Ethan stumbled over his feet in tiredness, and one slip up was enough.
The tip of my sword pressed into his throat and he halted, his eyes wide. He looked like he needed to swallow, but if he did the sword would pierce his throat. Not enough to kill him, of course, but he would bleed.
“I win,” I gasped, shoving damp strands of hair from my eyes. They’d come loose from my ponytail and had been driving me nuts, but I persisted.
I lowered my sword and he shook his head. “I shouldn’t be surprised and yet I am. You’re pretty remarkable.”
I glowed from his praise. Theo had trained me hard, and while he praised me, it wasn’t often and usually in his own gruff ways.
Though there were times when the pride literally ignited him—like when he was teaching me magic.
He’d been so proud then.
I wished he could see me now, how hard I was fighting.
For him.
Because of him.
It was always about him.
“Thank you,” I finally said. “I like sparring with you.”
He chuckled. “I think you’re better than me. Maybe you need to be teaching all of us.”
I shrugged. “I’m not that good, not yet, but I like it. It’s easy for me.”
“Mara’s a bad ass,” Adelaide exclaimed. “Bad ass,” she added with inflection.
I shook my head, trying to hide my smile.
“I’m not surprised,” Winston started. “She has that look about her.”
“What kind of look?” I asked breathless. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to catch my breath again.
“A huntress.”
“A huntress,” I repeated softly under my breath.
I’d never thought of myself that way. I always thought I was weak, and somehow less because I’d always thought I was human, like somehow that fact meant I was behind everybody else.
But maybe I was wrong.
Maybe I was stronger for it, because it made me work harder, fight longer.
I hung up my sword on the wall and fanned my tank top to cool my skin.
“How long did we go?” I asked Winston.
He glanced at his watch. “An hour.”
“Damn,” I cursed.
I couldn’t believe I’d held out this long. I guessed my stubborn streak wasn’t such a bad thing after all. Without it, I would’ve given up ages ago.
My arms felt like Jell-O, my shoulders ached, and my legs shook ready to give out at any second.
I glanced at Ethan, and he looked as bad off as me.
He too was drenched in sweat, and the veins in his arms stood out in stark contrast against his skin. His hair was damp and pushed away from his eyes. He glanced at me, cracking a smile as he tried to catch his breath.
As much as I wanted to start practicing more with magic, I couldn’t deny this was therapeutic in a way.
I also knew magic couldn’t win every fight.
After all, magic didn’t kill Theo, a sword to the stomach did.
“I know one thing,” Winston started with a wry smile, “I never want to get in a fight with Mara.”
I chuckled but it came out as a strangled sound since I still hadn’t caught my breath.
“I’m hitting the shower,” Ethan announced, hanging up his sword as well. He glanced down at me, his hair falling into his eyes. “You did good.”
“Thank you.”
I still had the feeling like nothing I did was going to be good enough, but at the end of the day I had to keep at it.
For me.
For Theo.
For this world.
“I don’t know how you do it.” Adelaide shook her head. “I suck at this.”
“It’s only been two days,” I reminded her. “And yesterday doesn’t even count.”
She frowned. “I feel like I’m letting my brother down. He was so skilled at this kind of thing and I’m … not.”
“It’s not easy, but you’ll get it. I know you will. And it’s not like he was perfect at it overnight. I’m sure he would’ve loved for all of us to think that, but he had to learn it too.”
She sighed. “I hope you’re right. I’m not as sure.”
“Theo’s been training me for months,” I paused, and swallowed. “He was training me for months. I have a leg up on you. He really focused on hand to hand combat more than swords, but it’s helped.”
Theo had made sure I learned to read my opponent like an open book, and he’d been right. If you knew what to look for you could find weak spots.
All you needed was to find one weak spot to gain the upper hand.
“I’ll help you if you want,” I told her.
She lit up. “Really?”
I didn’t know why she was so shocked. “Yeah, of course. We can start tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”
Training with Adelaide and Ethan would definitely help build my endurance. Plus, maybe I’d get through to Adelaide better. When she fought with Ethan she basically squeaked and ducked. She was intimidated by him. I understood why, too. He was tall and muscular, and he was a very good fighter. I knew I was lucky to have beaten him twice, but it would’ve never happened without Theo’s guidance.
“I’m gonna go shower if you guys don’t mind waiting.” I hesitated, giving them a moment.
“Nope go ahead.”
“Yeah, go on. Maybe Adelaide and I can work on climbing this wall.” Winston pointed at the rock wall.
“You think I can climb that?” Adelaide gasped.
“Sure you can. Race you?”
“Oh, you’re on.”
I shook my head and left the two of them to their race.
Jee was in the kitchen as I passed from the training room heading for the stairs. His eyes watched my movements, like each step I took was calculated and he needed to figure out why.
He seemed to be as wary of me as I was of him.
I headed up the stairs and took my shower. This day felt much the same as yesterday and it was mildly annoying, but I didn’t feel right to complain because we were training, and leaving this place wasn’t safe.
