Page 37 of Devious Knight
I flip myself up and breathe out a haggard sigh.
“How do you think you did?” He sets his staff down and grabs a towel from the bench.
“You tell me.” I already know he’s not going to answer that the way I want but I say it anyway.
“You know that’s not how this works. Only you know how good or bad you are.”
“Sure, but can’t you give me something?”
“You’re in my elite. You wouldn’t be there if I didn’t think you had the capability. This is different. You tell me when you think you’re ready.”
I only have one answer for that. “When I kick your ass.”
He smirks and gives me a sidelong stare. “Then you have a fuck of a long way to go.”
That’s not the answer I was hoping for but I appreciate it.
He could tell I’m good or that I’m getting better, but it won’t help me to hear what I want to hear.
He walks over to the cooler, grabs two bottles of water and tosses me one. “These people of yours must be real hardcore.”
“They are.”
He opens his water and stares at me with scrutiny while he drinks.
Thorne doesn’t know that my people—as he put it—are the Malina. I didn’t tell him that part. He’s only helping me because he knows I want justice for my parents. Telling him that I found the people responsible for their deaths was enough for him to agree to help me without knowing anything more. But I know he’s curious.
He wants to know details. I wish I could, but telling him more would mean jeopardizing my plans. Thorne is a Knight and my superior. If he knew I was planning to go up against a known enemy of the Knights, who are likely to kill me, it would be his duty to stop me and report me.
He might want to continue helping me but his duty is to the Knights first.
In the same vein, Thorne is no fool. He knows I’m up to illegal shit. He also knows what he’ll have to do if he learns the specifics of what I’m doing. That’s why he’s opted not to ask me too much. Only the stuff he needs to know.
“Have you come up against them yet?” He sets the water down and places a towel around his shoulders.
“Not yet, but soon.”
He levels me a hard stare. “I hope you and your boys will be ready.”
The other day he guessed that Dmitri and Logan would be right alongside me doing whatever I need them to do, but he doesn’t know the limits I’ve set.
“When we get to that stage it will be just me,” I reply, feeling it’s okay to tell him that part.
“Everyone needs backup. No matter how big or small the enemy.”
“I can’t have backup for this. I won’t put anyone’s life at risk.”
“I see.” He nods with approval. “Sounds like suicide. I'm not training you for a suicide mission, am I, Kade?”
I smile back at him. “Rest assured I don’t plan on dying any time soon, just collecting a few heads.”
“Okay. We’ll do something a little different tomorrow. Something harder. I was thinking we’ll go up to the mountain if you’re game.”
“I’m definitely game.”
“Good. Because that’s where I did most of my training.”
“Then that’s what I need to do.”