Their Hidden Princess Chapter 109

Zora

After my make out with Kairos, and subsequent screaming at Thorne, I didn’t know what I expected come training on Monday morning. I’d barked the training location and time at Kairos before I’d bolted out of his room but I didn’t expect him to show up.

However, when he popped his head out of the locker room, I couldn’t help the swelling of my heart my chest. He’d come. He’d actually come. Maximus noticed as well and immediately turned to look at the Headmaster.

“No,” he snapped. “Fuck no. Absolutely not. Absolutely the fuck not. Is she insane? Are you—”

“Language, Wolfham,” Valentin drawled, as if he were exhausted. “Miss Smith has asked that Mr. Moonraiser take Mr. Blythwitch’s place. I will allow it, for now.”

I could tell by his grumbling that he wasn’t exactly happy with our new attendee as well. I’d mentioned it that morning before Maximus had shown up and he’d just blinked at me. Now, he was a little bit more resistant to the idea.

“Kairos and I have…” I paused. “A connection. I think it’d be a good idea to use that as protection.”

Maximus crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow. “And Thorne? Your knight?”

“He’s been relieved of his duties,” I mumbled. I glanced up at Valentin. He also had a raised eyebrow, apparently unaware. I shook my head at him and he simply blew out a breath of air before dropping it.

Maximus, however, was beside himself. He threw his arms up in protest. “You can’t just dump your knight! You need him for protection!”

“You saying I’m not as strong as Blythwitch?” Kairos mused with a smirk. He pressed a hand to his chest. “You wound me, brother.”

“I’m not your fucking brother,” Maximus snarled.

“Alright, alright,” Valentin cut him off. He ran his hand over his face. “Gods above, I was hoping we wouldn’t have a repeat of last week, but it almost seems inevitable at this point.”

He dropped his hand and looked at me. I gave him a sheepish smile, entire aware of how the two wolves next two me were glaring at each other over my head. Valentin sighed.

“Right,” he huffed. “Since Moonraiser is more adept than Blythwitch at fighting, we’ll have to re-assess how we stance ourselves.”

He stepped across the mat, only a few feet in front of me and looked at Maximus. He pointed to my left. “Wolfham, you’ll flank Smith’s right side. Moonraiser, the left.”

“I used to flank her left,” Maximus protested. “You know her blind spot there causes her to be weak on that side.”

“Hey!” I protested.

Valentin gave Maximus a weak smile. “Luckily for Smith, she has two sides that need to be covered. Plus, Moonraiser is stronger than you. It’s better for Smith’s left because it’s her non-dominant hand. Moonraiser should be able to bridge the gap there.”

“Excuse me!” I protested again.

I went ignored again as the three men dropped into position. Valentin gave me a look before turning his back to me and also dropping into a stance. I immediately blushed despite myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Maximus tracking it up my cheeks. I ignored him as Valentin had ignored me.

“Same thing as last week,” Valentin said. Instantly, all the dummies we’d tossed across the gym we’re floating again. Their weird, thumb-y bodies suspended in air. “Moonraiser, goal is protect Smith and subdue the threat.”

Kairos snorted. “Easy,”

I could feel Maximus rolling his eyes. Valentin ignored all of us and flicked a hand. The dummies landed on their legs and started towards us.

“Begin!” Valentin called.

The dummies started loafing over to us. Kairos immediately sprung from my side and tackled one of them to the floor. There was a wide gap between him and Maximus that one of the other dummies took to try and stifle me. I threw a kick and it sailed backward.

“Idiot!” Maximus snapped. “You just left a huge gap. If these things were any faster they would’ve had the upper hand!”

“Calm down, lover boy,” Kairos grumbled. He kneed the one I’d kicked in it’s stomach and it crumpled to the floor. “Your girlfriend can handle herself.”

At the word “girlfriend”, Valentin’s head whipped around to stare at me. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. As he was staring at me, he missed the dummy charging him like a bull in a china shop.

“Fuck, watch out!” I hissed before I threw a spin kick. My foot skimmed Valentin’s check and slammed into the dummy’s head, knocking him off kilter. Valentin, once out of his daze, used his heel to bring the dummy to it’s knees.

“Smith!” Kairos called out.

I spun back towards his voice and was met with the faceless dummy. I jabbed into its shoulder and then went for its chest. It blocked me easily and I blinked before trying again. Clearly, Valentin had turned up the difficulty level this week. It took a few more punches before I could get my leg free to kick it away.

I looked back at my group and saw that, once again, Kairos had darted across the circle and tackled the dummy out from under Maximus, who looked pissed. He scoffed at Kairos.

“Stop showing off and be a team player!” he snapped.

“I am,” Kairos said leisurely as he got off the dummy. He shrugged. “My teammate was struggling so I helped him out.”

“Fuck off,” Maximus hissed back.

“Um, guys,” I murmured as I realized three dummies were closing in on me. “Can we save the testosterone contest for after?”

“Not again,” Valentin groaned as he realized what was happening.

I ducked past a few of the strikes from the dummies but was completely blind-sided as one dove at me from my left and tackled me to the ground. I grunted, the dummy weight heavy on me as my slammed again the mat. It immediately became dead weight and then slowly lifted off of me. I sucked in a giant breath of air, letting my lungs expand from where they’d been compressed. Then, Kairos’s head was over me.

“Alright?” he murmured. He stuck his hand out.

I nodded once then grabbed his hand. Electricity sparked up between us and he yanked me to my feet. Instinctually, I curled into his body, my hand coming up to press on his chest. He looked down at me with wide pupils and those dangerously, dark gold eyes. Behind me, I heard a humorless chuckle.

I immediately stopped touching Kairos, the electricity leaving my body. I turned around and was met with the smug expression of Maximus. He narrowed his eyes at me.

“So, you’re leading two of them on now?” he snapped. “That’s not fair is it.”

“Max,” I started but he cut me off.

“No, Zora,” he shook his head, face holding more hurt than anger. He locked eyes with me. “I am your fated mate. I know you feel it. Why are you torturing me like this?”

I held my hands up. “I can explain—“

“What makes you so sure?” Kairos snapped over my shoulder. “And who the fuck else is she talking to?”

Maximus set his lips in a thin line, eyes darting to Valentin then back to me and Kairos. Behind me, I heard Kairos growl. I immediately spun around and pressed my hands to his chest.

“Stop it!” I cried. “Is it really so wrong of me to have multiple fated mates?”

“Not wrong,” Kairos grunted.

“But highly unusual,” Maximus finished for him. “You need to stop fooling yourself into thinking you have multiple. You have a choice to make.”

I glanced at Valentin, hoping he would chime in and help me out. He was staring at the place where my hand met Kairos’s chest. His jaw was clenched, eyes pin-pricks of black in the gold. He lifted his head and met my gaze.

“Multiple fated mates is possible,” he said. “But don’t delude yourself into thinking I am one of those. I am your headmaster and I have no intentions of courting Miss Smith in any way.”

My heart broke in my chest at his comment. I let me hand fall off Kairos’s chest. Valentin’s eyes returned to normal, his jaw unclenching. I almost wanted to call him on his bullshit. I opened my mouth to do so and was cut off by Max.

“Well, I don’t share what’s mine,” he said, a softness about that told me how upset he was. “The choice is yours to make.”

He turned and walked off the mat and into the locker room. Kairos glanced at me, his eyes repeating what Maximus said and took off into the locker room as well. I whipped around to fight with Valentin but I found him to be missing.

I was getting used to being alone in the gym at that point.