Lady of the Hunt

4/

Adara waited in Leonidas' office alone a few days later, feeling a little wary. The last meeting they'd had had not exactly turned out like she wanted.

She hadn't seen Orion very much the past few days, except when he joined her for her morning workouts like he'd been doing. He'd even bought a gym membership himself, making Adara roll her eyes. All in all, their morning workouts weren't the worst time she'd ever spent with Orion—given that she spent most of it not talking to him.

She couldn't shake the feeling that Leonidas was hiding something from her, something about her or Orion. Before she could entertain the thought for too long, though, the door swung open to reveal the man she'd been thinking of.

"Morning Adara," Leonidas greeted, closing the door behind him. "Coffee?" He was wearing a dark forest green suit that day, with a matching tie.

"Yes, please with sugar, no cream," she answered, smiling slightly. He walked over to one of the dark wooden bookshelves that lined the walls, where a single-cup brewer and several clean mugs sat. He pressed the button before glancing up at her.

"You can relax, Adara," he said with a reassuring smile. "I've got no unpleasant surprises this morning." She raised an eyebrow at this, making him chuckle. "I just wanted to chat.. and try to make it up to you."

"You wanted to chat?" she repeated, disbelieving. Leonidas didn't just want to chat, and she knew it.

"Well, yes," he replied, stirring sugar in the fresh cup and handing it to her. She held the handle and side, feeling the hot liquid heat the glass. "I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Ask away," she said, taking a small sip. Hopefully, his questions would give her a glimpse into his motivations for this.

"Have Orion and Cadmus run into each other yet?" Adara froze, cup halfway to her mouth. That was certainly not the question she was expecting. She glanced up at Leonidas, who appeared calm, simply curious, but there was a tenseness in his shoulders that hadn't been there a moment before.

"Uh, yeah, they met each other the first day, why?" she asked, finally sipping her coffee after a long hesitation.

"Do they like each other?" he asked, not answering her question. She shrugged.

"Cadmus doesn't really trust him, but other than that, I guess so," she replied.

Leonidas thought about this for a minute, seeming to think deeply on it. "What about you?" he suddenly asked, glancing back up at her.

"What about me?" she repeated, narrowing her eyes.

"How do you feel about Orion?" She looked down at the mug, trying to keep a frown off her face.

"He—he rubs me the wrong way, I guess," she answered after a long pause.

"Why is that?" Leonidas sounded slightly amused and not as stressed as he had the entire conversation thus far, while made Adara relax slightly.

"I don't know—just does." She dodged the question, shrugging.

Leonidas sensed her reluctance and let the topic drop. "Well, I wanted to thank you for being so cooperative the other day and not making a scene. So I've got an assignment for you," he announced with a smile.

"For me?" Adara's voice was skeptical. "Or for me and Orion?" Leonidas' smile wavered for a moment, and he sighed.

"Well, for both of you, to see how you work together in the field," he admitted, looking down. His face turned bright a moment later. "But I promise, the assignment I've got is worth dealing with him."