𝙳𝚊𝚛𝚔 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚎(𝙰𝙲𝙾𝚃𝙰𝚁)

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖋𝖎𝖋𝖙𝖞-𝖘𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖓

The idea of seeing Nesta for training the next day provided me with a mixed sense of dread and eagerness.

The kiss was wonderful, but it was also very confusing. It left me wondering what she wanted--what we were.

I hadn't told a soul, yet. Gwyn was blissfully unaware, talking away as the two of us made our way towards the training ring. If I was being honest, I wasn't totally paying attention. I murmured responses to let her know I wasn't completely ignoring her, but the nerves in my stomach were all I could focus on.

When we arrived, letting ourselves into the ring, we were met with Cassian already warming up. He had likely been up for hours already, while the rest of us had just rolled out of bed.

Nesta was standing off to the side, wrapping her knuckles with furrowed brows. Her hair was in a simple braid down her back, and she was wearing her training leathers. She looked the same as always, but something was different, now. Now, it seemed I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Morning," Gwyn beamed. Nesta's focus was broken, her head shooting up, and her eyes meeting ours.

"Morning," Nesta said as we neared her. "Anything on the Trove?" Gwyn shook her head.

"I even asked Merrill last night. She broke through that glamour, but beyond a few mentions in old texts, she couldn't find anything more than what you already know. Not a hint about when or where they were lost, or who lost them. We can't even uncover who last possessed them, since it's information that goes back at least ten thousand years."

"It might prove an impossible task," I spoke up. "Is there no other way of finding it?"

Nesta's eyes flashed with something I couldn't quite place, but she shook her head. "No. There's no other way."

I raised a brow, studying her. She was lying, but I wouldn't call her on it. If she wasn't being truthful, I knew it was for a reason.

Training went as it usually did, neither Nesta nor I acknowledging what had happened between us the day before. But it was difficult to look at her face without remembering how soft her lips had felt against mine--how she had stroked my wings so delicately. I had never felt this type of attraction--this longing. It was driving me insane.

After we were finished with training, Cassian gave me a few exercises I could do on my own to improve my balance.

"Stay behind," Cassian called out to me when I went to leave to Gwyn. "I'll take you up to the House; you can sign the papers."

I perked up, a slight smile spreading across my features. I bid a farewell to Gwyn, then went back over to him.

"They're ready to be signed?" I asked.

"Rhys has them upstairs," he assured me. "Does Saphira want to come along?"

"No," I declined. "I asked her, but she's not ready to leave the library."

"He's waiting for us," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him.

Cassian had always been there for me in a way nobody else was. He understood me in a way that nobody else did. As a child, he once told me I reminded him of his mother.

"Would you like to come with us, Nes?" I asked carefully. She met my eyes, which only reminded me how beautiful hers were.

"I'm going to go through a few of those exercises again," she murmured, glancing away from me. "But I'm happy for you, Rae."

Rae.

I didn't hear that very often. My mother had called me Rae. 'Come on, what happened to my little Rae of sunshine?' she used to tease when I cried as a child.