Chapter Fifteen War and Walls
"The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy."
Adan was out in the field before the sun had risen.
Early enough that the morning dawn still cloaked her movement in darkness.
Her head and heart had never felt lighter.
She was able to move with a new-found swiftness.
Talking about her past aloud was therapeutic, even if it were to Nox.
She was grateful that he listened, and responded in kind.
She wasn't deluded enough to think that it would happen again any time soon.
He had felt bad for pushing her, and she still had not told him about what had happened to her family.
She might never, but she still felt lighter, there was no other word to describe it.
Even if she would rather not admit that Nox was a part of that.
Faun chewed at the grass a few feet down wind from her, freshly shorn and looking properly put out. He spotted her and turned to give her, his ass. Adan only snorted as she bit into her apple.
She felt him before his shadow covered her back.
"What now?" She asked. Adan sat down on a large rock nestled up against the fence.
Her long legs crossed over one another. The morning sun breaking the horizon to glint against her honey blonde curls, and illuminated her mis-matched eyes.
The soft sheen of sweat from her morning run making her sun kissed skin all the more beautiful.
"Since you've caught pour Faun, now you try and catch me."
Adan choked on the apple half way lodged in her throat at his words. She coughed, rubbing at her chest, and then slowly turning her head to glance up at him.
Lennox stood over her, his forearms resting on his fence, his long deft fingers left to dangle. His wings out but tucked neatly against his back, the first light of morning casting him in gold and shadow. A slow smirk played at his lips, as his green eyes locked with hers.
Her mis-matched eyes narrowed slightly. "If this is your plan to get me to fly... it won't work." She turned back to watch Faun in the fields, and carefully ate her apple.
Nox huffed a quiet laugh, the sound warm and infuriatingly smug. "Who said anything about flying?"
Adan's jaw tightened slightly, but she didn't take the bait. She simply continued chewing, refusing to acknowledge him.
"You caught Faun without your wings." Nox tilted his head, studying her. Adan saw the challenge, he laid bare. His head threw a nod back to Faun, but his eyes never left her face. "I'm no sheep." He bared his teeth in a feral grin.
That earned him a sharp side-eye, but she still didn't respond.
He snorted down at her, and pushed off the fence. "In the meantime." He spoke louder for her to hear as he walked towards the gated pen that he spared in every morning. "Try to best me." He pulled his shirt over his head and all thought ebbed out of her head. "If you can."
Adan's fingers tightened around the apple, the smooth skin pressing into her palm.
Smug bastard. She exhaled sharply, pushing to her feet and tossing the apple core aside. "You're serious?" Even if her mouth had dried out at the sight of him shirtless. Those dark wings splayed out behind him like one of the gods of hell.
Nox shot her a smirk, "you sound nervous." His predatory eyes gleamed.
Adan scoffed, rolling out her shoulders as she made her way toward him.
"I owe you for the ship, Captain." She gave him a menacing grin, and his eyes lit up with feral delight.
She could never deny the summons of a good fight, it sang to her very blood.
By the gleam in Nox's bright-green eyes, his blood as well.
Adan thumbed her daggers free.
"Since I know neither of us will concede." He pulled his long sword free. "Till first blood?" He stretched into a lunge in the middle of the fighting ring.
Adan twirled one of her daggers between her fingers, testing its weight, before nodding. "Till first blood." She jumped the fence instead of opting for the gate.
Nox grinned as he settled into a low stance. His sword glowed in the early morning light. She had no illusions about overpowering him—Nox was taller, stronger, and had reach on his side. But she was quicker. Sharper.
No warning, no signal—just a blur of motion as he lunged.
Adan barely had time to react before she was dodging, twisting out of reach. He was fast—faster than she expected—but she wasn't some slow, clumsy thing.
She spun back on him, low and sharp, eyes alight. "You fight dirty. I should have expected that from a member of Shadow House."
He chuckled, circling her like a predator. "You like it. Besides, you fight like you're from Storm House." He was baiting her. "When you should be fighting like the Head of Fire House."
