his arm. Caden was always serious, making it my mission to get him to laugh. Relax a little. Have some fun. “So, what would you make me during those long, lonely hours in prison?”
“I wouldn’t. You’d be dead.” His wet boots slapped against the pavement.
“Not the point.”
“Totally the point. That’s why I’d be in jail.”
“I survived.” My arm brushed up against him, causing the butterflies in my stomach to take flight.
“You would. Just to annoy me, huh?” A slight smile quirked up his mouth, and he elbowed me back.
“Now, what would you make for me? Sculpture made from locks of your chest hair?”
“Gross.”
“But I’d love it. It came from your heart. And chest.”
He shook his head, chuckling. “You are weird.”
“It’s why you love me.”
His steps faltered, his eyes finding mine for a moment, a pause in the air. Nerves fluttered in my stomach, hope vaulting up my throat. Caden and I had danced around each other since I turned fifteen, the platonic relationship shifting with our awareness of the opposite sex. As we’d grown, we both realized at the same time that our bodies had changed and were far more intriguing now.
Many girls at the academy longed for him. He was tall, gorgeous, fit from years of training, with deep brown eyes, a slight scruff, silky brown hair, and lips you couldn’t help but stare at.
Girls always questioned me about us, asking if we were together and cooing about how hot he was. It wasn’t until Lilla, a fellow trainee, tried to stake a claim on him that I realized I didn’t want any other girl to touch him. Too scared to lose our friendship, I stayed quiet, hoping he’d give me a sign he felt the same.
He stared at me a lot. Teased and touched me but never enough for me to grasp if it was just friendly or there was more. His compliments were very guarded and general.
I knew I was different from most girls around here. My Russian and Irish roots gave me pale skin, but extremely dark and sharp features. “Unique” and “stunning” were words I heard the most, along with “intimidating.” I had a lot of male attention and interest, but most guys stayed away, like an invisible line had been drawn around me. Either they were scared of me or didn’t want to cross the most formidable cadet at the school. Caden Markos was the son of the highest-ranking general at HDF, Istvan Markos, the leader of the humans.
Now Caden’s attention drifted down my body and back up. I didn’t move, afraid even a twitch would stop him from saying what I wanted to hear for so long. “Brex,” he uttered, his eyes dipping down to my mouth, close enough I could feel his heat colliding with my damp clothes.
I bit my bottom lip, my lungs hitching. His gaze stayed on my mouth, the feel of his breath tickling warmly over my skin. The need to push up on my toes and take what I had craved for so long throbbed through me. He watched me for another beat before he jerked his head, taking a step back.
“The guards change in two minutes. We better hurry.” He nodded toward the wall barricading the old parliament building and surrounding area, resembling a fortress. Stone loomed tall and thick around the military human section, securing the reign of man on this side of the river.
To the fae, our walled city was probably mere decoration, a barrier to keep out the very people we were supposed to be guarding, and one of the places the rich bought their way into. The military and the wealthy were condensed into this walled section of Pest, where the streets were spotless and laws still applied.
Guarded at all times, I had learned where I could get in and out without notice. I knew Caden was torn between the two parts of himself: the soldier who wanted to reveal weakness in their human defense so he could be the hero in his father’s eyes, and the boy who used to love to pretend to escape beyond the wall with me when we were young. The more Caden advanced through the ranks, the more that boy disappeared. He used rules and laws as excuses more and more.
“Yeah.” I nodded, my lungs deflating with disappointment. I could take any guy down in a fight, which was one of the reasons many found me intimidating, but Caden left me so twisted up and confused I