Page 74 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

He had certainly learned a lot since our first kiss in the rain when he hadn’t known what to do at all.

The proximity of men had always unnerved me after all the times I’d been threatened by them while living on the street with my mother, but I felt so safe with Riordan. He was like a magnet drawing me nearer until I wanted to somehow fuse with him. I did not resist the pull, rather I gave myself over to it wholly, and I swore for a moment it felt like I really could breach the space between us…

Riordan gave a sudden groan, his hand shifting to grip my chin so he could create a little space between our mouths without backing away from me.

“Careful, Amira,” he gasped, sounding deliciously out of breath. “Push any harder and you might inadvertently forge thetaíribetween us.”

“Is that what I felt just now?Thatis how easily we could create the bond?” I verified in astonishment when he nodded, our foreheads brushing together. “But it felt like it would be so easy! Like I could do it all by myself. Does it always feel like that?”

“I don’t know about thetaíribond, but I do know that theskiábond was more difficult. This feels… ready.”

I shivered at the insinuation that I was already primed to become his mate.

“I thought it would be so much harder for us because I am a witch,” I admitted. I wasn’t sure why I was abruptly emotional but tears welled in my eyes at the confirmation that we were compatible this way after all.

Riordan cupped my face again, tipping my head up to meet my eyes with so much adoration in his face that it made me even more emotional.

“I told you I am confident in my choice. I canfeelit, Amira, that you are mine,” he insisted.

And he wasright. The realization that I somehow felt this as well was as shocking as it was incredible.

“I don’t think this feeling is normal,” I admitted.

“Neither is your ability to use my magic,” he pointed out as his thumb caressed my cheek again.

True. I still had no idea what allowed me to do that, but Ornella was right. Some kind of bond clearly existed between us already. Perhaps that was what made thetaíriconnection feel like it would be so easy to establish.

“So… The Grove…” I reminded him suggestively.

Riordan gave a soft huff of amusement and raised his face from mine to kiss my forehead.

“Perhaps one day we will honour the school’s tradition in The Grove, but for the first time…” he trailed off and then shook his head. “Amira, the first time I make love to you will be under thestars. Just the two of us. It will not be in a place like this that has been the scene of so many frivolous rendezvous.”

“Mhmm, yeah, your idea sounds better,” I assured him. “So then youhavethought about it?”

“Of course,I have. I can finally understand why the Ktínos are so distracted with it all the time. It seems like it is never very far from my mind when you are near me,” he admitted with an impish smile as he took my hand to guide me onward through the trees.

Chapter twenty-one

SWEET DEVASTATION

Amira

“So… um… both Imítheos and Ktínos are here together?” I confirmed, trying to refocus my lusty thoughts on more appropriate topics.

“We have our own dormitories for… obvious reasons, but yes, we live on campus together. But we never used to train together. I was the exception to that rule because my mother meant to teach me a lesson. I found that it actually helped break down barriers, so I ensured the Imítheos and Ktínos trained together when I was the general.”

“One of the things that made you so unpopular among the Imítheos,” I recalled, and he nodded. “As the general, did you spend a lot of time here after you were finished with your schooling?”

“A warrior is never done learning, but yes, the school is also the base for all military operations. We are about to pass into the combat half of the campus where cadets are physically trained. This is also where my old apartment and all the military offices are,” Riordan told me, and I nodded before my focus was shifted ahead by shouting.

We reached the other side of the forest where I saw a series of many fields that were marked and divided with white stakes in the short grass. Griffins were running drills, engaging in combat, and training with all manner of weaponry against both fellow opponents and mannequins made of straw and leather. All whilst being shouted at by instructors who I assumed were giving commands. It was at once overwhelming and very structured.

“Whoa,” I breathed as we began to move out of the trees and toward a middle strip of grass.

“The cadet dormitories,” Riordan said, pointing back at the plain buildings further down the treeline behind us. “Graduates are moved into the full apartments closer to the mountain. And the offices are that way,” he added, pointing in the opposite direction toward another cluster of smaller buildings.

I was awed as I took in the campus and tried to imagine Riordan here as a young man. The cadets kept sparring around us, most of them dutifully keeping their attention on their instructors and opponents. But a few eyes wandered as we walked by, and I could see heads tilting as they tried to work out who we might be.

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