RUIN ME
The following day, it stormed for hours on end, making training with Roirdan an interesting and challenging feat.
Against my better judgment, I trained with him high in the mountains at the open-air temple ruins where we always practiced.
I flinched as lightning splintered above, while Roirdan simply laughed, a wicked grin spreading across his face as he crooked a finger and enticed me to attack again.
We had been working on combining my power with my sword skills, while alternating the use of my shield when needed. But I was also learning how to protect myself with my light, sending pulses of it out to not only attack or stun, but to block and deflect.
Down in the catacombs of Benmoor, I struggled with falling into a rhythm of switching back and forth through my abilities, and I wanted to be able to interchange them as effortlessly as any of the Trium did.
I spun, the shorter pieces of my hair flinging like wet scraps of cloth across my face, the rest of its length wrapping around my waist. When I found Roirdan in my line of sight again, I jabbed out with my dagger—the one he’d gifted me.
He blocked it with ease, and I grunted in annoyance.
I used my wrist to wipe the water out of my eyes every few moves. Roirdan had insisted we practice without shields, saying that in a real fight, when I needed to conserve energy, I would have to focus on my power without letting the weather get to me.
His voice rang out above the drenching rain. “In battle, and in war, the fighting will last until either your enemy’s breath gives out, or yours does. And you will have an entire battlefield of enemies.”
A seemingly endless fight, I thought to myself.
I recalled how the seven-minute round in the king’s tournament seemed like a lifetime. Enduring an entire battle? That would be a different type of challenge.
I needed to be ready.
Roirdan lunged, and I spun again, switching the dagger to my other hand mid-turn. He dodged another of my attempted strikes.
I saw his hand clench before he opened it and thrust it toward me, sending a bolt of lightning from his fingertips. I threw up my hand, letting a pulse of my power meet it. Lightning met starlight and collided with a crackling thunderclap that shook the stones beneath us.
“Again!” he yelled through the driving rain.
He came at me with his sword arm, swinging downward with his full force. I brought my forearm up in front of my face, pushing out my physical shield and deflecting his blade. It clattered off of the invisible barrier like a stone skipping on ice.
I shot forward as he recovered, but he spun out of the way, laughing as my dagger missed where I’d aimed at his chest. So, I pictured his ankles in my grasp and swiped my hand from left to right in front of me.
Both his feet were swept out from under him on my silent command, and I leapt on top of him, bringing my blade to his jugular.
He grinned up at me, blinking the rain from his eyes and spitting the water off his lips. “Fuck. I keep forgetting about that little trick.”
“Then I’m using it correctly,” I said, pushing off of him. I offered him my hand to help him stand, and he took it, nearly pulling me back down on his way up.
He clapped me on the shoulder, the sound making a wet slap against my sopping leathers. “That’s enough for the day. This storm isn’t going to let up anytime soon anyway.”
“But what if I like training in this deluge?” I practically yelled as thunder rolled above.
Another voice rumbled from the other side of the temple ruins. “Then you’ll have your wish.”
I whipped around to find Niall standing in the rain, Death’s Whisper in hand, the flat edge of the black blade resting on his shoulder.
“That’s my cue,” Roirdan said, giving me a bow and vanishing.
I shook my head and laughed as I walked over to the side of the pavilion and swapped my dagger for my sword.
Niall sauntered over to me, water gliding down his blade and dripping from the strands of hair that hung over his forehead. “Got any energy left for me?” He grinned.
“Always.” I grinned back.
I turned my back to him, knowing he would advance first—thinking I had let my guard down. The moment he took the bait, I made a simple swipe of my hand, and his foot slid out from under him. He went down on a knee to catch himself.
I was really beginning to like that tactic.
“Be careful. It’s slick up here,” I called out over my shoulder with a smirk as I walked to the center of the pavilion.
His eyes pulsed like molten gold. “Playing dirty, are we?”
“I thought you’d like to see my progress.”
His shadows shot out for me from where he continued to kneel.
A test.
I pushed my shield out, and the shadows darted away before they touched it, regrouping in several masses. They launched at me from multiple angles, and a pulse of my light sent them skittering back to their master through the droves of rain.
Turning on my heel, I tucked my hands and blade behind my back, waiting for his next advance.
