Julian's fingers were firmly coiled around the stele when he finished drawing the strength rune on Emma's neck with his usual artistic flourish. His long fingers lingered on her skin for a moment before travelling across her collar bone to her arm where her parabatai mark was. He gently traced the outline with the calluses of his index finger when he felt Emma tense at his touch.

Hastily, he put the stele away and got up. Both of them were flushed red when Aline walked in, wearing he gear, obviously about to train. She was followed by Helen, who also in her gear, must have noticed she was interrupting something because she turned around to leave again, dragging a reluctant Aline with her.

"Wait!" Emma called "we were just about to train you could join us," she smiled

Helen looked at her girlfriend, worriedly but in the end it was Aline who said "Alright then, I'm afraid I haven't been training for ages so I might be a little rusty," and gave her a small smile.

All in all, their training session together had been very productive. They spent at least 3 hours in there doing a variety of different exercises but like last night at dinner, Emma hadn't looked, spoken to or touched Julian. She kept busy in her conversations with Aline while Jules had been catching up with his older sister.

When Emma left to shower, he, Helen and Aline stayed for a bit longer. Eventually the two girls were about to leave when Helen told her girlfriend to go on without her since she needed to talk to Julian.

Jules couldn't imagine what she might possibly want to talk to him about but just went along with it.

"Here," she said, tossing him a knife to throw. He nodded his head in thanks and threw it straight into the middle of the target. He went to retrieve it and stood in the stance again, ready to throw.

"I see the way you look at her," Helen said carefully.

"Who?" Julian asked, not completely paying attention since, more concentrated on the knife. Just as he was about to throw, Helen replied, "Emma."

The knife flew from his hand and stuck itself on the floor, missing the target by miles. Julian turned his head to Helen so quickly that his neck clicked.

"I also see the way she looks at you," she started again, before Jules had time to say anything. "She's the girl who's off limits, isn't she?"

Slowly, Jules nodded. In his mind he could picture Emma. Her beachy blonde hair, trailing down her back; her deep brown eyes, as chocolatey as his own hair; her long, curved lashes that brushed her cheeks when she closed her eyes; her slim waist and stomach that had more muscle than most guys'; her goofy smile, that lit her face up, that made her skin glow.

Almost pleadingly he asked his older siser, "What should I do, Helen?

What can I do?" Once again he felt like the little 12 year old boy, the one who asked her what he should do, how could he protect his family with no mother, no father, no Mark , no Helen, just an uncle that her barely knew.

"I don't know," she replied. There was a tear rolling down her cheek when she went to hug him. He was nearly a head taller than her, but she was tall for a girl. Her pointed ears and silvery blonde hair were the only signs of her faerie blood, differentiating her from the rest of the Blackthorns. She was only his half-sister but it didn't matter; he still loved her the same as he loved any of his other siblings.

She gingerly stroked his hair and pulled back from the embrace. Then she gave him a worried look. She knew that he and Emma could never be together. But what had she said before? About knowing how Emma looked at him? Before Julian could ask Helen about it he heard a sudden thud coming from the girls changing rooms.

He and Helen both exchanged worried glances and rushed over. Lying on the floor as if she had fainted was Emma. Aline had already gone up to her and Helen's room.

Julian picked her up carefully by the neck and knees and set her down on the bench. He cautiously felt her forehead with the back of his hand checking her temperature and his hand came away burning. She had a fever.

All the colour had drained out of his face and his usual playful smile was replaced by slightly vacant and panicked look, his eyes wide in fright.

EMMA POV

Emma's eye fluttered open when she saw Julian standing beside her bed with Helen and Diana, talking in subdued voices.

She looked around her room, it was neater than usual but then again it was usually a tip. Julian must've tidied it for her; his room was immaculate, not a speck of dust to be seen anywhere.

The last thing she remembered was being in the changing rooms after training with Julian, Helen and Aline. "Emma! You're awake! Thank goodness!" cried Helen when she saw Emma sitting up in her bed.

Julian looked at her and smiled, showing the dimple on his cheek. "Well it wasn't as if she died," he said, amused at his older sister's worry.

"From the way you reacted to it, you'd have think she had, Julian," Helen replied, teasing her half-brother, making him flush. Of course Julian was worried, he was her parabatai after all.

Diana started explaining that she had fainted because of low sugar-levels – nothing serious or long term but she just needed some rest. She gave Emma some chocolate to eat and left, taking Helen with her. Soon it was just her and Julian in the room and she could feel her heart racing. "Jules…" she said, scrambling out of her bed. "Let's go driving,"

The look that he gave her then was incredulous. A small smile appeared on his face; driving was their favourite thing to do with each other. Except from training of course. "Come on then," he said, playfully faking a sigh of annoyance"

"I'll drive!" Emma said enthusiastically but what seemed like a look of concern washed over Jules' face "It's my car anyway," at which point Julian shook his head ruefully and raked his fingers through his messy brown hair. Smiling, they both put on their shoes, went out to the car and jumped in. from there they just went wherever the road signs took them.