Chapter 10 Thayla #2
“Feel my power and imagine yourself pushing it away. Literally shoving it. Your power may be as stubborn as you are, but it’ll protect you when you need it to.”
I try to do as he advises, but I can’t talk to my noncompliant power right now. If it had any intentions of helping me push away his power, it would’ve already. There isn’t a sign or tingle anywhere in me right now other than what his power is causing.
My eyes widen as I barely spin out of the way of his incoming sword. I put too much momentum behind myself, and with a perfectly timed leg sweep, he has me on my ass, panting as I stare up at the clouds.
“I could tell you were going to try to spin away from how you shifted your feet. Don’t give away your move. Use your size as an advantage. They’ll believe they can take you down. Let them close. Next time, you duck down. Then you strike. One swipe. Instant kill. Don’t hesitate.”
He holds his hand out to help me up and I should’ve slapped it away. The second his fingers wrap around my hand, I groan. Loudly.
“Did I hurt you?” he asks, stepping away from me.
“No. On top of you spanking me, I’ve hit my ass a couple times today. I’m pretty sure it’s bruised.”
It’s not a complete lie, but I won’t be telling him his power feels glorious.
He curls his lips in as though he’s trying not to laugh at me. That shit, I swear, lights my soul on fire.
“Again. Fight me and my power off.”
I match him swing for swing, strike for strike. Whether it’s fists or swords, I keep up with him. I’m positive he’s taking it easy on me, and I can’t be bothered to complain or get mad about that.
There’s no fighting his power off. I can’t take on both sides of him. It’s distracting, tantalizing, and has my soul on the verge of snapping out of me and pouncing on his.
Just keeping it secure in my chest is a battle in and of itself.
I haphazardly swing my sword down toward him. With a pissy groan, he snatches my wrist, twirls me around, and pins my back to his chest. I suppress a shiver that desperately wants to escape me.
“What kind of attempt was that?”
My bones turn to jelly as I slouch against him. “Creed, this can’t be what power feels like when facing off with other gods. If so, I’m done for.”
His body tenses behind me, then he steps away. My arms flay out beside me as I try to catch my balance. I brace myself—my poor ass—for impact, but I never hit the ground.
His hands swoop under my armpits, and all his power gets sucked out of the air, stealing that delicious sensation right from my skin.
“I only pushed a little bit out, but no, other gods won’t be as painful. I didn’t realize I was hurting you or I would’ve pulled back more.”
My brows scrunch together as I turn to face him. He takes another tentative step away from me.
I stare at him, and his body language in utter confusion.
The…disappointment written across his face isn’t directed at me. There’s stress in his shoulders that wasn’t there a second ago and the veins in his arms are one more clenched fist away from bursting out of his skin.
“Creed, nothing about that was painful.”
His head jerks and his eyes narrow on me as he searches my face for the lie.
My face isn’t the only thing he searches.
The little sliver of soul in me becomes acutely aware of him feeling up and down the thread that lives in him. I breathe slowly to keep mine in check.
“I’m trying real hard here to respect your boundaries, so unless you want me to snatch the shit out of yours, you’ve got to stop doing that.
I’m struggling to control my soul’s motives right now.
Your power made it feel…alive. I couldn’t fight your power off because I was too busy fighting my soul to stay where it belongs in my chest.”
“Impossible.” He grunts.
“Are you trying to tell me what my soul is and isn’t doing?”
“No, I mean, yes, I could tell you. I know everything it does. I was saying impossible to how my power was making you feel. Any being weaker than you would’ve been screaming in agony. There’s no way you didn’t sense even the slightest discomfort.”
Oh, I was about to be screaming…
“Your power won’t hurt her, Creed.”
I whip around, smiling in awe and excitement as Verlet trots toward us. Seismet lets out his own elated neigh from where he’s made himself comfortable in the grass with V.
“Hello, Thayla. Giving Creed a hard time today, I see.”
“Hey, Verlet. It’s quite the opposite, actually. I’ve had a very long day, and he dragged me out here for tiresome training.”
“That was rude of him. I was referring to confusing him completely. He doesn’t know what to do with you claiming his power didn’t cause you pain.”
I peer over my shoulder, and Creed does, in fact, look like his mind is spinning. “Why would he think that?”
“Oh, that will be a question he has to answer for himself.”
“Ugh, you revered creatures and your secrets.”
I swear to the Valories, all three of them laugh at me.
