Hallowed Ground by Rebecca Yarros

Green had given me, and his words flew from my mouth.
    “Seems like a good day to die.”
    Time to pay back what I’d been given.

    “Mail the application,” I told Ember on Skype a few days later.
    “Hello to you, too.” She laughed, tucking her auburn hair behind her ears as she sat back on our bed at home, unfolding the Hershey’s Kiss I’d left for her in the back of my T-shirt drawer. I missed that hair, the way it ran through my fingers like silk, the contrast of its fire against the pale skin of her naked breasts, the way it smelled. Everything. “How many of these did you hide for me, anyway?” She popped the Kiss into her mouth.
    “Enough to send you searching on every bad day you could have while I’m gone. Now, I’m serious, December. Spring break is next week, which means the applications are due. Turn it in.”
    She grimaced, wrinkling her nose in a way that was cuter than she intended. “I haven’t decided. You’re gone, and Paisley’s pregnant, and the timing is just all sorts of off.”
    “Paisley has a mom and Morgan. This is something you need to do.” I unzipped my top and didn’t miss the way her eyes widened when my shirt came untucked just enough for her to see my abs. Good to know the extra gym time hadn’t gone unnoticed.
    “Huh?” she asked, her head cocked to the side and her soft lips parted.
    “December. Pay attention,” I chastised, and then took my shirt off just for the hell of it. Okay, maybe I wanted to see her drool a little. Besides, the way that little white tank top hugged her perfect breasts, well, I was ready to climb through the screen to get my hands on her.
    “You could put on some clothes.” She stuck her lower lip out in a pout that my soul echoed. Skype was great because I could see her in real-time, but it made the ache to hold her that much sharper.
    “It’s hot,” I said with a smile.
    “Yes, it is,” she said with a slow nod of her head.
    “You could always join me.”
    “I’m not nearly desperate enough to start forniskyping with you,” she said with her mouth, but her gaze said something very different as she eye-fucked me.
    “You will be.”
    God, how the hell could she do that? Turn me on from eight thousand miles away with nothing but a look?
    “It’s not exactly private over there,” she argued.
    “I’d never let anyone see you naked,” I promised. “That delectable little body is all mine, and I don’t share.” I adjusted in my seat as the door burst open.
    “Dude!” Rizzo called out in a rush. “If you want in on the— Oh, sorry!”
    “Fucking seriously?” I yelled at him.
    “Playing through?” she asked with a laugh, reminding me of another time we’d been walked in on.
    I swiveled back to her and pointed at her gorgeous face. “Not funny.”
    “Yet the point is so eloquently made. How’s it going, Rizzo?” she asked.
    The kid raked his hand over his buzzed head. “Sorry for barging in, Ember. Walker, it can wait until later.”
    “How’s my guy doing over there?” she asked him.
    “I’m fine,” I answered.
    She clucked her tongue at me. “Not asking you. You lie. Rizzo?”
    He put his giant head in front of mine and blocked the screen so I couldn’t even see her. “You have no need to worry, this guy is already a legend.”
    “Oh? Tell me about this legend,” she said with a giggle. I could imagine the smile that would accompany it and nearly shoved his head out of the way to see.
    “He’s seriously a badass. Fucking phenomenal pilot, and he’s got it, that one percent everyone else is missing.” Jesus, Rizzo sounded like I was running for office or something.
    “One percent?” she asked.
    I swiveled my head to see her, but he still blocked the view. Two more seconds and I was going to boot his ass.
    “Yeah. You know, everyone has that last percent of self-preservation, that part that kicks in and pulls you back?”
    Fuck. This was not going well. “Rizzo,” I warned.
    “Yeah?” Ember’s