13. Clash of Stone and Steel
Clash of Stone and Steel
Talyn
Nemesis take her. He’d actually called her bluff.
Fear and adrenaline mingled in Talyn’s blood, making her lightheaded. When her wits finally returned, she began strategizing what in the three hells she was going to do now that she actually had what she’d been hoping for. She’d fought big men before, but no one like Samhail.
The caronium-lined cell would take Samhail’s powers as it had hers, but one good swing of his fist would still end her.
She wasn’t sure now that goading him into this had been a good idea.
A few minutes ago, getting him to open that door had been her main goal, and she’d even given herself a better-than-decent chance of taking him down if she got him to step in here, but her confidence disappeared along with the bars between them.
Talyn looked at the key in Samhail’s hand and quickly memorized its contours.
More than a decade of sneaking into places had made her good with locks, and knowing which key opened her cell was crucial.
If she ever got her hands on the keyring, she wanted to be able to find the one she needed right away.
Samhail closed the cell door behind him, and Talyn flinched as it locked shut automatically. He turned back to her and held the keyring up as he walked into the cell a few steps.
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” he asked. “To fight me without my powers? Well, here’s your chance. Let’s see if you can take these from me.” He jingled the keys before he shoved them into the front pocket of his pants and waved his hand in a gesture that invited her to come at him.
Talyn smiled. Gods damn him. She never could resist a challenge.
“And if I do take them?” she asked. She reached behind her to start braiding her long hair quickly into a tight plait.
He shrugged. “If you can take them and get to the door in time, then I suppose you’re free.”
She raised a brow at him. “That simple?”
“That simple.”
Talyn finished braiding her hair and looked around for something to tie it with. She remembered the dress she’d been wearing had a small ribbon tied into a bow in the front, and she picked up the garment to rip the bow off.
As she did, her foot kicked the pitcher of water she’d been given and it tipped over, soaking the hem of the dress.
“Dammit,” she swore as she laid the dress on the cot and began to tie the end of her braid.
Samhail eyed her impatiently.
“You don’t tie your hair back when you fight?” she asked as she finished tying the ribbon off.
“No,” he said, and she was pleased to hear he sounded annoyed.
“So what are the rules?” she asked as she faced him.
He raised a brow. “You want rules?”
Talyn shrugged, then smiled. “No, I suppose not,” she said as she reached for the dress again.
In a blink, she whipped the wet end of the dress at Samhail’s face so it snapped toward his eyes.
The water gave the fabric just enough weight that it stung more than it might otherwise have, and he grabbed at the garment as she’d hoped he would.
She dove through his legs feet-first still holding the dress so he was yanked forward by his hold on it.
She turned as she went under him so she was facing him, and she slammed her feet into the backs of his knees as hard as she could.
Samhail’s legs buckled under him, and he fell forward, landing hard on his knees on the stone floor. Talyn was up and on him a second later.
Samhail grunted in pain as Talyn threw one of her knees into his back, then wrapped her elbow around his neck so her forearm pressed at the artery there.
It usually took Talyn about ten seconds to subdue someone like this, to make them black out, but she realized immediately that ten seconds was nine seconds more than Samhail was going to give her.
She let out a strangled cry as he reached behind him to grab her arm with one hand and a handful of her sweater with the other, then yank her forward.
She yelled as she went flying over his shoulder and hit the floor on her back.
She coughed hard as the wind was knocked out of her, and she tried to sit up, but Samhail pushed her shoulders back down.
Anger surged through Talyn as she realized he wasn’t actually trying to fight her, just subdue her.
In a fight, he might’ve tried to hit her while she was down, but he seemed content to hold her shoulders to the floor.
She should have been relieved he wasn’t trying to hit her, since – at best – he would’ve knocked her unconscious with one blow, but his lack of effort just pissed her off.
Normally Talyn would’ve thrown her legs back behind her from this position to wrap them around his neck and pull him forward, but Samhail was too big for that.
