Deianira had the training room to herself. She often trained in the early hours of the morning because it was one of the only times the room was free and she really needed to clear her head. In the last couple of days, her headaches had become worse, more frequent. She kept replaying Salem’s words at the Haven, but all she wanted right now was to push everything away for a few hours.
Stepping back into the middle of the room and securing her blindfold, Deianira pressed the remote to turn on the electric arrow launcher. Salem had had it made for her for Prima Day a few years ago and she was over the moon with the gift.
It was equipped with over two hundred steel arrows and she set it to delayed release, her favorite. Deianira blocked everything out as she waited for the first one to fly.
Sensing the first coming at her head-on, she didn’t move, but instead used a shadow to deflect the projectile. As the next two aimed for her left, she sidestepped but landed right in the path of two more. Ducking them, she summoned another shadow to send away the three she heard coming for her legs. Arrow by arrow, she ducked, dived, and deflected.
This was one of her favorite pastimes. It allowed her to hone her skills and sharpen her senses all while having fun. She was yet to be hit or nicked by an arrow in her years of using it and to up the difficulty, she often sped up the release to quicken the assault.
Deianira could tell that it was coming down to the last few as their volume began to decrease so she allowed herself to slow down and take some breaths as she continued dodging.
“Are you crazy?!”
As she whipped her head in the direction of the voice, even though she couldn’t see, sharp steel sliced the side of her cheek as she heard the last arrow hit the wall behind her.
There goes my streak.
Ripping off her blindfold, Deianira blinked, eyes adjusting to the light, to see Cade standing in the doorway staring at her, horrified. He is everywhere!
“Where is your detail?” she demanded.
“Outside of my room,” he responded absently before circling right back. “What the hell are you doing?”
She should’ve been angered by his tone of voice with her, but she wasn’t.
“Training,” she said evenly.
“By shooting yourself, blindfolded? Are you trying to kill yourself?” he asked with disbelief.
Deianira was slightly offended that he thought that mere arrows could end her.
“It helps w…” She shook her head. He was the one doing something he shouldn’t be. “No, I’m asking the questions. Why are you here?”
At that, Cade quieted. “I wanted to see you.” Noticing her cheek, he strode right up to her, eyes focused on the blood beginning to seep from the cut on her cheek, hand already coming to touch her. “Hey, are you okay?”
Deianira stepped back, rolling her eyes, and walked over to reload the machine. “Go back to your room, Cade.”
There was a beat of silence.
“No.”
She turned to face him. “Excuse me?”
“I said no.” Cade crossed his arms, testing her.
“You’re not very smart, are you?”
He shrugged. “Probably not, but you can’t keep avoiding me because of what happened.”
Right. The kiss.
“Nothing happened, Cade,” she tried to say evenly.
“That’s not how I remember it.” Cade moved closer.
“Well, whatever it was, it can’t happen again.”
“Why not?”
“Because it can’t,” she said firmly. “You already know why.”
His features tightened before he sighed. “If that’s what you really want, then fine, but I actually came to ask you something too.”
“Will you leave after?” she asked, exasperated.
“Probably not,” he smirked.
She turned away from him to hide her smile as she reset the arrow launcher. “Hurry up.”
“I want to resume my training.”
Deianira gave him a confused look. “You’re no longer in the program. You don’t have to do that anymore.”
“I know, but I want to.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable request. There was someone after him and they were facing a high-level threat. “Okay. I’ll speak to Hewn.”
“I don’t want to train with Hewn.” His voice was much lower now. His eyes told her exactly who he wanted to train with.
“No.”
“Come on.”
“No.”
“Please.”
She cocked her head at him. “Cade, I’d lay you out.”
His lips tipped up as he stepped closer. “Go ahead, I quite liked it the first time.”
She stared at him, open-mouthed, as her heart rate doubled. Who is this?
“You’re not gonna drop this,” she said, mostly to herself.
“Nope.” He stifled a smile.
Doing her best to keep her face bored, she responded. “Fine. It’s your funeral. I want you here at three, every morning. Take off your shoes and move that mat to the center.” She pointed to the stack of mats without meeting his eyes.
“Now?” Cade asked, seemingly shocked that she’d accepted his request.
“Do I need to repeat myself?” She looked up at him, impatient.
“No.” His eyes gleamed. “Never.”
