Page 59 of Gift from the Wing

I told Aurora then would’ve been a better time to train, but she said absolutely not. We could possibly destroy her palace.

Which was a fair concern at that moment.

Before we left the healing wing, leaving Layton there still asleep but healing well, according to Jamie, we paid Trex a visit and it killed me to see the sight of him.

The restraint it’s taking him to hold the Summum-Master back from breaking down Aria’s rune is slowly killing him. I can see it written all over his sunken eyes, thin cheeks, and pale skin. He refuses to see Keeper, and he refuses to remove the rune himself out of fear the Summum-Master will kill his brothers. So finding them and bringing them home is moving up higher on the to-do list.

“This isn’t going to be like our training, right?” I ask Tillman as we make our way to the gym in the central wing.

“I doubt it, but I couldn’t tell you, little warrior. She wouldn’t go over the plan with me.”

“You should’ve just read her mind. Knowing Momma Vito, she’s about to make us practice our hugging and talking about our feelings,” Draken says sarcastically, and Caspian immediately stops walking.

“You’re joking. We can do that on our own. We don’t need her help with that.”

I laugh at his disgusted face. Seems that he’d be willing to do that with us just not in the presence of his parents, so I’ll count that as a win.

“Just because I can read her mind doesn’t mean I’m going to. I’m not going to invade her privacy like that,” Tillman says as we start walking again.

“You have no problem invading all our privacy no matter how much we’ve told you to knock it off,” Corentin says snidely, tapping away at his communicator.

Fuck. I want to eat him up right now. He’s dressed in E.F.-issued black workout sweats and an all-black shirt, same as the others, but I’ve never actually seen Corentin work out or train, nor dress down like this besides pajamas. Those two days he took over my training for Tillman when they got kidnapped, he was in his slacks and a button-up with the sleeves rolledquarter length. Still drop dead sexy, but he was dressed, ready for work. Right now, though…it takes everything in me not to jump all over him.

“Don’t slip on your drool, little wanderer.”

“I’m not drooling, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, you are. You’re looking at the boss man like he’s your last meal.”

“Well, if I were in a situation to need a last meal, you four would be exactly what I’d consume. I’d—”

“Enough, you two. Don’t start that shit before we walk in here,” Tillman butts in, eyeing Draken and me like we’re torturing him before casting his glare back to Corentin. “You all don’t need privacy from me. What runs through Aunt Rory’s mind is none of my business. Whatever she has in store for us this morning isn’t going to be any harder or worse than what I’ve already put any of you through.”

Ugh. Says the giant who lives for working out.

He makes sure to send me a saucy little wink before shoving the double doors to the gym wide open for us. My feet halt as I gaze around because this sure as shit isn’t what I expected when they said gym.

It’s just a big-ass open room.

I mean, there is gym equipment around, but they’re practically pushed into the corner, out of the way. There’re windows allowing for natural light to come in, and then the bare hardwood floor.

That’s it.

No mats, no obstacle course. Nothing of the sort.

Aurora and my Patera-Nexus stand in the middle of the room, talking amongst themselves as we take a couple more steps in and then wait a few feet in front of them.

“So this gym is…different,” I say.

“This isn’t the traditional workout gym you’re used to, daughter-in-law, no, but this gym has been fortified to withstand our gifts. So it’ll hold your Nexus’s as well. Hopefully,” Dyce says with a devious wink.

I see he’s hoping for some mischief today.

“Why does it need to withstand any of our gifts?” I ask, cocking my brow.

“You’ll see, my girl. I’m so excited. We’ll show you first, then we’ll start working with you all. There’s going to be so much that you all can do that even we can’t, but you still need to learn structure and how to work as a unit. Go stand against that wall, all of you. Go on, chop, chop. You’ve kept me waiting long enough,” Aurora orders, waving us off with a happy little chuckle that her men melt at.

Damn, I hope my guys look at me like that after two hundred years together.

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