“As if you could outrun me,” the warrior smirked, raising his bent elbow above the door frame. “As if you could travel to any corner of this universe and think I will not haunt you.”
“Don’t you have better things to do,” I scoffed, knocking past him, but he caught my wrist in a grip so rough yet gentle it felt like silver and starlight. But then he laughed through the modulator, which sounded like the sun.
“Afraid not, princess. Your daddy is paying half my legion’s salary to keep an eye on you.”
Princess. I tensed, for I was not Irina, heir to Astraeus, but her bodyguard, her Shadow， the stand-in, lures the Lunarii away from her true location. “I can defend myself,” I asserted, but there wasn’t enough bite under my voice.
I was nervous because Kade entered the room, as always, covered inexplicably by blood. He was gruff and in a worse mood than usual, which was apparent even from the helmet. “Your training was inadequate,” he said, beginning the ritual of cleansing his iridium armor.
“I have trained since the age of seven with Dawnlight Masters. My training was the best in the realm.”
“Maybe,” Kade responded, still emotionless as he cleansed his chestplate, “but your Shadow, who I assume had twice the amount of training you had, if not more, could not hold her own.”
My cheeks flushed red murder. I was the Princess’s Shadow. I was whom he spoke about.
The young warriors before me chuckled, “Well, to be fair, Kade, none of us are any match for you.”
Kade’s helmet snapped towards the warrior before me, “You say that as if it were something to be proud of.”
