24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Punching Trinte in the dick wasn’t exactly how I expected tonight to pan out.
However, I also did not expect him to electrocute me either.
It was a pain like nothing I’ve experienced before; Coach and I will be discussing hiding that little detail from me.
I distantly knew Dragons have elemental powers over the weather, but no one has ever mentioned the power over lightning.
The blue Dragon collapses onto his knees with a bone-rattling roar, a sound I didn’t think they could make in bi-pedal form.
Maybe it should scare me, but all it does is activate lust low in my belly.
While he’s down, I deliver an upper-cut punch, snapping his open mouth shut.
Wrath darkens his swollen blue eye as it focuses on me.
My head knocks back as he lands a right hook on my face.
Ouch. Undeterred, I’m quick to place both hands on his massive shoulders and deliver a gut punch with my knee.
Trinte grunts, sweeps an arm up, and swats me to the side like I’m an annoying bug.
It’s with so much force that I fly through the air.
With my wings protected, my instinct to catch myself is impossible.
The sand is unforgiving upon impact. The wind was knocked out of me so thoroughly, I’m lightheaded.
Taking his time, Trinte stands with a pained grimace. It shifts into surprise as I execute a kip-up, landing on my feet. If there’s one thing I’ll never do, it’s stay down.
Ignoring my burning, overworked heart rattling against my ribs, I raise my hands. Using my second elemental attack, I shot out a dozen spikes of condensed fire. A kill shot for many.
Trinte grunts, his body jerking as the piercing points slam into his scales, exploding into small fire bombs. Blood trickles out of the already-healing wounds, but a newfound respect creeps into his expression.
Trinte grins. It’s a disturbing mockery of the one he normally wears; something tells me this one is more real than most of them. It’s vicious as he twirls a finger.
Sand flies into the air, a vortex of cruel grains cutting into my eyes, coating my mouth, and sucking into my nose.
He’s created a fucking tornado in the arena.
Distantly, I hear the crowd scream. It’s difficult to hear it over the howling wind scraping me raw.
Tears stream down my face in a desperate attempt to protect my eyes.
Trinte steps into the punishing maelstrom, undisturbed. Air literally bends around his towering body, leaving him sand-free. Blood trickles out of his nose. His expression is nothing but cruel.
“Give in?”
I deliver the lowest of blows because I’m desperate for the answers I seek. Tongue thick with sand, I rasp out, “I know about your father.”
Trinte’s entire body shudders; he makes a fist, and a hundred pounds of sand collapses all around us. None of it lands on me.
“You know fucking nothing,” he mutters, eyes searching my face. “You’ve gone too far.”
He straightens, body coiled with unshed tension.
To my shock, Trinte spins around, giving me his back. The ultimate insult in the arena. Everyone around us gasps. My face burns with fury. I thought he would do something, so this complete disengagement is unexpected.
He’s not getting away with this.
Just as the crowd begins to chant his name, I bolt for his back. Someone calls out to him to turn around, but it’s too late.
Catapulting myself up his tail, I grab his long braid and yank his head back. It bows his spine enough for me to leverage myself upward off his sweet, toned ass. My legs rise, knees almost to my ears, giving me height.
Successfully wrapping my thighs around his neck.
Adding fire to my palm, I slam it over his open mouth and pour fire down his throat. It won’t truly hurt him; I know that. But it’ll make it hard for him to breathe.
Trinte whips his torso forward, but unlike with Bael, I’m expecting it. His attempts to dislodge me failed. I laugh maniacally.
The laughter is cut off as hands the size of dinner plates wrap around my neck.
They squeeze; the electricity begins. Blinding, white hot pain convulses my body.
He took me by surprise the first time, but this round, I command my muscles to tighten further, using the electricity to my advantage.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I swear a tooth cracks from how tightly I grit my teeth.
Trinte’s still trying to remove me, but his movements are turning sluggish.
The crowd is screaming in a way I’ve never heard before, but it’s far away.
Trinte’s gasping breaths are the only thing I’m focused on.
The electricity falters, as does my eyesight. Everything begins to darken. An earthquake jolts my body. Not an earthquake — Trinte falling onto his knees. Still, I hold his neck between my thighs, just in case it’s a trick.
But my lungs scream and every vein burns from the lack of air. We’re literally killing one another. Maybe that’s okay. Dying doesn’t scare me, and something tells me it doesn’t scare him either.
My fire fails at the same time the electrocution stops.
Both of us fall onto the sand. Somewhere, a bell rings. Trinte’s movements still, and my mind floats away into oblivion.