I hated being cooped up, staying in the manor all the time had nearly killed me, but I understood our safety was important.
Better to be stuck in here than dead.
Plus, I would be able to leave these walls eventually.
To breathe fresh air.
To practice magic.
I changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. It was simple, but I really didn’t care what I looked like. Twisting my hair into a knot, I secured it with an elastic. Dark circles surrounded my eyes when I gazed into the mirror above the dresser in the room I shared with Adelaide. I was sleeping okay, but it was restless. Lots of tossing and turning. I was surprised Adelaide hadn’t kicked me onto the floor yet.
I didn’t know how it was possible, but I thought I looked older somehow.
It was in my eyes. The hazel color reflected the sadness of someone who’d seen too much, lost too much, at their age.
Everything great in my life seemed to be slowly ripped away from me.
It made me fear the safety of Adelaide, Winston, and even Ethan.
Maybe my love was a curse, some sort of plague, wiping people out.
I wondered if I was meant to be alone, wandering aimlessly. The thought wasn’t appealing. I didn’t have many friends, never had, but I loved them with my whole heart. Having no one, I was sure the emptiness would suffocate me.
My heart already had an irreparable hole where Theo had been.
My dad too.
“You okay?”
I jumped at the sound of Adelaide’s voice.
“Fine,” I replied.
Fine.
What an ambiguous word.
Was anyone every really fine when they used that word?
I certainly wasn’t.
“You looked like you were lost in thought.” She closed the door behind her.
“Yeah, I … uh … was thinking.”
&
nbsp; “About what?” She dropped her towel and I turned away.
Adelaide didn’t really care about privacy, but I did.
“It’s not important.”
She made a noise like she didn’t believe me. “Jee ordered pizza,” she changed the subject. “I hope you’re hungry.”
I opened my mouth to say no I’m not, but my stomach came to a sudden and roaring life at the mention of pizza.
“Starving.”
“I’m decent,” she said, and I turned around to find her dressed in similar apparel, her towel clutched in her arms.
“Who won?” I asked.
She snorted. “Not me. I have weak little bird arms.” She pretended to flex her left arm and frowned at the weak muscle definition.
“You’ll get there.”
I knew she would, too, especially if she set her mind to it. Adelaide was a tough cookie.
“Enough chit-chat, food’s waiting,” she sing-songed as she swung the door open.
She danced down the hall to return her towel to the bathroom. I trudged behind her, shaking my head.
I wished I could be half as happy and carefree as she was.
Still, I knew she hurt.
I knew it in the way sometimes her shoulders would suddenly sag, or a crease would appear between her brow. She was just better at pretending than I was.
Then again, Theo was her brother, and he was my …
My protector?
My love?
He was so much more than those things.
He was everything.
He was the sun, and the moon, and every star in the sky.
He was a million tiny, teal fireflies flying overhead.
He was snuck glances and wishful touches.
He was intense kisses and sharp words.
And he was gone.
When we reached the downstairs, the guys were sitting around on the couch, paper plates in hand, with a greasy pizza.
The scene was normal, average, nothing extraordinary, but still nothing was normal.
Nothing had been since the day Theo crashed into me—literally.
My whole life had been upended and I’d thought I was prepared for it, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.
You couldn’t prepare for something like this.
For magic, and violence, and so much upheaval.
“Grab a slice and stop staring,” Jee scolded, not even looking at me.
I didn’t know how he knew so much, just that he did.
Maybe he had eyes in the back of his head or something. I wouldn’t be surprised.
I flipped the lid of the pizza box open on the coffee table and grabbed a slice.
I settled into the chair and Jee glared at me. “Don’t get sauce or your greasy fingers on my furniture.”
“Do you enjoy badgering people all the time?” I questioned with a raised brow, bringing the pizza to my mouth.
Adelaide sat on the floor, her legs tucked under the coffee table, eating her piece.
Jee tilted his head, thinking seriously about my question. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, which surprised me. “I never thought of it like I was being rude, but I am. I’m … I’m used to living on my own. Not even with Ethan, not for long at least, so having this many people here, in my space, is hard for me.”
Now it was my turn to apologize. “I’m sorry too. I never thought of it like that.”
Ethan had told us Jee lived alone, that he was paranoid, but I brushed it off.
It made sense, though, that Jee would be as uneasy having us here as we were being here.
We exchanged a small smile, and for a moment I believed, hoped at least, that everything would be okay.
I stared out the window, watching the snowflakes swirl through the air before falling gracefully to the ground.
January had bled into February and now it was the start of March.
In Minnesota, though, you could hardly tell spring was around the corner. It looked ages away.
Today was supposed to be the first day we ventured out to practice our magic, Ethan and Jee having finally determined we were as safe as we could be, but it felt like the snow was trying to confine us in here. To these bare gray walls. The snow fell faster, the flakes larger—there already had to be a few fresh inches, not to mention the leftover sludge from the previous snowfall.
In the last month, my muscles had bulked up immensely. I wasn’t anywhere near what Theo had been, or even Ethan, and I never would be, but for my small petite body I’d take it.
