty damn fast.
My day drags by so slowly and I’m relieved when I finally make it to combat training only to have my mood shot back down again when I find Ms. Peterson waiting inside the room, apparently here to shadow our afternoon class which is a load of crap, I know exactly why she’s here.
I stand front and center, studying a mark on the floor as Rylan gives out today’s instructions not allowing myself to show the least bit of affection towards him.
He sends us off in pairs to work on our martial arts kicks and lucky me, I’m paired with Brax who gives me a grin before running off to grab some protective padding. Daniel comes and slings his arm over my shoulder while we wait for our partners to return. “Why was Ms. Peterson glaring at you earlier?” he asks in a low whisper.
“Because she caught me and Rylan in the gym this morning,” I tell him.
“Having sex in the gym?” he laughs. “Shit. I never took him for a risk taker.”
“No,” I groan, elbowing him in the ribs. “We were just talking… in a compromising position.”
“Right, so I’m assuming she’s not actually here to see how much we’ve improved,” he comments.
“Nope, not in the least. We told her no one knew, by the way, and if she sees anything incriminating, we’re both out of here,” I warn him.
“Shit, Bianca,” he scolds.
“Tell me about it,” I groan as Brax comes back and drags me over to a training mat.
We get straight into our training and I notice how Rylan stays way over the side of the room, letting Ben take over my side. I groan knowing that this is exactly how it’s going to be for the last two weeks of school. Ms. Peterson will be randomly dropping in at any point of the day and I need to make sure both mine and Rylan’s futures will be safe when that time comes.
So, from now on, my morning training will be out in the cold, where I’ll train by myself. Any combat questions will go through Ben, all cheeky and longing glances will be kept to a minimum because let’s face it, it’s impossible not to look at that man, and last but not least, no more sneaking in through his window in the middle of the night.
The next two weeks are going to suck. Knowing he’s so close but not being able to go to him. Especially with everything that’s going on with Brett, he will most likely want to talk things through and I won’t be there for him.
Oh, and don’t forget the threat of being under attack by the Fey.
This sucks.
The only thing I’ve got going for me is the yearly examinations that start first thing Monday morning. They’re going to be awesome. Well, apart from the written exam, that’s another thing that will suck, but I’ll still ace it. The trials are the exciting part. Much like the half yearly trials, we’ll have a target skills exam, which I’ll also ace, a fight against an instructor to show detail to technique, but the best part is the Time Trial.
We are required to complete an obstacle course which is going to be filled with fake super natural attacks, there will be shooting targets along the way, sprints, upper body challenges, pretty much anything you can imagine will be included. It’s one of the biggest events of the year and everyone will be coming to watch.
Fingers crossed, this will keep my mind off not being able to see Rylan.
----------
It’s been a week and I’m dying. He is so close, yet so far away. I hate it.
But on the bright side, I haven’t stepped one foot wrong, so at least, I’m still here.
It’s Monday morning and I’m dragging myself back from another useless training session, held by me. It would have been successful had I found a willing partner, but apparently finding someone to train with at 7 am is actually quite hard to come across, though, I guess that’s why I’m going to be ranked top in the class and no one else.
I push through my door to find Jacinta completely freaking out, running around the room like a crazy person. “What’s going on?” I ask as I fall down on my bed in an exhausted heap.
“I can’t find my lucky pen,” she groans as she falls to her knees and starts rifling under her bed.
“You have a lucky pen?” I laugh, only to be hit in the face with a flying shoe.
“Yes,” she spits. “I have a lucky pen and I can’t go to my FEDS exam without it. I need that pen,” she practically yells as her breathing begins to pick up.
“Ok,” I say, pulling her up off the ground and sitting her on her bed. “I’ll help you find your damn pen, just calm down, alright. You’re freaking me out.”
She lets out a deep breath. “It’s that blue one with the fuzzy thing on top that bounces back and forth when you flick it,” she says. “You know the one. You use it all the time. Trey got it for me on our first date because I said it was cute.”
Yep. She’s right. I do know the one. I know it because it’s sitting in the bottom of my bag. I walk across our room and search my bag. I immediately find the offending pen right where I thought it would be then turn to my friend with the guiltiest expression and hand it over.