It’s not funny.
My eyes stay trained on Creed as Verlet makes his way to him and lays his forehead against his. They stay in that position long enough I know they’re having their own conversation.
I also know it’s about me when I catch Creed peeking at me.
“Come on, Seismet. Tell me all the secrets.”
“Do you really want me to?”
“Seismet,” V warns.
I smile mischievously at the two of them, but it softens when the stress in Creed’s shoulders slackens as he pulls away from his companion. Yes, I desperately want to know the secrets that still surround him, but I want him to be comfortable enough to tell me.
“Uh, no, I don’t. I want him to hurry up and tell me. I have a sneaky suspicion he tends to beat himself up more than he deserves. If I knew that for sure, I could call him out and correct him about it.”
“You hate it when we or anyone else does that to you,” V scoffs.
“What can I say, I’m a hypocrite.”
“That’s enough for today.”
Creed picks up my discarded sword and expertly sheaths it with his that he’s already put over his shoulder. I tilt my head at the shift in his mood, trying to figure out why what I said bothered him so much.
I’m tempted to tell him no, let’s keep training so he’ll get out of this funk he just got in.
My exhausted arms, mind, and sore ass convince me to call it a day.
“We’re going to stay here with Verlet,” Seismet says as he and V make their way over to where I’m standing staring at Creed. While he looks everywhere but at me.
“Okay. Thank you for your lesson earlier, V. Do either of you have any advice on how to handle this?” I nod over at Mr. Grumpy.
“Just be yourself. Show him you aren’t afraid of him or his power.”
“Which is what exactly?”
“Didn’t you just say you didn’t want us to say anything?” Seismet groans.
“I did. I can’t help myself.”
“Obviously. Go on before he leaves you behind.”
I whip my attention away from them and damn if Creed isn’t already making his way to the trees without me.
“Asshole. I’ll see you both later.”
Their laughs invade my mind for a moment as I sprint to catch up with him. I don’t stop my run when I approach him.
My legs wrap around him as I jump on his back and my ear-piercing shriek cuts through the trees when he slings me around his body. My arms tighten around his neck, and his hands grip me around my thighs before I hit the ground.
“I told you training was over for the day.”
I pant, attempting to catch my breath and ignore the intensity in his gaze. “I wasn’t attacking you. You carried me out here, so I was jumping on your back so you could carry me home.”
He frowns down at me, and embarrassment laces its way through my body, causing my blood to heat. I was obviously trying to be playful at the wrong time and with the wrong brother.
I try to pull my leg free so I can put my foot down, but he grunts.
I clutch his shoulders for balance when he slings me back around his body like I’m nothing more than a backpack. My legs instinctively tighten around him, and his hands grip my calves as I get myself situated.
He doesn’t say a word. Just starts walking.
Talk about awkward.
“Can I carry these so they’ll stop whacking me in the face?” I ask after the third time the swords on his shoulder smack me.
Again, he doesn’t say a word, but he unsheathes them, and they disappear in a flash of white light.
“Did you just starshoot them?”
“Yeah.”
“Where?”
“My room.”
“Do you have a lot of swords in your room?”
“A good bit.”
I sigh and drop my chin to his shoulder.
“What?”
“You lured me into a false sense of having the ability to converse when we were training. Now you’re back to being short. It’s frustrating.”
“You want me to talk about the swords in my room?”
“You could talk about how those leaves are green for all I care. I was just hoping to actually talk.”
“Why?”
“Because I like talking and you talk the least. It’s hard to get to know you when you don’t talk.”
“What would you like to talk about, Thayla?”
I’d actually like to bite a chunk out of your neck, dickhead.
“What’s your favorite thing to cook?”
His shoulders flinch beneath me. “Anything sweet.”
“Really? I thought you were going to say bread.”
“We weren’t allowed to have anything sweet growing up. Riven and I developed a pretty bad sugar addiction when we got here.”
Well…that was suddenly personal.
I clear my throat as subtly as possible. “I’ll never complain about something sweet. Have you tried any of the mortal recipes?”
“A few, but their ingredients are different than ours. It’s annoying trying to match what they mean.”
I snort. “Like what?”
“Annalise and I attempted to make a tart once and one of the ingredients needed to make the filling was called dragon fruit. There are no dragons in the nonmagical realm, nor do they bear fruit.”
Surprised laughter belts out as a sweet memory invades my mind.