Cain walked beside Jayden through the academy marketplace, trailing half a step behind her as the early sunlight poured over the cobbled streets. The air smelled of spice and burnt sugar, and enchanted signs hovered above vendors calling out their wares despite it being so early.
He kept one hand at his side and the other lightly gripping the front of the cloak wrapped around his bare chest. It hung loose, barely tied together at the waist.
Every time a gust of wind blew through the plaza, it threatened to expose more skin than he was comfortable with.
"Hey," Cain said, keeping his voice low. "Mind if we stop for clothes first?"
Jayden didn't look at him. "Why."
"Well I am not really comfortable with the idea of walking around half naked. Girls are staring at me weirdly."
Jayden stopped for a second to look around and immediately noticed the difference in the crowd.
It wasn't just the usual stares from boys or the half-lidded glances of tired vendors. Girls were outright gawking. One of them elbowed her friend and whispered behind her hand, barely concealing a grin. Another pretended to browse a stall but kept stealing glances in their direction. When the wind caught Cain's cloak and pulled it just enough to reveal a strip of sculpted abdomen, one girl actually gasped.
Jayden blinked.
Then frowned.
She hadn't really processed it before. Not completely. Back in the training grounds, it had been too dark. Too chaotic. Then the walk here had been quiet, her mind focused on other things. But now?
Now she saw what they saw.
Cain's body wasn't just fit. It was perfection. Like something carved from myth, every line smooth and purposeful. The kind of physique that didn't just come from exercise. It radiated strength without effort. Controlled. Efficient. Refined.
He looked like someone who had faced death and come back better for it.
Jayden clicked her tongue.
Of course they were staring.
Cain, having noticed it all, tightened the front of his cloak and looked at her. "So...about those clothes?"
She didn't answer right away.
Then she gave a sharp nod and started walking again, voice flat. "Yeah. Fine. I'm not dragging a half-naked demigod into our next meeting."
Cain blinked, taken aback. "Demigod?"
"Figure of speech."
"Pretty flattering figure, though."
She shot him a look. "Keep talking and I'll leave you in a barrel and call it fashion-forward."
He chuckled, falling into step behind her. Another gust of wind teased the cloak, and another passerby nearly tripped.
What he failed to notice was that Jayden now had a faint blush on her cheeks as she walked a bit faster. While she still looked calm and collected, mentally she was anything but. In fact she was secretly freaking out!
'OH. MY. GOD!! How was I acting so cold to a guy this hot?! He's got that bad boy charm! How did I not notice until now?! And he is a prince too?!'
Unlike the Ice Queen Persona that she portrayed, Jayden was actually very emotional and often struggled to keep her emotions in check.
She was only able to succeed because of her enchanted hair tie. The hair tie was able to conceal her real ears and tail but came at the cost of sealing off her facial expressions. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make.
She wanted to prove herself for her abilities and not be looked down upon just because she was a demihuman.
And so, ever since her first day at the academy, she had kept her real features hidden. No tail, no twitching ears, no flashes of emotion. Just the mask. Just the Ice Queen.
It worked. People respected her. Feared her. No one questioned her position or her competence. And she liked it that way.
Until now.
Until Cain, with his cloak slipping off and his effortless charm and his absolutely unfair torso, came strolling into her life and finding out her secret.
Jayden's steps grew sharper. She tried to think of anything else. Anything at all. But her thoughts kept circling back to that moment, that wind, that ridiculous strip of skin.
Shaking her head as if that would dispel her errant thoughts, they arrived at a narrow shop tucked between a florist and a potion stall, its front windows decorated with mannequins in sleek coats and ceremonial uniforms. The sign above read Thread & Triumph in flowing script that shimmered faintly with illusion magic.
As they stepped inside, a small bell chimed overhead.
The interior was cozy but dazzling. Shelves lined the walls, packed with neatly folded tunics, shirts, cloaks, and belts, each one tagged with floating magical price tags. Rolls of fabric glimmered in glass tubes, color-shifting with every step across the enchanted floorboards.
Before Cain could take more than two steps forward, an excited gasp rang out.
"Oh. My. Stars."
A blur of fabric and perfume rushed in from the back, and suddenly an effeminate man with glitter-dusted cheekbones and a measuring tape draped around his neck slid into view. He wore a double-breasted vest with a rainbow sheen and fingerless gloves that sparkled when he moved.
"You. You gorgeous statue of a man," the shopkeeper said, clutching his heart like he might faint. "Who did this to you? Who sculpted you? Tell me right now."
Cain blinked. "Uh. I was just looking for a shirt—"
"Heresy. You don't just wear a shirt. You wear a statement. You wear an experience. Oh, but come, come, come, darling, we mustn't waste a second."
He grabbed Cain by the wrist and began pulling him deeper into the shop.
Jayden raised an eyebrow. "What about me?"
The shopkeeper twirled to face her, still holding Cain's wrist. "Oh, sweet muse, you wait right outside the fitting room. Your opinion matters most, after all. Can't have your boyfriend wearing just anything, now can we?"
Jayden froze. "He's not my—"
Cain tried to speak too. "We're not—"
"No, no," the shopkeeper said, cutting both of them off with a dramatic wave. "Please, do not ruin this for me. I can feel the chemistry from here. The tension. The slow-burn romance. It's delicious. You're clearly the Ice Queen type, and he's the brooding, beautiful warrior with a dark past. Don't deny me this joy."
Jayden opened her mouth again but no sound came out. Her brain had short-circuited somewhere between boyfriend and slow-burn romance.
Cain gave her an apologetic look over his shoulder as he was ushered toward a set of ornate curtains at the back. "Uh. I'll be out in a bit, I guess."
"Yes, yes, my canvas," the shopkeeper purred, pushing him gently through the curtain. "Let us create art together."
Jayden stood frozen by the racks of color-shifting shirts, her face completely blank. Except for the faintest pink creeping into her cheeks.
Boyfriend?
Canvas?
Slow-burn?
She turned to a nearby mannequin and glared at it like it had personally offended her.
"…This is the dumbest day. I just wanted a sword."