“Oh, my god,” she squeals, jumping up from her bed and yanking the fuzzy blue pen out of my fingers. “If I wasn’t so relieved right now, I’d be so mad at you,” she tells me as tears of relief begin pooling in her eyes.
“I know,” I tell her. “There’s no need to cry about it,” I laugh.
“I can’t help it,” she says. “I miss Trey so much. I’ve barely seen him all week thanks to you.”
“What?” I gasp. “How is that my fault?”
“Because every time Trey is about to sneak through our window he catches Ms. Peterson doing laps by our room. Not to mention, she’s dropped in to check on you a million times, then gets the dorm matron to check as well.”
“Yeah… sorry about that,” I cringe.
“Don’t worry. It’s just one more week and then we’ll be able to see each other 24/7.”
“Funny. That’s what I keep saying,” I laugh.
She rolls her eyes as she finishes getting ready then drags me out the door for a good breakfast.
I sit in the cafeteria, moping as usual, when I feel an intense gaze upon me. I look up to find my favourite gold speckled eyes staring back at me. ‘I love you’, he mouths to me from across the room, making my insides twist with butterflies.
‘I love you, too’, I mouth back, earning myself the most unbelievable smile you could possibly imagine.
‘Good luck’, he tells me before grabbing a water bottle and leaving the room. God, how is it he knows exactly what I need, right when I need it?
I finish off my breakfast in a much better mood, feeling ready and prepared for this exam.
Four hours later, I come out of the exam room and I know I killed it. I feel it in my bones. I spend the next few hours with Jacinta before going down to the shooting range for the target skills examinations and just like the half yearly’s, I killed that too. I come out of there with an accuracy average of 99%, laughing as I recall the priceless look on Rylan’s handsome face.
Yeah, anything he can do, I can eventually do too. Though, I know this means he’ll be back in the shooting range doing everything he can to get his average up to 100%.
The next few days go by in a blur as I wait for my technical fight on Thursday, which I’m hoping will be against Rylan and then my time trial on Friday. My mind spins with worry as I don’t have my morning sessions to vent out all my questions and I’ve been doing everything on gut instinct, which for me, really isn’t helping my nerves.
I toss and turn in bed on Wednesday night, struggling to get to sleep as my afternoon combat session plays on my mind. I know for a fact I messed up three kicks and I won’t be able to sleep until I’ve fixed it. I climb out of bed and rip the curtain open to let the moonlight flow into the room. I push the furniture around as quietly as possible, clearing a space in the middle of the room while making sure I don’t wake up Jacinta.
I practice for a few minutes, but it just isn’t the same as having a partner. On Jacinta’s third
grunt of frustration, I grab a hoodie and slip out the window and try my best to pull the curtains closed behind me before closing the window.
A desperate need to go to Rylan surges through me, especially since I saw his frown from across the room as he watched my shocking performance during training today. I know he’ll have the answer as to what I’ve been doing wrong, but I have to work this out without him.
I creep over to Trey and Daniel’s room and knock on their window. A very disgruntled Trey pulls the window open and groans as he rubs his eyes. “What the hell do you want? Have you got any idea what time it is?”
“Sorry,” I cringe. “Get me Daniel.”
“He’s with Nora.”
“Shit,” I murmur. “Any chance you would want to help me train?”
“You’re kidding me right?” he says in a flat tone.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I say. “Why do you think I’m asking for Daniel instead?”
He shakes his head in exasperation and rubs a hand across his chest as he sends me on my way with a yawn.
I creep up to the window which I’m hoping is Nora’s, otherwise, I’m about to dig myself a very deep hole. I briefly consider dragging a stick across the window just to freak her out a bit first but then Daniel definitely won’t agree to help me. I gently tap on the window until Daniel finally shows his face and looks down at me in confusion. “What the hell is going on?”
“I need help,” I shrug as innocently as ever.
“Go away,” Nora groans from within the room. “Come back to bed,” she says to Daniel.
Ugh. I roll my eyes, pleased that Daniel wouldn’t be able to see it in the dark. “Help you do what?” he asks curiously.
“I need to work on my kicks,” I tell him. “You saw how off they were during training today.”
“You want to work on that now? You realize it’s the middle of the night?” he asks.
“Yeah, hence why I’m at the window like a creeper rather than banging down the door,” I tell him. “Please. I can’t sleep until I’ve fixed it, especially with the technical fight tomorrow.”
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