Page 105 of Threaded

Andrian was tired of running from the way she made him feel. He was tired of lying to himself, refusing to acknowledge it was more than just lust and great sex between them; it had always been more. While he still couldn’t confess those feelings to her, maybe—just maybe—he could finally stop with all the lies that blanketed him heavier than the cursed shadows in his veins.

He tilted his head, noting the sunlight at his window had grown brighter. He knew the Armature—thatshe—would be heading down to the clearing to train soon.

Mariah had been confronted with a lot yesterday, and he knew her well enough to know she would want to blow off some steam. It presented him with the perfect opportunity to track her down and get her to listen, to finally make the confessions weighing heavily on his soul.

Filled with resolve, Andrian pushed back the covers of his bed. He dressed himself quickly before slipping from his room. His eyes darted once to the gilded double doors across the hallway before he began his walk to that clearing in the game park.

* * *

Mariah was ignoring him. Andrian was sure of it.

He’d never been a fan of the group style of training the others favored, preferring to work alone, as he did most things. Today, however, his determination to get close to her, to pull her away for just a minute, asecond, had driven him towards the other Armature and the dark-haired female who laughed in their midst.

Quentin and Trefor stared at him with expressions of slight bewilderment, but Sebastian, Drystan, and Feran gave him one look and tossed him a sparring sword, seamlessly working him into their training circle.

Those three were always far too observant and empathetic for their own good. It was fucking annoying.

Normally, Mariah could be found in the center of the sparring, joking and fighting with her Armature as if she’d been born to it, almost more than they had.

In a way, he supposed she had.

Today, however, when she’d stepped into that clearing a few minutes after them, she’d taken only a look at the sparring circle, her green eyes flashing over him,throughhim, before she moved quickly to grab Matheo. She pulled him away from the others to work through a cardio circuit and archery training. Matheo looked ready to grumble, up until the moment he realized it would be just him with her, just him receiving the full focus of her attention …

Andrian knew it was natural, woven into their souls and stamped on the very fiber of their beings like the tattoos that Marked them on their chests, the draw to her and the desire to seek as much time with her they could get. But that knowledge didn’t stop him from grinding his teeth together angrily, his shadows curling at his feet, flooded by an urge to wipe the stupid, giddy grin from Matheo’s face.

They’d gone about their workout, and Andrian had done his best to distract himself with the clang of steel and the sweet satisfaction of knocking Quentin on his ass three times in the sparring circle. Now, with the training winding down, Mariah and Matheo finally rejoined them. She sat on the ground, sipping slowly from one of the water skins they hauled out with them from the kitchens every morning, the rest of her Armature lounging around her in a loose semi-circle. She was dressed in all black, as usual for their morning training, and there was a faint sheen of sweat visible on her olive skin even in the chill late autumn air, her near-black hair braided down her back.

She looked fuckingdeliciouslike this. Raw, savage, feral. All the things about her that had taken him so off-guard, had set his world spinning on its axis.

In a smooth motion, she set her water skin down on the ground beside her and stood, the eyes of all seven men tracking her every move.

She had them all wrapped around her fucking middle finger, and Enfara damn her, she knew it.

The pull towards her was magnetic, and the second she was standing Andrian felt his feet begin to move. He took a single step towards her, easing himself closer to the edge of the semi-circle, no longer content to stand in the fringes, when her clear, melodic voice rang out across the clearing.

“I want you all to know that I plan to complete the bond with Trefor tonight. We’ve already spoken, and he’s ready.”

There were sounds of clapping and congratulations as the other members of the Armature turned to Trefor, his already-red cheeks staining even more pink as he looked at his queen, happiness shining in his blue-green gaze.

For Andrian, however, everything in his world stood still as his ears rang, a tidal wave rising in his blood.

She’d trained with Matheo all morning.

Notwith Trefor.

When had she had time to speak with him? How much time was she spending alone with each of hisbrothers? Time he was completely unaware of?

Somewhere, a distant, more rational part of his mind whispered to him that he had no right to be jealous, that this was the way of an Onitan Queen and her Armature. They belonged toher, after all. The quiet voice even whispered a reminder to him that he’d pushed her towards them with his words in the library.

She did not belong to him.

But the words of his father, of Lord Donnet, filtered unwanted into his head.

“Whore.”

“Slept her way through the entire town.”

“Are you prepared to share her?”

---