I don’t really have friends.
“I’m your friend,” I said with a glare, a bit hurt.
I didn’t care that he slept around. A tiny part of me was admittedly jealous, but I didn’t resent him for his choice in stress relief.
“You’re my best friend,” he agreed. “Apologies, Asher. You know that you’re the exception to most of my rules. And I’m lucky to have you around.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, you never know when you need someone to pull a knife on the heir of the House of Clay to defend your honor,” I joked.
His eyes darkened briefly before returning the smile.
“Yeah, do me a favor? Never do that again, woman.”
“No promises.”
He groaned, and I gave him a winning smile.
I mean really, what did he expect?
Chapter Forty-Four
Kieran
“I fucking hate you, Kieran,” Arken groaned, those golden doe eyes brimming with murderous intent as I held out my standard-issue pocket watch.
I grinned as I glanced down, still counting the seconds.
“Might I remind you that youaskedfor this?”
The only reason that either of us were here right now, borrowing an empty training room at the Elder Guard’s headquarters after my shift ended, was becausesomebodygot it in her head that she had to test into a third-year course as a first-year Conduit.
“I asked for help with strength and endurance training,” she grumbled. “Not cruel and unusual punishment.”
“This is hardlypunishment,” I countered—though I could think of a number of ways that Icouldpunish her, given the opportunity. I bit the inside of my cheek, attempting to cast out that particularly distracting, admittedly recurring train of thought. “I’m going easy on you, Asher. Thirty more seconds, you’ve got this.”
“You’ve got this,” she mimicked in falsetto, rolling her eyes as she continued to hold the plank position, albeit a smidge shakily as the seconds ticked by.
We were focused on core work today—arguably the most vital element of prep training for something like Physical Arcana… and she absolutely hated it. Which, in all honesty, only made this more entertaining for me. I fucking loved that sharp and wicked tongue of hers. Especially when it was pointed in my direction.
“Keep that energy up, you little brat, and we’ll go back to running circuits.”
If there was one thing Arken hated more than core work these days, it was cardio. More specifically, running. But I think that had more to do with the fact that we had to run outside, which of course came alongside the risk of being both sweaty and perceived by the general public.
She swore under her breath, and then furrowed her brow, fixing her gaze to the floor with a shaky exhale.
“Ten. Nine. Eight…Aht—Lift those hips back up. There we go. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. Aaaaaand one,” I said, chuckling beneath my breath as she dropped unceremoniously to the training mat beneath her. “Nice work, Little Conduit.”
“Nice work, Little Conduit,” she mimicked again, the high-pitched, snarky tone making my palm twitch. “Can we go back to sparring exercises now?”
“Maybe if you ask nicely,” I purred, snapping the watch shut and shoving it back into the pocket of my trousers. Though I had shed my coat, I was technically still in uniform.
“You’ve already got me on my knees, Captain,” Arken crooned back. “What more do you want?”
Fucking Hel, she was such a little menace. As time went on—the more comfortable Ark and I seemed to get with one another—the closer she and I seemed to drift towards slipping casual flirtation and innuendo in damn near every conversation. We had kept our promise, though—we’d kept things platonic. But Fates above, when she said shit like that…
Keep it in your pants, asshole.