#Chapter 227: Kindness

My jaw dropped as Cillian stood and rolled his shoulder.

“But I just sat down!” I said. “I haven’t even—"

He looked at me. “Are you turning back?”

I set my jaw and stood. “No! Stop asking that.”

“I’m going to ask it every time you complain about the pace,” Candido said. “Consider it a part of all that training you missed.”

I growled. “That’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair,” Candido said. “And I’m just now realizing how much I’ve sheltered you from that. Let’s go.”

He turned without another word and headed off. I looked at Cillian, who chuckled and shrugged.

“This is why you shouldn’t invite yourself along.”

He broke into a jog after Candido. My legs were so tired that I could barely stumble in the same direction. This time, Candido had vanished through the trees. Cillian remained closer, but as I started to slow down again, I lost sight of him.

I stumbled to a stop at the edge of a grassy area. I couldn’t move another step. I didn’t even care where Candido was. I didn’t care where Cillia