She’d never have enough leverage to pull him forward all the way, so instead she rolled back, planted her feet on his collarbone, and kicked out with both legs as hard as she could.
It was just enough to push him off-balance and send him pitching backwards.
Talyn flung her legs forward again to spring onto her feet and into a crouch. She whirled around to face him but stayed low. Those long arms and huge hands of his were the most dangerous parts of him, so if nothing else, she needed to stay out of his reach.
Samhail picked himself up off the floor and rubbed the spot on his chest where she’d kicked him.
“Not bad,” he said, “but you should’ve gone for my groin when you slid under me, not my knees. That would have given you more time.”
She smiled at him. “Probably, but I’ll admit I couldn’t bring myself to risk damaging that work of art between your legs.”
Samhail blinked at her in shock, and she took the opportunity to launch herself at him.
She came in low and tried to kick his feet out from under him, but here again she’d underestimated his size.
Her kick met his ankle, but it didn’t budge his foot.
She paused only a moment before she swung her elbow down toward his thigh instead.
Her elbow never connected. Samhail closed a hand around the braid at the nape of her neck, and Talyn cried out as he dragged her upward by her hair so she was looking into his eyes.
“That’s why I never tie my hair back when I fight,” he said as he held her against him. “It’s too easy to grab when it’s all tied together. I’d rather lose a few handfuls of it than give someone control of my head.”
Talyn bared her teeth and growled at him.
She’d never actually had to tie her hair back when she fought.
She’d always been able to change her appearance before, so she usually went into a fight with short hair, and the issue had never come up.
Braiding her hair back this time had seemed like the smart thing to do, but apparently not.
Fine. Lesson learned.
“Give up yet?” Samhail asked in amusement as she struggled to free herself from his grasp.
She stopped struggling and smiled at him again. “Why would I give up when I have you right where I want you?” she asked sweetly.
Talyn lifted one of her legs and stomped down as hard as she could on Samhail’s foot even as she reached into his front pocket and pulled the keyring out of it.
Samhail yelled out as his hand loosened on her hair.
Talyn slipped the keyring onto her arm then reached up and grabbed Samhail’s head with both hands.
She pulled his head down as hard as she could onto her knee as she also brought it up to meet his face.
A bone crunched, and she imagined his nose was now broken.
Samhail grunted as he dropped to one knee, and Talyn brought her elbow around as hard as she could into his temple.
He fell forward onto the floor, and Talyn skirted around him toward the door.
She didn’t have more than a few seconds at most. She reached outside the cell and slipped the key into the lock.
It clicked, and she started to pull the door open when Samhail’s hand closed on her ankle in a vice-like grip.
She cried out and had just enough time to pull the key back out of the lock before she was yanked backward. Her feet came out from under her, and she barely managed to soften her fall before she hit the floor and was dragged back across it on her stomach.
Talyn thrashed and tried to kick out, but Samhail’s second hand closed over her other ankle, and she could do nothing but let herself be hauled toward him.
She tried to dig her fingers into the floor, but there was nothing for her to catch her grip on, so she tucked her arms under her body and held onto the keyring as tightly as she could.
She had to do whatever she could to keep hold of it.
Talyn tried to crawl forward on her elbows when Samhail let go of her ankles, but she felt him above her, and a moment later his body came down on top of hers to pin her to the cold stone.
His weight forced the air from her lungs, and she gasped as she tried to inhale.
Above her, Samhail’s weight eased just enough for her to take a breath, but that was as much leeway as he gave her.
She realized instantly the futility of trying to struggle against him.
Talyn’s body relaxed, and she eased her forehead down onto the stone as she tried to catch her breath.
“Playing possum now?” he asked.
She let out a frustrated laugh. “You use your size as a weapon. I don’t have any way to fight that.”
Actually, Talyn usually knew exactly how to use people’s size against them in a fight, but there was apparently a threshold for that. Samhail was just too big and solid for most of her techniques to work on him.
Samhail lifted his weight briefly as he rolled her over so she was facing him, then he settled his body back down on top of her.
