Evaline:
I didn't even realize when an entire month slipped past .
One whole month.
A month since I holidays started.
A month since Draven's… incident.
And even now, the pain hadn't dulled. It didn't fade. It had just gone quiet.
I wasn't the shattered ss I had been four weeks ago - crying on and off, unable to sleep, barely eating, feeling like my soul was bruising from the inside out. No, I had sohow climbed out of that suffocating darkness, but the ache remained. A deep, quiet wound that reopened at the slightest touch.
But life had changed drastically in these few weeks.
I got to spend real ti with my son... hours and hours with Lioren that filled places inside I didn't realize existed. I was now officially a mber of the Soul Death Investigation Team, doing actual work beside my mates instead of being left behind. And my training lessons - stars, those lessons - had made improve so much.
But with all the progress, I had also grown to absolutely hate every single hour of the exhausting routine they put through. My healing sessions left ntally and emotionally drained, and combat training squeezed the little energy left out of my bones.
And the worst part?
I hadn't received a single day off in three whole weeks.
My body was done. My mind was done. My soul - with all its protesting - was screaming for a break.
So when River texted this morning-
No physical training today. Oscar and I are leaving for the council. Enjoy the rest, Angel.
I was on cloud nine.
Floating. Practically glowing.
I even humd while feeding Lioren.
And then - like a bucket of ice water dumped straight on my head - Kieran looked up from his plate during lunch and said casually, "We'll do two hours of healing practice today."
Two hours.
Not usual sixty minutes.
Not seventy.
Two. Whole. Hours.
I stared at him like he had personally betrayed my ancestors.
Misery didn't even co close to describing the emotion that hit .
As the clock ticked closer to training ti, my chest tightened. I couldn't waste such a rare chance to skip combat training only to be tortured for double the usual ti in healing sessions.
No.
Absolutely not.
I needed to do sothing.
And that thought pushed onto my feet, out of the room, and down the hallway.
I found Kieran in his room.
I knocked once and his deep voice answered, "Co in."
The mont I stepped inside, the warmth of the room enveloped . Soft lighting. A faint scent of cedar and clean linen. Kieran sat on the wide couch, laptop open on the table in front of him.
An empty coffee cup sat beside it, telling he had been at this for a while.
His dark green shirt had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing veiny forearms that should honestly be illegal. His reading glasses rested perfectly on his nose. And his shoulder-length hair was loose, falling around his face in soft, golden strands.
He looked devastating.
And deeply focused.
He glanced up the mont he sensed . "Evaline?" A flicker of curiosity crossed his eyes. "You need sothing?"
Instead of answering, I walked straight toward him and... ignoring the shock on his face... sat down on the thick rug right between his legs, my back almost brushing his shin.
His hands paused above the keyboard.
His eyes widened slightly.
But he didn't say anything.
Pretending innocence, I tilted my head. "What are you working on?"
"Writing a report," he answered, still staring at like he wasn't sure whether to laugh or scold .
Without warning, his hand reached out... his fingers sliding gently through my hair once, brushing the strands away from my shoulder. A soft, absentminded touch that sent a warm shiver down my spine.
Then he leaned forward again, returning his hands to the laptop, continuing to type.
The sound of keys clicking filled the room. And the warmth radiating from him surrounded .
I turned slightly to look up at his face.
He arched a brow at , clearly amused, before returning his attention to his screen like nothing was odd about sitting between his legs on the floor like so clingy cat.
"Is the report urgent?" I asked casually.
"No." His tone was distracted. Focused.
He kept typing, his voice calm as he added, "But I want to finish another page before we begin training."
I froze.
There was barely half an hour left before we were supposed to start.
If I didn't change his mind soon, I would be stuck practicing until my body lted. If it was just healing part, I could have handled it, even enjoyed it, but these days most of my healing lessons were filled with reading, writing, taking tests, and... a little bit of healing. It was really draining.
No. No, no, no. Not happening.
It was clearly ti for desperate asures.
I reached forward and rested my forearms on his knee, leaning slightly into his space... just enough to get his attention but not enough to be obvious.
He paused again.
His eyes dropped to look at over the rim of his glasses.
"What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," I said sweetly.
He narrowed his eyes.
Damn it.
He always noticed everything.
I reached up and gently tugged one of the loose strands of his blonde hair. "You look good with your hair down."
His fingers halted over the keys.
He stared at like I had just spoken in an unknown ancient language.
"…Thank you?" he said slowly.
I smiled innocently.
I leaned back again, pretending I wasn't planning treason against today's training session.
"You worked a lot today," I murmured. "Maybe you are tired?"
"No." He resud typing imdiately. "I'm perfectly fine."
Ugh.
Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn man.
Fine. It was ti for Plan B.
It's the Kieran Thorne I was dealing with. Of course, I had to put in extra work to ta him.
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