Chapter 9
Chapter nine
“Pivot,” Rynna instructed. “Hinge at the waist, as if someone is tugging a string from the crown of your head.”
She ducked under Kaelith’s outstretched arm, her body flowing low and sinuous, circling around him in a wide sweep of steps.
“Then twist,” she continued, demonstrating as her front knee lifted, hands drawing together at her chest in a mock prayer. “Centering your energy here.”
Kaelith stayed frozen mid-motion, his fist extended as if he had only just missed connecting with her.
“Pivot. Turn the hips. Attack.”
Her body snapped with the motion, air rushing from her lungs in a pointed exhale as she spun. Both palms shot forward, striking lightly against Kaelith’s back, just hard enough to show the placement.
She held the position for a beat, her arms extended, chin angled toward him. Then she looked sideways to the rows of young faces gathered around them.
Nearly fifty children, boys and girls ranging from five to fifteen, leaned forward on the stone steps of the training amphitheater. Their eyes tracked every movement.
“Got it?” she asked, straightening to her full height.
Kaelith moved inside her arms, his hand brushing along her forearm. A casual touch, fleeting, but her pulse caught in the smallest way before she refocused on the students.
It was the fifth slow-motion demonstration they had walked through. A basic evade-and-counter she favored when she wasn’t aiming to kill.
“Yes!!” Ben shot to his feet in the front row, fists pumping. “Faster now!”
The older boy seated behind him immediately clamped a hand down on his shoulder, shoving him back into place without a word.
“Hey!” The smaller boy scowled, twisting in his seat as he shoved the hand away.
“Show respect, Ben.” A girl in the second row chimed in.
Ben’s response was to stick out his tongue. “Miss Rynna is not like the other teachers, she’s—”
A blur of motion cut him off. Rynna lunged forward, faster than most of them could track, and in the next instant, she was standing beside Ben’s seat. Her arms crossed, shadow falling long over him.
“Guide Rynna is…what?” Her voice carried easily through the amphitheater.
Ben’s mouth fell open. He scrambled back against the step as the other children around him dropped their gazes in quick bows of respect.
Rynna narrowed her eyes, letting the silence stretch as she played the part. Discipline here was severe, almost ritual. It was entirely different from the rowdy soldiers she had once trained—or thought she once had…
Pushing aside the half-formed thought, her expression cracked. And she hooked an arm around the boy’s neck, pulling him close to grind her knuckles into his hair.
“Owwww!” Ben wailed, squirming in her grip, his hands flailing as he tried to pry her fingers away. “Stop it!”
Rynna held on a moment longer, letting him wriggle, as the other children worked not to laugh. Then she sighed, finally releasing him with a shove that sent him tumbling back into his seat.
“Show your classmates some respect, squirt.” She pursed her lips, then turned her back on him, striding toward the center where Kaelith waited.
He raised an eyebrow at her, the corner of his mouth quirking.
Rynna shrugged, spinning on her heel to face the rows of students again. “You ready to see it faster?”
“Yes! Show us, Guide!” Voices chorused back.
Smothering the laugh when she realized it was the older boy now on his feet, she looked to Kaelith. “I think they just want to see me throw you across the stadium.”
His eyes tracked down her frame and back up again, slow and deliberate. “So long as you help me back up again.”
Heat rushed up her throat at the way he said it, her belly constricting before she could form words. “What?!” The stammer broke free, betraying her. You’re so annoying.
His grin only widened.
She didn’t have time to dwell on whether he had heard her thoughts before he stepped back. A slow shrug lifted one shoulder as he flowed into stance with one hand extended toward her, palm up, fingers curling—daring her forward.
Come and get me, pet.
The words barely touched her thoughts, half-imagined, fragments slipping between body language.
She sank low as one leg slid long in front of her and her arms unfurled in mirrored lines.
Finally. Her heart beat louder in her ears.
The Grannies had finally cleared him for full-contact training after months of recovery from the Serpent’s bite. Apparently, all the manual chores and water replenishments had been part of his recovery plan.
But now…now she’d see what he could do.
“Begin,” came Mira’s voice from the top of the amphitheater, where men and women of the Watch now filtered in, taking places among the children to observe.
Rynna and Kaelith began to circle, sand whispering underfoot. His steps landed soundlessly, weight gliding from heel to toe, while the line of his body stayed coiled and ready.
She mirrored him, sliding her back foot wide, arms balanced.
Kaelith feinted high, fist angling toward her shoulder. She slipped under, pivoting, her elbow flashing toward his ribs—only to meet the meat of his forearm blocking her off. He pressed forward, testing her stance, forcing her to give a step.
He was fast.
She bared her teeth in a grin and lunged back, palm cutting up toward his chin this time. But he deflected again, turning away, dark hair whipping past her cheek.
Her lungs locked.
Gold flashed behind his eyes—no—not his eyes at all. But something buried deeper, surfacing for the briefest instant before it vanished.
She squeezed her eyes closed, her stance wavering.
Kaelith dipped, then. And she tried to match him, ready to intercept—
Too slow.
His hand shot forward with a pinch on her ass where no one could see, before he spun away with infuriating ease.
Focus. His growl reverberated in her head, louder this time. They’re watching.
Schooling her expression, she shook off the strange shiver dancing through her body.
Mira’s voice echoed faintly in her mind. Kaelith was a Hollow-born from one of the hated ruling Reaches of this world, capable of wielding the Source. Trust had been given to him, to them. And she knew how easily it could be broken.
Feet planted, she beckoned him forward with a flick of her hand, watching as he advanced, hands loose. He wasn’t just going to let her hit him. She had to…
There. His balance shifted as his elbow drew back for the strike.
She dropped low, twisting, hands close to her chest, before she pivoted hard. Her hips turned, and her arms snapped out, palms driving forward. And for the briefest instant, she caught the flicker across his face in the slight flare of his nostrils.
Her attack connected squarely with his side, the impact jolting up her arms as his breath burst out in a harsh grunt.
Around the strike, his body folded before momentum carried him airborne.
He whipped through the air, crashing into the far wall with a heavy crack.
And still, impossibly, he landed in a crouch, knees bent, one hand braced against the ground, the other clamped tight to his side as a grimace broke over his mouth.
For a heartbeat, silence.
Then the children erupted, voices breaking like thunder through the amphitheater, joined by the deeper cheers of adults who had gathered among them.
Rynna forced a shaky inhale, steadying the air in her chest before letting it go. Dipping into a shallow bow toward Mira, she cast a sidelong glance at Kaelith through her lashes.
Looks like they enjoyed seeing you slammed into a wall. She pushed the thought through whatever it was that connected them, testing if it could be used on purpose.
His eyes widened, dark hair spilling across his face as he searched for hers through the curtain.
Rynna. He caught on fast, mouth stretching wide, tongue flicking over the edge of too sharp teeth. I won’t be the only one slammed into a wall before moonrise.