Despite her objective understanding of who Keion was and how unlikely a real relationship with him would ever be, Ceanna did her best to keep her head down and avoid him whenever she could. Holding onto as many of her ordinary classes as she could reasonably fight for, she kept herself busy and tried to be the last one to leave a classroom so that he couldn’t wait for her all the time. A part of her was very aware that attachments were easily formed with prolonged periods in each other’s company.Every now and then their schedules overlapped and Keion seemed to enjoy making a point to go out of his way to shower her with attention in those instances. As Nancy kept him abreast on the campaign she had devised for the Student Leader elections, he started asking her how she felt about it and what her thoughts were.At first, she reluctantly offered her opinions but as she saw it taking shape and showing up on school bulletins Ceanna started to push back and giv
Keion was running drills with his team. His coach had revved everyone up for being slow after winter break and this was the second week he’d been put to task, driving ball skills and sprints from the front. Physically, Keion could handle it but he knew he was stretching the weaker guys’ limits. Mentally, he was a little annoyed because whenever someone made a mistake, coach would jeer about how their captain had spent his time kissing girls instead of staying on course and everyone else thought they could do the same.After an hour of that, Keion and everyone else had had enough. Coach Ferreira told them to take ten and he went outside to smoke behind the gym. The cheerleaders were practicing on the other side of the sports complex and Keion was aware that some of them were seniors who had been at the party.Pushing that to the back of his mind, he apologized for the way coach was using his incident as a point of reference.“Even if you hadn&rs
Ceanna... Books slipping from Ceanna’s hands, she gasped and froze in the middle of the busy staircase. Are you alright? Shaking her head slightly, she scurried down the stairs, collecting her stuff and thanking those who stopped to help her. How can I hear you right now? Where are you? I think I am closer than I have been in years... I felt your tears. What’s going on? I-I’m okay. I was just having a bad day. That must have been one hell of a bad day, little sister, came the wry reply. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it’s really you, her voice wobbled. Keep it together, Cece, you don’t want to have that meltdown in public, do you, he chuckled. Haha, right. I have to go to class... Okay. Hang in there. If you are in any danger, I will come. As far as I know, I'm fine. Come anyway... I miss you s
The old woman on the other side of the table tapped her pipe against her lips and gazed deeply into Keion’s eyes. “Try to open yourself up to this. Hide nothing from me.” Nodding once, Keion let his memories replay freely in his mind. “I see you’ve been busy, young prince,” the healer commented. “Very busy.” Not sure how to interpret her statement, Keion sighed, still feeling her treading carefully amidst his recollections. “Did I do something wrong?” Kaliah reached out and took hold of his hand, and he felt nothing but immense love. His father’s hand was on his shoulder and he knew they both supported him, but the dreams and emotions that assailed him unbidden felt almost like a punishment. “You are not being disciplined, but this will certainly be a significant test.” The Hamadi’s waited for the old woman to explain further. She reached over to the side of her desk for a small jar and took a pinch of the powder and pl
Ceanna fainted again during a conversation with Keion in the library.Just before it happened, she had sensed a familiar feeling that had filled her stomach with terror. She was being watched, and the person was very unhappy.Hunching her shoulders, Ceanna had tried to block out any conscious awareness of her grandmother’s presence and her growing ire. Reaching up to her throat, she’d sought to touch the necklace she wore every day for comfort.Don’t you dare touch that while you are sitting next to that boy!Flinching, her hand dropped back to her lap.Keion paused and looked at her oddly. “Are you alright?”“Huh?”“You just jumped.”“Oh, I-I’m fine.”What worried Ceanna was she had no idea what she had done to upset the woman so much. Was it just being in his presence? Surely not, because they had done this before.Tell me what
Returning to school after yet another fainting spell felt like even more of a task than usual. Knowing that it was her grandmother’s anger that had caused her last blackout only increased her anxiety and heightened the deep longing for her brother.He had always protected her, and they had always felt stronger together. Knowing that they were on the same continent brought Ceanna some relief, but the distance still made her heart ache. She hadn’t heard from him in a while, and she needed to know that he was alright.Mama Daley had breakfast ready for her when she came downstairs and her father was already seated at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.He looked up when she walked through the door and opened his arms the way he used to when she was smaller.Going over to him, she let him hug her. She sat down on his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Good morning, baby girl.”“Good morning, daddy,” she mumbl
Miles away, a young man woke up suddenly. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead and his bare chest from the heat of the morning sun, and his heart was racing as if he’d been running. Centering himself, he realized that it wasn’t his anxiety that had woken him up, but it was more urgent than it had been in a while. What’s the matter? Are you alright? I need you. What if they find out, she asked frantically. Take a deep breath. They won’t find out. The prince is doing a paper on it! Okay, Cece... just calm down. It’s going to be alright, he told her. I’m coming as soon as I can. Feeling her panic settle to mild worry helped Reyan focus on his present situation. Shutting her out of his mind, he looked around the room where Maxwell and Andrea Cosby had kept him for the last few weeks. Andrea would be coming in very soon. She came to him every morning after her brother-in-law Ma
Keion could feel the excitement every time they discovered a new couple in their school. Some came as an absolute surprise, but the general response was joy for the people who discovered their mates and increasing curiosity for the remaining pool of possibilities. More deeply, though, he felt the anxiety of his future mate. Sometimes when the notifications popped up on his phone, he felt a distinct twinge of sadness, which he could now distinguish as his mate’s. His medication made his reactions a lot more mild, but they didn’t entirely conceal how she was feeling. It made him unhappy that he couldn’t do anything to help her and even though he’d tried a few times to get a picture of her in his mind, the moon goddess had not yet seen it fit to reveal to him who his soul mate was. Keion wanted to take away her worries and the loneliness that seemed to strike a chord whenever anyone else got their mate. He felt helpless and so he tried to do what his father had suggeste