His eyes narrowed a fraction, but he conceded. Mostly.
"Take a shower, I need to gather a few items then we'll depart." Not giving me an opportunity to argue, he turned and swooped down to grab hold of his trousers. "Feel free to help yourself to anything from the closet," he added over his shoulder as he strode out of the room with my glare pointed at his pasty ass.
Once he was out of sight, my eyes lowered to the crystal I was tightly clutching by the chain. When the sound of the door leading out of the other room opening and closing reached me, I relaxed a breath and loosened my hold. I felt the chain peel from the imprint it left on my palm as I lifted the crystal in my other hand, once again noting how easily it moved.
If I hadn't felt the moment of blinding pain, I wouldn't have known that the asshole had broken my hand for a second time.
Except, he didn't do it because he was an asshole. It would have been easier to hold onto my anger if that was the case.
Lifting the chain over my head, I placed it around my neck, letting the portal key drop to rest against the warmth in my chest. Grabbing hold of the dirty towel, I made my way into the washroom to drop it into the hamper and retrieved a fresh rolled-up one from the rack beside it. It was always restocked whenever I returned from the barracks with sore muscles and eyes that were tired from the effort it took to keep them open through Rowan's lessons. But I couldn't complain, not when I knew how much worse it could be.
Shuddering at the memory of the workout that would have been better classified as torture, I made my way toward the shower. While doing so, my growing awareness of sticky mess slicking my inner thighs had me wondering which memory was worse to dwell on.
Definitely the one that had no pleasure to soothe the pain.
* * *
Standing in a loose tank top and the only pair of tactical pants I could find in Rowan's closet that didn't fall off my hips to pile at my feet, I reached for the thermal long-sleeved shirt that sat folded on top of another two identical black ones. Pulling it on over my damp, towel-dried hair, I tucked it into the waist of my pants before rolling my shoulder to free just enough fabric to keep any movement from being restricted.
The faint noise of the door in the other room opening and then clicking shut a moment later had my raised shoulders stilling. I lowered and pushed them back as I made my way out of the closet dressed in the all-black ensemble I had managed to pull together. It wasn't hard given Rowan's closet's lack of colour.
My bare feet padded across the cold hard floor as I rounded the corner to see Rowan's back as he moved to place a pair of boots on the table. Judging by their size, they must have been for me.
"Got everything?" I asked as I approached, noting the water dripping from the ends of his wet hair and the fresh clothes he wore, black like mine and... normal.
He wasn't wearing his uniform or carrying a heavy cloak over his shoulder. Nothing about what he wore would stand out back on earth if we happened across someone.
He hummed a yes, sliding them towards me before turning back to the small leather pouch that sat on the table beside it. "We're set to leave," he said, clipping it to his belt as I took the shoes to put them on the ground where he should have placed them to begin with. "You still have the key?"
Pulling the socks tucked into the boots free, I reached for it, gripping it through my shirt where it lay under it against my skin. "Yeah." Despite the warmth I radiated, the crystal remained cool to the touch.
Letting it go, I leaned against the table to reach down and pull the socks onto my feet before starting on the boots that fit with just the right amount of wiggle room.
