Illayana nodded. “Okay, thank you.”
She closed the door and turned to look at me, excitement brimming all over her face. “I’ve just thought of the perfect solution to our problem.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t realise we had a problem?”
“You want to go on this ‘revenge hunt’ tonight. I want you to stay home and recover. Neither one of us is going to back down – hence the problem.”
“I don’t need to recover, I told you I’m fine.”
She raised her chin defiantly and narrowed her eyes. “Prove it then. Spar with me.”
I raised my brows in surprise, not at all prepared for that statement. “Spar…with you?” I asked incredulously.
She glared at me, her usually soft, delicate features turning hard and stoic. “Yes. With me.”
I suddenly felt very uncomfortable. “No, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
Fuck.I could see the anger flowing through her like lava, her lip curling up into a very unladylike snarl.
“Be reasonable. I don’t want to hurt you.” I softened my voice in an attempt to calm her down, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
Her fists clenched at her side, her entire body going rigid. Her face started to turn red, steam basically coming out of her ears.
Oh fuck, that can’t be a good sign.
“I see,” she said sternly, gritting her teeth.
Without another word, she spun around and walked out of the room.
“Illayana?” I called out after her, but she ignored me.
I sighed, dragging a hand down my face and cursed before following her.
I’m way too old for this shit.
“Illayana!” I tried again, but she continued to walk on as if she hadn’t heard me at all.
By the time I reached the stairs she was already halfway down. The air around her seemed to vibrate with anger with each step she took.
“I’m not chasing after you!” I yelled down to her.
She ignored me.
Again.
Okay, now I’m getting pissed off.
“Illayana!” I snapped.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and moved out of my field of vision without so much as a glance back in my direction.
Fine.If she didn’t want to be around me, why should I care? She’ll be back. They always come back.
And yet, the longer I stood at the top of the stairs, waiting for this wretched woman to come to her senses, the more uneasy I began to feel.
“If you think she’s going to come crawling back to you, you’re going to be waiting there a long time,” a deep voice spoke from the shadows.