“I know…”
“What’s really going on, Eva?”
She shrugged again. “I don’t know. I just feel out of sorts.”
Abruptly, she leaned into him and pressed her lips to his. Jamie froze, shocked and unsure how to respond.
Eva pulled away. “Sorry,” she said, “don’t be awkward, I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s okay,”
She turned to him, her green eyes bright. “But you’re not with Ally anymore, are you?”
Jamie shook his head.
Eva raised her eyebrows and wriggled them at him, all the while grinning dangerously like a Cheshire cat. “So—I’m open to a purely physical relationship if you are.”
More uncomfortable than he’d ever been, and turning an unbecoming shade of crimson, Jamie let out a low hiss and then grimaced. “Yeah—I’m not really the physical relationship type…”
She leaned over and planted a deliberately sloppy kiss on his cheek. “No, Jamie Thiessen, I didn’t think you were. You are way too vanilla for your own good.”
They sat in contemplative silence for a while, the atmosphere surprisingly companionable.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Jamie offered eventually.
“About what?”
That was the thing about Eva—her temper was of legendary proportions, quick to flare but generally just as quick to die away.
“What I said about Jason,” Jamie clarified.
Eva shrugged off the apology. “Whatever, it’s fine.”
Jamie thought about letting it go, which was probably the wiser option. Let sleeping dogs lie, as it were. But, in the end, his curiosity got the better of him.
“What did he do anyway? For you to hate him that much.”
Eva sighed and stared straight ahead, her eyes fixed on some random point in the darkness, her mind a million miles away. For a minute, Jamie thought she might just ignore his question.
“Promises were made,” Eva said eventually. “They weren’t delivered upon.”
As answers went, this one was particularly disappointing. “Please don’t tell me you were also one of his conquests,” Jamie said. “First Gemma, now you. Is there anyone who hasn’t fallen for his dubious charm?”
“Do I look like someone who would fall for Jason’s cheap words and empty promises?” Eva scoffed.
“I didn’t think Gemma looked the type either, and apparently, I was very wrong.”
“Gemma might not fit the profile now, but rewind a couple of years, and she was just a lonely, vulnerable girl, desperate to run with the cool kids.”
“If he didn’t break your heart, what was it?”
Eva sighed heavily, tracing her fingers around the edge of her wine glass. “Marcus found me and Jason at pretty much the same time. We were similar—a little lost, a lot lonely, and looking for our places in the world. Then Marcus came into our lives and opened up a whole new world. We were both ambitious, and suddenly, we had the opportunity to have it all.
“Our lives to that point hadn’t given either of us much opportunity to make friends. We were thrown together, and we became close. We promised each other we would climb to the top together. That two could achieve more than one.
“But, somewhere along our journey, Jason decided to go it alone. To climb over me instead of with me.”
“That’s it?” Jamie asked doubtfully. “You stopped being friends, so you try and stick a sword through him? Remind me never to get on the wrong side of you.”
Eva shot him a sidelong glance as she took a deep draw from her wine glass. “It is a good thing to keep in mind, Jamie Thiessen. You definitely want me as your friend and not your enemy.”
“That’s really the whole story? It’s really that simple?”
“Human emotion is never that simple. Jason and I have a long and complicated history. I really don’t want to get into it.” Eva shook the wine bottle, and finding it empty, she sighed. “Well, this probably means it’s time for bed.”
She stood up and stretched. “Good night, Jamie.”
He nodded, turning her words over in his head. “Wait!” he said sharply, and Eva stilled, her hand poised on the handle to her bedroom door.
“What?” she asked.
“Is he going to hurt her?” Jamie asked quietly.
A look of understanding settled over Eva. He didn’t need to clarify further, to say Allyra’s name.
“I don’t know,” she said hesitantly. “Jason will always do what’s in his best interests, collateral damage be damned. Right now, he needs Allyra to win The Five Finals, but after that…” Eva shrugged apologetically. “Once he gets what he wants, all bets are off.”
Chapter 9 – Allyra
Three weeks passed with the blink of an eye. The days had settled into a kind of routine. Mornings with Master Akerman, who continued to be sarcastic and shrewd, but training sessions with him were guaranteed to be worthwhile learning opportunities. Afternoons, of course, were spent sparring with Jason, who continued to be a bastard. He was constantly mocking her, prodding at her, searching for a weakness. Allyra tried to give as good as she got, but scathing retorts had never come to her easily. Three weeks of forced proximity to each other had done nothing to improve the level of trust between them; if anything, they’d only succeeded in fueling the animosity they felt for each other.
At least they weren’t embroiled in their prank war anymore, so that was one less thing she had to worry about. It had escalated until it resembled an actual war. By that point, they had dropped any pretense at subtlety. The soaring climax had occurred when Jason used his Gift to set fire to her bed—with her still in it. Luckily, she’d woken in time to use her Gift to blow the