He took note of my stance and smirked as he rose to his feet. “Someone’s getting cocky.”
“Confident,” I corrected him.
My talk with Remic last night had given me a new outlook. I wouldn’t allow doubt to seep in. That would only pave the way for error and failure. Instead, I would channel the confidence that I’d always had in myself. At least then I would have a strong foundation for what I might face in the future.
“It’s a good look on you,” Niall said, approaching me once more.
Then, with the wave of his hand, the buttons on his dark shirt undid themselves and he pulled an arm free of its sleeve.
He switched his sword to the other hand and began peeling off the other sleeve, slowly revealing his toned upper body.
He tossed the sopping wet shirt to the outskirts of the temple and waited for me to meet his stare.
“Is that really necessary?” I asked, rolling my eyes at his abandoned shirt, even though I was practically drooling at the way the water slid over his exposed muscles.
“Wet clothes hinder my movements,” he said.
I’m sure, I thought.
I watched his movements. Watched him twirl his blade, the metal cutting through the rain with a tinkling sound. The muscles in his forearm flexed, and when he rolled his shoulders and swung the sword again—readying his stance—a lick of heat curled low in my core.
I blinked the rain out of my eyelashes so that I could better focus on his physique.
His voice sounded in my mind. Like what you see?
I’m only trying to better gauge my opponent, I thought back—a blatant lie. I wanted to stare at him and watch the water glide over his shroud and weave through the groves of his abdomen as he twirled that damn sword around, and around, and around—
Lightning split the sky above us, and thunder boomed half a second later, jolting me from my thoughts.
Come closer and get a better look, he taunted.
I didn’t take the bait. I stood my ground and lifted my chin in defiance, waiting for his move.
“Stubborn little thing,” he said.
He took two steps forward, then leapt.
My sword met his, once, twice, again, and again as he drove me back into the corner.
I pushed out a pulse of light and quickly cut to my left.
He didn’t miss a beat as he followed, sending a stream of shadows toward me.
I wiped them off their track with a thought and lunged back at him with my blade.
He blocked it with a burst of his own power, which sent the raindrops around me into my cheeks with a stinging bite.
In a flash, he was upon me, and my shield wasn’t quite quick enough. His shadows gripped my wrists, holding them at my sides. I dropped my sword as he raised his and pressed the rounded pommel up under my chin, tilting my head back.
His lips hovered over mine, dripping water onto my tongue.
My chest rose and fell, touching the bare skin of his with each breath.
He started to say something, but with a thought, I peeled the shadows back from my hand and sent out a beam of light the second I was free.
It shoved him back several feet, but he ported behind me in an instant, pinning my arms to my sides with his own this time.
He pressed himself up against my backside, and I felt every inch of his hard body through my soaking wet clothes.
“Yield,” he whispered into my ear.
“No, I don’t think I will.”
I willed the dagger—which sat only a few feet away, on my pack—to my free hand.
The moment the hilt met my palm, I flipped it backward, but he’d anticipated the move—the same one I’d pulled on him in Vahrenhall.
My wrist was caught in his grasp before I could aim the point of the blade at his inner thigh.
I felt a smile spread across his face. “Tried that one already.” A shadow snatched the blade from my hand and flung it across the wet pavement for good measure.
He released me, and I turned and stared at him—at the challenge still burning in his glowing eyes. Then, I took a few steps back, raising a brow. “You know I can still command that dagger.”
His lips parted, and the tip of his tongue flicked over the corner of his mouth. I almost didn’t hear him speak as I watched the movement. “Will you?” he asked.
“Are you asking me to?”
His eyes darkened with playful mischief. “I’m daring you to.”
The rain pelted us as we stared at each other, waiting for a move to be made. Then, his voice caressed my mind, melting my resolve. If you succeed in drawing blood from me, I’ll give you anything you want.
And if I fail? I asked.
Then I get to take what I want, right here, right now. His eyes slid down my body and back up, meeting mine again with a newly-kindled flame inside them.
A swirl of desire coiled low within me, and I shivered, my skin pebbling under my wet clothes.
No shields? I asked.
No shields, he confirmed, tossing me a smile.
Sounds like a win for me either way, I said.