Page 73 of The Dominion of Sin

I must have fallen asleep in Amon’s lap. I wasn’t sure when he had moved me to the bed, but I woke up curled under his arm. My head was resting on his chest when I opened my eyes, to him gently stroking my hair.

“Good morning,” he said, and I looked up at him. I gave him a small smile, and he kissed the top of my head gently.

“Good morning.”

“Raven…” Amon started, then paused. I glanced at him.

“Yes?”

“I need to tell you something,” he continued, his voice soft but serious. I sat up so I could face him better.

“Sure, what is it?” I asked. He hesitated. He looked like he was nervous, and I reached forward to push a small piece of silver hair away from his eyes. “You can tell me anything,” I told him.

“I’ve been wanting too -” He stopped abruptly, and glanced to the door, moments before Kasha burst into the room, panicked.

“Amon, Raven’s missing, she's not - Oh. Hi Raven!” She grinned. She took in the two of us cuddled in bed and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “What’s going on in here?” She smirked. “Looks cozy.”

“We’ll be out in a minute, Kasha,” Amon said, sitting up. Though I noticed he seemed a little relieved.

“Ok, don’t take too long. The Quickening is tomorrow. Dossidian and I want to put our girl here through her paces,” Kasha quipped, before turning on her heel to leave. I turned back to Amon.

“What was it you were going to say?” I asked, and he smiled shaking his head.

“Never mind. Let’s get you ready to train. I want to see what you’ve got.”

I grinned and nodded. “Not to brag, but I’m getting pretty good,” I said, getting out of bed to stretch. He smirked at me as he followed suit.

“Is that a fact?” He asked and I nodded, before making my way to his door.

“Mhmm, I landed two punches on Rycon yesterday. Got him right in his smug little face.”

Amon let out a burst of surprised laugher. “Now that, I would love to see.”

After a quick stop in the common room, Amon and I made our way to the training ring. I paused on the bridge and grinned at him.

“Check it out,” I said, before taking a running start and leaping off the bridge into the air. I did a few summersaults before hovering to face him, beaming. “Remember when I couldn’t even peel myself off the ground?” I asked. He nodded, an equally large grin on his face.

He floated off the bridge to join me in the air.

“Well, you certainly weren't kidding. You’ve clearly been hard at work,” he smiled. I nodded.

“Yep, and check this out,” I spun away from him and shot one of my burning quasars off into the distance. I glanced back excitedly. “Cool, right?”

He nodded, unable to keep the smile from blooming across his face.

“Very cool.”

I couldn’t put my finger on why, but hearing Amon, the Dark Prince of the Court of Pride say ‘very cool,’ made me laugh. His grin suddenly turned to a devilish smirk.

“Let’s race to the ring,” he challenged, and my heart skipped a beat. I was learning, the more I trained with my own kind, that I had a bit of a competitive streak.

“You’re on,” I said, turning to face the ring. “What do I get if I win?” I asked. He glanced over at me, suggestively.

“How about, I’ll owe you a favor?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What kind of favor?”

He glided closer to me, leaning into whisper in my ear, his breath making my skin pebble underneath my restructium.

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