“Does it matter?” Nar asked. “Although the Dorinthian was a killjoy—she wouldn’t join us.”
Adilyn adopted her human size in mid eye roll.
Riggs slid off me with obvious reluctance. “I’d ride you any day,” he said, and then clearly realized the double meaning.
Nar laughed as the big guy’s face reddened. But then Riggs met my eyes. And grinned.
As I struggled to breathe, Eli called to us.
“Fight class is ready to roll,” he said. “Back field. Fifteen minutes.”
For that, I needed human legs. I reached for Caliel.
You know what to do,was the reply.
A pulse of panic shot through me.I need your help,I insisted.
He helped—sort of. More by boosting me when I faltered, than leading the way. By the end, I was sure I’d made more than a few undignified noises.
But he still managed to insist on clothing me with fur and feathers, which was too much covering immediately after a hard run.
Riggs examined my face, now flushed with more than just embarrassment. “Isn’t that too hot?”
“Yes.” When he appeared confused, I admitted, “I’m having internal control issues.” And I pushed back, hard.
Caliel resisted briefly, but then gave. The feathers and fur retracted to tee-shirt status. I sensed him pull away—essentially turning his back on me. He buried himself so deep that I couldn’t even feel him anymore.
His reactions around Riggs were pretty clear. The flashes of anger and resentment, the attempts to embarrass me in Riggs’s presence, all added up to one thing—Caliel was jealous.
The Gryphon was a part of me, and at first, when we’d started to form a relationship, I’d unconsciously relegated him into the role of friend. But his interactions with me had rapidly pushed that boundary to something far more intimate.
It wasn’t all that was going on with him—it didn’t explain the weakness I sensed. But it was part of it.
As we headed into the building, my heart twisted. I’d come to expect Caliel to be there whenever I called. Taken him for granted. He’d become important to me, and I couldn’t imagine life now, without him.
But could I live my life with only him?
Riggs held the door open for me, and as I met his gaze, I knew the truth. There was something powerful brewing between the ex-Dragon and myself, and it spoke to Fate. If Caliel wished to keep me to himself, I wasn’t sure I could do it.
The conflict tore at me. I’d stubbornly refused to see that Caliel might care about me in that way, and now I didn’t know how to ask the question.
Because, in reality, there was no clear answer for it.
19
Riggs
There was something going on with Breana.
It had to do with the other entity that lived inside her. I saw the worry in her eyes, and it concerned me, too.
She walked with me through the building and out the back entrance to where our fight instructors waited. I was nervous about this class. Would I be hopeless with this sword? Everyone insisted I’d been a warrior, but had that ability vanished along with my memories of it?
Cody and Tyrez stood in the field, but they weren’t alone—Talakai stood with them, as well as a red-scaled Dragona.
I moved a little closer to Sid. “Who’s she?”
He followed my glance. “That’s Aria,” he said. “She was a mercenary. Incredible fighter. But no one here can beat Talakai. He was a Guild assassin, so they use him to help with the class.”
