Holding the staff in my hand gives her this- this–I don’t know, tingling sensation, and I feel exruciatingly excited because of her. She misses him and the way they challenged one another. In both the privacy of their stolen time away from prying eyes and in the field. Especially when they were forced to compete against one another, she’d always let him win.
This is one of those times when I’m not sure who is who because I swear it feels a lot like falling into a different time. The memories feel and hurt the same way mine do.
“Pay attention,” Mr. Knightly calls out.
I think he might have misinterpreted this as me spacing out. I do have those moments, but this isn’t one of them. I dodge his attack and slide my foot out, kicking the back of his heel. He drops and rolls out of the way when I swing the staff down. I barely miss him, I almost lost my grip on the bamboo from the force that vibrated from the impact.
“Okay, Midnight. That was a little too hard. I could have hurt him,” I growl at her. To my surprise, she growls back. I step away from Mr. Knightly. “I think I should go back into the basement.”
“You’re not going back, and it’s not called a basement. It’s the house’s elevation.”
“Going back into the elevation sounds‘ stupid. We can’t call it a crawl space either. It’s seven feet high.”
“You are crumbling.” he shakes his head disapprovingly. “What happened to the fuck everyone else I need to live monster that won the hearts of every living Knightly in existence?”
“Really?” I smile. “All of them?”
“All the ones who matter,” he shrugs nonchalantly. “We’ll call it the time–out box.”
“The time–out box. I might need to use that when the twins are older, but I also thought we could repurpose some of the cave rooms in–case they can’t be in the same areal together when they lose it,
“That is actually a phenomenal idea,” he nods. “I was thinking of building a couple of cabins on the peaks.”
“And you would be staying in one, I presume?” I take my stance and hold the staff out.
“Naturally,” he smirks. He kicks sand up and comes at me fast. I dodge the first swing and flip the staff upward, effectively disarming him.
“What is your obsession with my family?” I toss him my staff and pick his up.
“Aside from my son being the Rogue King, you’re a fucking silverback and you have two tiny ones. Forgive me for being curious,” he comes at me again.
This time, my body drops, and I swing the staff using my side for support. It smacks his calf hard and he loses his stance falling on his ass.
“I am so sorry.” I laugh, jumping back onto my feet. I offer him my hand to lift him up, and he smacks it away.
“I think I want you to return to the time–out box,” he growls.
“Now, I don’t want to,” I laugh. “Are you okay?”
“What makes you think I’m not?” he asks.
“You’ve just recently gotten everything you’ve ever wanted. I can’t imagine admitting I‘ ve had enough.” I shrug. “I personally, never know what enough is.”
“It’s a good trait to have for a queen.”
“Eww, why did it feel gross when you said it?” I cringe.
“Because you don’t see yourself as an entity superior to me. I am flattered,” he bows.” You should. I’m not letting you kick my ass. I actually want to test your abilities to better my own. If that’s alright with you.”
“Now, who’s the one that’s flattered?” I scoff. “It would be cool to see how effective the memories are in IRL time. It would be a good distraction from what’s going on. I actually feel a little better.”
“As do I. This is the first time in my entire life that I’ve woken up with nothing to do,” he says, standing and holding out his staff. “It’s not a good feeling.”
“Right!” I laugh. “Samezies. I was trying to explain that to your son, and he stared at me like I was crazy.”
“You’re talking about a man who makes music for a living. He has a lot of downtime. It‘ s why he fucking started working for that moronic secret society with the wraiths.”
“Talking shit about me to my father,” Knight says from the patio on the second floor. That’s kind of low.”
“That’s what you get for lurking,” I swing my staff around.
11
Mr. Knightly stumbles back but manages to block my attack. He laughs, trying his own trick on me. I jump, and I have no idea what the hell I just did, but everything spins so fast, and suddenly, Mr. Knightly is on his knees in a headlock.
“I caught that. I’m sending it to all of your children.” Knight laughs.
“I will fucking kill you, you little shit,” he growls trying to get out of my hold. Midnight makes me growl at him and apply more pressure.
“Here’s an idea. Maybe don’t say that to my mate while I have you vulnerable.” I
suggest.
“Let me up.”
“You promise you didn’t take this personal?”
“Did you set me up?”
“Of course, not. I’m not even sure what the hell just happened myself.” I laugh.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then we might be here a while.” I shrug. He groans when I pull back on his arms a bit. ” Oh, sorry. Umm, on the count of three?”
“Fine,” he grunts.
“One. Two. Three.” I release him, and he stumbles away. “I’m sorry. At least we know I can attack. It’s not just a defense.”
“Thank you. I will take note of that.” He catches his breath. I try to help him, but he holds up his hands, stopping me. “You’ve wounded my ego enough for today, Little
Mortal.”
“Sure.” I step back. “I’m sorry.”
“Mom called. She wants to know where you ran off to.” Knight leans over the baluster, holding Aizen, who is sitting on it. He has my favorite smile on his face. Ayrie is beside him. If I had my phone, that would have made such a cute picture. As if reading my mind, his father takes a photo of them. “What are you doing?”
“Your mother asked me to show proof of my whereabouts. Apparently, my having offspring with other females doesn’t sit well with her. Despite her having some of her own who don’t belong to me,” he huffs.
“In her defense, you have like thirty kids and they all have different mothers,” I say
quietly. He gives me the best side eye ever. “Can you also send it to me. That’s a cute picture.”
3/3
