A Dance Of Crowns & Thrones | Book I

Chapter 33 | "There's A Lot Of Grey Area In That."

"Not cool, Miss."

Her stomach was in knots, the kind that made it unbearable to breathe truly, the kind where you wrap your arms around your body, conscious of keeping yourself standing while you are in an intolerable fit of laughter.

"I-I- just," barely able to breathe the words out between the consumings of the situation, "what was that?" rising to see the composed man folding his arms across his chest. Matthew had been unimpressed with the blindside attempt to get rid of him.

"You have them completely wrapped around your finger! I will give you a solid four gold stars for what I just saw."

Matthew rolled his eyes at the cackling woman; he stepped forward towards the side of the arena, grabbing the tablet as he began the program.

"Four gold stars, this fucken smartass," he muttered.

"Uh-huh!" Eko straightened up from her fit of laughter, watching the man at the tablet, "and, by the way, we aren't even here tomorrow?"

"Catch on quick, don't ya," grinning to himself, he continued away with the tablet, "besides, I am not involved with her in any form, so I do not need to tell her when I am coming and going."

"You told me today where you were going?"

"Yes," nodding without pause, he turned back to her with a bland look, touché to that his mind contemplated, "well, I do have the courtesy to my guests Eko."

"So, I'm a guest?"

Matthew shrugged, unable to answer; Eko was captivated by the activation of the soft, warm lights on the floor before her. Gradually, they surrounded them, and the whole arena was a field of dim-litted lights.

"You can be a guest until you decide what you want to do," Matthew proposed.

"Interesting," she coyly began, watching the arena, "there's a lot of grey area in that."

"You are going to be dangerous to my health, aren't you?" cocking his head to the enigma of the woman in his presence.

The brunette stood back on her heel, studying him, triumphant almost, gloating with that smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"I've been known to be."

Shaking his head, Matthew stepped forward and waved his arm, indicating the world that was transforming before them.

"This is what our elites train in," Matthew began, and with the technological advancements of the academy, the training arena unfolded before her, built to a specific design that was requested.

She didn't anticipate how advanced it had been as it took form, resembling a place rather than just an arena. It appeared that they couldn't entirely interact with the scene, but she still felt like she was being drawn into what she had seen before her.

It eclipsed her senses when a now long grassy field was at her ankles, and a magnificent navy blue sky shone above, a perfect spring day if she had ever seen one.

This arena was nothing but an impressive stretch of green land for as far as she could see.

"This is basic 101 in training that we will begin with," Matthew began, removing the basic hooded sweater from over his head and nearly his shirt, a simple black tee.

Eko, of course, in a moment of watching the jumper being removed, was gifted with the sight of his phenomenal upper body. The way his broad shoulders sprawled, or that his forearms and biceps were stretching his black shirt made it incredibly hard not to say fuck it to training and simply fuck him instead.