Page 9 of Obsession

My thoughts were muddled. I wanted to tell him something, but what was it? It was about Zav, but what about Zav? Then I remembered the promise he’d made.

"You forgot your promise," I blurted, then immediately wanted to sink into the floor. The whiskey had definitely loosened my tongue and confused me. That wasn’t what I’d wanted to say at all.

Kann stopped walking and turned to face me. "I never forget a promise."

The intensity in his eyes made my breath catch. Had they always been that shade of gold?

He stepped closer, and I caught the spicy scent that always clung to him. "Name the time, and I'll teach you everything you need to know to seduce any male you want."

My knees went weak at his husky tone. Was it my imagination, or had his pupils gotten larger? I’d meant to tell him that he didn’t need to teach me anything anymore now that Zav was an instructor, but as his gaze held me, I couldn’t imagine turning him down for anything. And he was both an instructor and my friend.

I tried to swallow. This was bad.

Then he smiled that wicked, wicked smile I knew so well. “Should we say tomorrow night—after classes, after dinner—in The Stacks?”

“Okay. . .I’ll. . .okay,” I stammered eloquently, then practically fled into a curling staircase, taking the stone steps two at a time, and managing not to face plant.

I raced across the open-air bridge and caught up to Morgan and Jess just as they reached the female tower, my heart still racing.

I must have imagined the way Kann's voice had deepened, the heat in his gaze, how close he'd gotten. But I hadn’t imagined the promise he’d reiterated. Or the fact that I’d agreed—again.

"You okay?" Morgan asked as we climbed the spiral staircase. "You look flushed."

"Fine," I squeaked. "Just running to catch up and the whiskey."

Jess gave me a curious look as we climbed the stairs and then said goodbye at our doors, but she didn’t pry. It didn’t matter. Nothing had happened. Nothing could happen. Kann was my friend, nothing more. And I was definitely not thinking about how good he smelled or how he’d gazed at me with such intensity that my knees were still wobbly. Or how he still thought I wanted him to teach me to seduce someone else.

I stumbled into my room and slumped against the inside of the door. “We are just friends.”

Now if only my racing pulse would get the message.

Chapter

Six

Kann

The silence of the Stacks was as heavy as a weight on my chest as I made my way through the looming shelves and scant light. Dust motes danced in the pale moonlight filtering through the high windows, carrying the musty scent of leather tomes and yellowed paper. My shoulders tensed instinctively – there were too many shadows here, too many places an enemy could hide. Give me an open battlefield any day, over this maze of towering shelves and forgotten books.

What in thegrekkinghell was I doing here?

“You couldn’t exactly meet in your quarters,” I whispered to myself, grateful for the company of my own voice even if it did echo back to me. “Or hers.”

The idea of meeting Britta in the female tower almost dragged a laugh from my lips. It was impossible to blend in or be inconspicuous in the one place in the entire school where Drexians did not frequent. It wasn’t that we were forbidden—well, the cadets were—but it was an unspoken rule that the fewwomen deserved their own space. They had to be in our space surrounded by Drexians the rest of the time.

But maybe there would have been a better place to meet than the Stacks. I’d only ever been in the ancient library for our meetings about Sasha’s rescue. A chill went through me, partly because the space was kept significantly colder to maintain the integrity of the books, and partly because it was so quiet.

Had I set foot in the place when I was a cadet? Doubtful. Even before I’d been selected for the School of Battle, I’d known that I would be a Blade. I’d gritted my way through my basic engineering and strategy classes but there was little love lost between me and books.

Unlike Britta. The Earth female either had her nose in a book or in a circuit box. Another reason this was a bad idea. Why did I think I could teach Drexian ways to one who was so different from me?

I paced the length of the eastern alcove, my footsteps absorbed by the silence. A promise was a promise, even one made in a moment of…what? Weakness? Madness? I still wasn't sure what had possessed me to offer Britta lessons in seduction. The thought of her pursuing Zav made something hot and dangerous coil in my gut.

Britta.

I thought of the way her platinum waves tumbled over her shoulders, the way her eyes had darkened as she’d looked at me when I’d set this rendezvous.

"I never forget a promise." The words had come out deeper than I'd intended.

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