Blood ran down his face from his nose, and she felt a surge of satisfaction that it was indeed broken.
She also felt something hard against her hip, and her eyes widened. Gods above, did he have an erection?
“Would you prefer me to have used my fists?” he asked.
Talyn glared at him as she tried to ignore the evidence of his arousal pressed against her. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of admitting she was glad he hadn’t hit her.
“We use what tools were given,” he went on. “You seem to know that plenty well. You may not have an answer to my size, but I’ll admit I underestimated you. It’s not easy to break my bones, but you can now claim my nose.”
She narrowed her eyes. He seemed almost like he was trying to console her, and that only annoyed her more.
They stared at each other for several seconds before he spoke again. “So…a work of art?” he asked, grinning down at her.
She growled and managed to get a hand up between them to push on his chest, but he didn’t budge at all.
“I was trying to distract you, and it worked. Don’t flatter yourself.”
That was only partially the truth. It was an impressive cock that she really wouldn’t mind touching again, but the Nemesis would take her before she admitted that to him.
“Yes,” he said, “distraction seems to be your tool of choice.”
Talyn met his eyes, and there was something in them that made her stomach flutter. She had to get out from under him before he decided to act on what she saw there.
“What would your lord and lady say if they came down here now to find us like this?” Talyn asked.
Samhail didn’t say anything as he considered the question.
“For that matter,” she went on before he could answer, “how do you plan to explain your broken nose to the lady when she heals you?”
Samhail shrugged. “Luckily she’s not the only healer I know.”
He reached down between them, and Talyn tensed, ready to fight, but he wasn’t trying to touch her as she’d feared. His real intention was worse. She did fight then as she felt him tug at the keyring.
“No!” she yelled as he pried it from her grasp.
She bucked under him and tried to reach for the keys, but he grabbed her wrist with the same hand holding the keyring and pinned it to the floor.
Talyn felt the ring press into her wrist as she continued to try and throw him off, but she finally gave up when she realized she wasn’t going to move him.
“Sorry,” he said, “but I have to take these back.”
“You should probably get that nose looked at,” she hissed at him. “It looks a bit crooked.”
To her chagrin, he just chuckled, and a moment later his weight was off her as he picked himself up from the floor.
Talyn rolled to her feet, but she stayed in a crouch. She watched as he pulled the unlocked door the rest of the way open and walked out. He closed it shut behind him, and the lock clicked into place automatically. Only then did Talyn dare to stand up fully.
“Tell Cyra I said thank you for the clothes,” she said as she dusted herself off. “Let’s do this again sometime when I have my powers.”
Samhail’s eyes raked down her body and back up again, and she had a feeling he was remembering when she’d stripped naked.
A quick glance at the front of his pants told her he was still aroused.
If she’d known it was that easy to make him want her, she would’ve tried to seduce him again instead of fight him.
“I’d love to fight again, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” he said. “Regardless, you’ll still lose. The porting is a neat trick, but it won’t help you against me.”
Talyn scoffed at that bit of arrogance, and her hands curled into fists at her sides. She didn’t care how attractive he was. She was going to slit his throat the next time she saw him.
Samhail grinned at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, then he turned and walked down the hall to leave.
Talyn went to the bars to look after him and couldn’t help smiling at the limp in his gait from the foot she’d stomped on. She let out a sigh of relief when he turned the corner, and his footsteps receded up the stairs.
She waited another few minutes before she dared to reach into the waistband of her pants where she’d tucked the key to her cell.
She’d just barely managed to unhook the ring, slip the key off it, and re-hook it as Samhail had dragged her back along the floor.
Then she’d shoved the key into her pants when he’d turned her over and prayed he wouldn’t feel it there.
If he’d decided to act on his arousal and touch her or undress her, he would’ve found it, but luckily he’d left her alone.
She only hoped no one would notice the keyring now contained one less key than it had before. At least not until tomorrow when she’d already be long gone.