A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #2) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,28

the raised rose carvings. It feels so damn right, like it belongs to me.

That’s when inspiration strikes. “Wait a minute,” I say as I scramble up from the floor. I dash back into the main workout room, grab my backpack, and return to Titus.

I plop down opposite him, open the bag, and dump out the contents. I don’t even think about being embarrassed when a tampon rolls out.

Titus watches as I take the leather holster loops and unsnap the smaller one to release it. I thread it through a carabiner clip on the right side of the bag that sits about level with where the shoulder strap connects to the bottom. After I coil the whip, I slip it inside the top of my backpack and don’t secure the top. Instead, I let the flap lay loosely. I pull the handle out, let it hang down the side, and secure it with the leather holster held by the carabiner.

Proudly, I hold up my invention to Titus. “I’ll have to get a new backpack, of course. One that has a drawstring opening on top so I can pull the whip out quickly, but this gives me access to the handle and lets me conceal what it is.”

Titus’ eyebrows rise before he laughs heartily. “That’s brilliant.”

“Thanks,” I exclaim, feeling accomplished.

“Another reason you should become an annihilator,” he says in that deep voice that sounds like an earthquake in his chest when he talks.

I blink in surprise. “Because I can holster a whip to a backpack?”

“Because you’re sharp-witted and clever,” he replies. “Add your fighting skills, which are coming along very well, and you’d sail through the Academy and the gauntlet.”

I’m intrigued. “The gauntlet?”

Titus brings his knees up, plants his feet onto the wooden floor, and leans back on his palms. It causes all the muscles in his arms to ripple and lock tight. “The gauntlet is an incredibly difficult test you have to pass after you graduate from the academy. But with the wits you have, I’m sure you’d ace it.”

Sighing, I imagine a life on the Semper Terra he described to me before. Tropical waters, green jungles, and the ability to fly.

Also the duty to learn how to destroy Dark Fae and daemons, and that right there is my hesitation. I don’t know that I have it in me to do that. Titus said that most people who go to the Academy are generational students, following in a family member’s footsteps. They’ve had lifetimes to grow to hate the danger fae and daemons can present. Killing would come much easier to them than me.

And while yes, I’ve seen a succubus up close and personal, and I know they are killing machines, I’m just not sure how to destroy a life. Maybe it will just come to me when in a situation that calls for it. I’m sure I could do it if it were life-or-death or in defense of someone. But could I go out and hunt one down to kill because I’d been told by some higher-ups in Semper Terra to do so?

It’s moot, really. I’m a coffee shop owner in Seattle. I have no interest in leaving here.

Just as I have no interest in being part of a prophecy.

And so why did you agree to keep training? that little inner voice asks.

“Tell me what’s going on with you,” Titus says, and it jolts me out of my thoughts.

My eyes snap to his. “What do you mean?”

Titus lets his legs stretch out, crossing them at the ankle but still leans back on his palms. He merely cocks an eyebrow.

“Oh,” I drawl dramatically as if a light bulb had just gone off. “You mean what’s going on with me since I saw my sister become a Dark Fae, had a weird white feather tattoo show up on my leg, and found out I’m part of a prophecy that could ruin the earth?”

My last few words took on a sarcastic tone that bounced right off Titus. He grins. “Yeah… that.”

And despite the fact I feel like I want to laugh at the way he’s teasing me, he’s asked me a question where the answers are a heavy burden on my soul. Before I know it, my eyes are filling with tears.

I don’t bother dashing them away or hiding them. Oddly, I feel so comfortable with Titus that I don’t mind him seeing me cry. Maybe it’s because he knows I’m a tough woman, and, on most occasions, fearless, that I don’t mind