Page 28 of Wings of Betrayal

I roll my eyes, and Amaros frowns at me.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

I can’t hold the laugh that escapes my lips. These males are something. Of course they all need to have their own Zelons now after seeing how I have Keva.

“Finlay wants a Zelon, too,” I explain, and he smirks.

Well, try to ride him and see if he likes you,I tell Finlay.

I think I’ll wait until you get here,he says, and I laugh.

Amaros stares at me with piqued curiosity. “You never cease to amaze me.”

My cheeks flush, and I glance down, picking up my teacup and finishing it. He’s started doing that lately, complimenting me. At first, it bothered me, but now I don’t mind as much. He’s trying to mend our relationship, and I am going to allow him to, no matter how long it takes. I haven’t told him about my memories coming back to me yet. I know that will be a hard conversation to have, and I don’t want to risk our friendship again.

Something tells me it was always to protect me, nothing more. That he knew it would destroy me growing up, having witnessed my mother’s murder, so he took the memory of it from me. And I’m feeling that he may be right and that he does really care about me.

“I hope that wasn’t overstepping,” he says, pulling me from my thoughts. “It’s just, you’re unlike any other female I have ever met.”

“Thanks,” I say and pop a chocolate truffle into my mouth.

Although spending time with Amaros has become enjoyable again, I can only handle so much of his compliments. I push my chair back and stand.

He frowns. “I hope I didn’t upset you?”

Shaking my head, I swallow down the truffle. “No, nothing like that. I just promised the Master I would attend the academy training of the younger recruits. And I’m meeting Finlay after that.”

“Oh,” he says and gets to his feet.

Sensing I’ve upset him, I reach out and take his hand. “Thanks for this. We’ll catch up later, okay?”

His focus drops to our hands, and he smiles. “Yeah, sounds good.”

I release my wings and take off toward the academy, where I find the Master in the arena. There must be a few hundred angels training in here. I knew this place was huge but never imagined so many angels could fit in here at once, and this is only a fraction of them, too. I catch the Master watching me, his long grey hair pulled back in a bun on the top of his head as usual, and I hurry to his side.

“Zarla, thank you for coming,” he says, dipping his head in greeting.

“Of course.”

I scan the arena, surveying the recruits as they fight. They’re not half bad, actually.

“Do you think they’re ready?” I study his face as he watches them, curious to know what he’s thinking.

These angels have been training here for years, but it’s only been a few weeks since they upped their training to prepare for guarding the Kingdom.

The Master rubs his chin as if deep in thought. “Not yet.”

I shift my focus back to the fight taking place on the mat before us. Two young males—although you wouldn’t know they were young by the looks of them—are sparring. One is only slightly taller than the other, and they are both stocky males. The taller one rakes a hand through his red mane, trying to tame it, and fails. The other male readjusts his grip on his baton and shakes his head, sending his mop of black hair to the side and out of his eyes.

If nothing else, these males could do with a haircut.

“Zarla,” the Master says, stealing my focus.

I look at him, and worry shines in his pale blue eyes, despite his best efforts to mask it.

“I know it’s been a tough few months for you. A lot has happened within the Kingdom, most of which I wasn’t aware of until after the fact. I must say, I am impressed with how you handled yourself. I knew you had the strength of your mother.”

My throat constricts, and I swallow the lump down.

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