“I’d say you’re plenty dressed. Come on,” I said, beckoning her forward. “Join me.”
Arken scrunched her nose with distaste. “I’m pretty sure I’ve done enough core work this week to last me a lifetime, Kieran.”
I grinned wolfishly, holding her gaze as I slowly began to unwrap the Irrosi silk bindings from my palms. “Who said we were doing core work?” I purred, tossing the sweaty, arcana-inhibiting fabric toward the corner of the room.
She cocked her head, studying me with intrigue, those plush lips parting as Shadows began to coalesce in my palms. I was dragging the summon out for show, largely for her benefit. Call it foreplay, if you will. Once the daggers were fully formed, I jerked my head back, beckoning her forward again.
“Let me see those aetherblades, pretty girl.”
Arken’s eyes widened, and the ghost of a smile curled up one corner of her mouth, but she hesitated, sucking her lower lip between her teeth.
“Hey,” I said, immediately dispelling the daggers so I could raise my palms to emphasize my point. “Tell me to fuck off if you need to. There’s absolutely no judgment here, no shame if it’s too soon, Little Conduit.”
After Arken’s nightmares last night, I was eager to continue her training. That was something else my brother had taught me, once upon a time:“To conquer what haunts you, you must become stronger than what you fear.”
I wanted to help her get there. I wanted to help reset her subconscious mind with the confidence that she could defend herself. She didn’t need to rely on me, even if I had no intentions of ever leaving her side.
Arken shook her head quickly, as if to dispel her doubts. “No, not at all,” she replied, anxiety replaced by focused determination, a small crease forming between her brows as she eyed the absence of aether in my palms. “I’m ready.”
So eager.
I chuckled under my breath. “Go on, then.”
I’d be lying if I said my dick didn’t twitch when she summoned a twin pair of Light daggers to her palms with ease.
She really,reallyhad no business being this adept in physical arcana without ever having set foot in a formal instructor’s class. I don’t think she realized how insanely advanced she was for her age and education levels—both in control and in raw arcane aptitude.
That said, the ability to summon an aetherblade meant very little if you didn’t know what to do with it.
I braced myself this time, before I said it. “Good girl. Very impressive.” I held back a smirk over the way her body tensed up at my praise. And exactlywhereit had tensed up.
Good gods, I was going to have fun with that praise kink one of these days.
“Now what?” Arken asked, briefly releasing her blades into the aether so she could tie her hair back.
Good. She was taking this seriously. “Now, I want you to try to stab me,” I said with a grin.
“Excuse me??” she sputtered.
“You heard me.”
“Kieran, I’m not going to do that. I’m not—I’m not going to fuckingstabyou!”
I snorted. “Well, I knowthat.You couldn’t land a hit on me if you tried, Asher. But I still want you to try.”
My grin only widened as a wave of petulance passed through her expression, not-so-subtle irritation working her jaw as resolve burrowed its way across her brow.
I tried not to laugh. It was honestly too easy to bait her like this, and I wasn’t sure she’d figured it out yet. The number one way to get a woman like Arken to do something outside of her comfort zone? Tell her she can’t and then sit back and watch her prove me wrong.
Judging by the way her fingers flexed around the grips of her Light blades when they returned to her palms, she was actually quite annoyed. Maybe even a little mad at me for doubting her like that.
Good.
I had ulterior motives in this exercise, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. She didn’t need to know how desperate I was to get to know herdark side, to unearth just how deep that fascination with the Shadows ran. I knew my girl had teeth, and I wanted to see them come out to play sooner rather than later.
In an explosive motion that would have felt fast to anyone else, Arken launched herself at me with full force, ready to slash at me with her aetherblades to prove a point.
It only took a fraction of focus and energy to dodge her attack.