Fighting came easy for me. It was as natural as breathing, and I’d come to crave all our training sessions. In some ways, I was better than Ethan, but in others he was. We both learned from each other, and I liked that. It kept things from becoming stale.
I felt like I’d grown up a lot too since coming here—almost as if I’d aged a few years in a matter of weeks. In a way, I’d had to do a lot of growing up.
“You ready to go?” I jumped at the sound of Winston’s voice.
I turned away from the window, wrapping my arms around myself.
“We’re going? I thought the snow would stop us?”
He shook his head. “No, Ethan said he put a charm on it, sorta like they had at the school, to keep the snow from the area we’ll be in. He said it won’t be warm, but no snow is better than snow.”
I looked down at my loose sweater falling off my shoulder and pair of plain black leggings.
Ethan and Jee had been forced to go shopping for the three of us since it wasn’t right for him to keep conjuring stuff.
“I better change,” I mumbled.
Winston watched me carefully, studying every movement I made.
I wanted to call him on it, to lash out with words, but I knew he wasn’t my enemy. I’d been worse to him than he had to me. I’d hurt him and he’d always been nothing but kind. He was probably worried about me. I supposed I was doing a little better, but I still hurt. Theo’s loss had me feeling off balance, like I’d lost a foot or something vital. My body yearned and ached for him in a way that wasn’t normal grief.
Passing Winston, my shoulder bumped his slightly on accident. He stared after me as I jogged up the steps faster than normal.
The apartment was quiet, Jee was painting the last I saw, and Ethan and Adelaide must’ve been in the garage already—leaving Winston to fetch me.
I closed the bedroom door behind me and it latched with a quiet ting.
Adelaide and I had made ourselves at home, having to clasp onto some sort of normalcy, so I rifled through the dresser drawer for a pair of fighting leather and a long sleeve black shirt, then plucked a pair of boots from the closet.
It didn’t take me long to change and then I was dashing back downstairs.
Winston waited at the bottom of the stairs, shoving his sandy brown hair from his eyes. It had grown longer and even shaggier in the last month. It was in desperate need of a trim, but the look sort of suited him.
He clucked his tongue when he saw me. “We can’t have this.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and glanced down at my outfit.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, but it’s missing something.”
He headed down the hall and opened a closet. He pulled out a thick piece of black fabric and handed it to me.
“What is it?” I asked stupidly. “A blanket?”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, silly, a cloak. Every good enchanter needs a cloak.”
“A cloak,” I whispered in surprise, unfolding the fabric.
I slung it around my shoulders and tied it in the front. It was long, drifting behind me on the ground like a train on a wedding dress. I brought the hood up and looked at Winston.
“How do I look?”
He smiled, his crooked teeth showing. “Like a bad ass.”
I felt like a bad ass but I didn’t say it out loud.
“We better go before they ditch us,” he said, grabbing my hand to pull me toward the elevator.<
br />
I pulled my hand from his and he glanced at me.
“I-I’m sorry,” I muttered, clasping my hands in front of me.
“It’s okay,” he said, but his eyes said it wasn’t. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know.” And I did, but it still felt weird.
His hand wasn’t the one I wanted to feel.
I closed my eyes, and if I thought hard enough I could picture Theo standing in front of me, arms crossed over his chest, black t-shirt pulled taut. His dark brows scrunched together, black curls falling into his eyes, and that perpetual scowl I hated but had come to love.
Ding.
The elevator lift stopped in front of us and we stepped on, Winston closing the doors behind us.
We stood silently as it moved down to the garage and as we stepped off, a black vehicle blinked its lights at us, scaring me.
When my eyes adjusted to the dark nature of the garage I saw Ethan in the driver’s seat and Adelaide beside him.
Winston and I climbed into the back of the all-black Range Rover—a vehicle I actually recognized since Dani’s mom had one.
Dani.
I hadn’t thought of her in months, too wrapped up in my strange new world, but an ache filled my chest all the same.
I missed her, and worried about her too. I was fearful something would happen to her because of me and it was the last thing I ever wanted.
“Whose car is this?” I asked, snapping my seatbelt into place.
“Jee’s,” Ethan answered, glancing in the rearview mirror at us.
“What happened to the other one? The one we came in?”
He backed out of the parking space and drove toward the exit. “Jee and I took it to a junkyard and had it crushed,” he explained.
“Whoa, that seems kind of … drastic.”
He chuckled, turning right out of the garage. “We couldn’t be sure whether the car was traceable, so we figured it was better to get rid of it.”
“Oh, makes sense.”
I glanced out the window at the city streets. People strolled along in heavy coats with cups of coffee in their hands. It all looked so simple and easy.
I missed being human—though I was never actually that. I supposed more than anything I missed the naivety of not knowing a whole other world existed alongside it. Things were simpler.
Now, my life was a whole big question mark with some purpose I had no idea how I was supposed to fulfill since I didn’t even know what it was.
Covet Page 5