She didn't dignify that with an answer. Instead, she lunged. Her dagger flashing toward his exposed ribs—only for his wings to snap out to swat her like a fly.
She barely caught herself, rolling with the force of it before coming up to her feet. Nox laughed, the sound dark and full of challenge.
Adan struck again, feinting left, but Nox knew what she was doing.
His sword was up, waiting for the onslaught of Adan's blades.
She was fast, but he was faster, the knowledge caused her to grit her teeth.
Nox fought like a force of nature—calculated, relentless.
He used his wings like an extension of his body.
The clash of steel rang through the air as they moved in tandem, a deadly dance of blade and instinct.
"Show me what the Gladiator pits made, love, because..." He levelled his sword up and down her body. "This isn't it." Adan caught her breath as they circled each other again. "Show me what earned you the title of Butcher." Adan knew he was baiting her.
Butcher--another name. Another life. One, she would have everyone forget about.
The Gladiator pits--the slave fighting ring of the City of Bones.
Not the Forge that she fought in for fun and release.
No. The Gladiator Pit was true hell. A cage to keep its occupants, and for the people of the capital to be entertained.
Adan rolled her shoulders, forcing the tension from her muscles. He wanted her riled. He wanted her reckless. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.
Instead, she met his gaze, steady and unflinching. "You want the Butcher?" Her voice was quiet, but it carried between them like a promise. She flicked her dagger into a reverse grip. "Fine."
Nox barely had time to react before she was on him.
This time, she didn't fight like a duellist. She didn't fight to outmanoeuvre him. She fought to end him.
Then she saw it.
A small shift—his left wing flaring just a little wider than the right. He was about to pivot. She threw her blade in an attempt to pin his leg. Nox saw it all in her eyes as he moved his foot just in time.
Her movements became sharper, more ruthless—blades seeking flesh with every strike. She no longer danced; she hunted.
Adan moved to sink her remaining blade in between his ribs and his hands shot out. Taking them both down in a roll, Adan had to close her eyes to stop the sand from entering them. The act cost her and Nox had her pinned. Her disarmed hands pined above her head, his sword discarded beside us.
She writhed in frustration. Their breaths were ragged, mixing in the space between them. Adan glared up at him, her chest rising and falling with exertion. Nox only grinned down at her, "Caught you."
"It's first blood, asshole. Not first pinned." His grip on her wrists was firm but not painful. His wings stretched out, still half-flared from the struggle, blocking out the sun behind him. She tested his hold, twisting beneath him, but he didn't budge.
Fighting Nox wasn't fare, it wasn't just because he fought dirty, but to Adan it was like he could predict her every move--even before she made it.
Nox leaned in, all that predatory intent zeroed in on her. She leaned back sinking into the sand, as Nox's nose grazed against her neck, and she froze. Her pulse thundered in her throat.
This close, all Adan could smell was Lennox, his scent of sweet amber, crisp rain and fresh oak.
Nox inhaled slowly, deliberately, his breath warm against her skin. "You smell like fire," he murmured, his voice a dark rasp.
Adan's fingers curled into the sand, and she wrenched a knee up.
He groaned and slumped forward on top of her.
The shift gave her just enough space to move.
She shoved hard, flipping their positions, straddling his waist.
Her blades and his sword both too far away to snatch, Least she give up her advantage.
Even if she knew he could easily flip them again.
"I never took you for a cheat." He chuckled and groaned as his body shock beneath her. The distinct feel of his impressive bulge had her cheeks burning.
Adan ignored the heat creeping up her neck.
Focus. "I never took you for a sore loser." She snapped at him, her voice steady despite the wildfire raging beneath her skin.
Nox's grin widened, all sharp edges and dark amusement. "Loser?" His hands settled on her thighs, more possessive than restraining. "I'd say I'm precisely where I want to be."
Her heart did something traitorous in her chest.
Adan's fingers twitched against his chest before she forced herself to push off him, rolling smoothly to her feet. "How were you predicting my moves before I made them, you're not a seer... Only a sphinx could do that..."
Nox sat up slowly, propping himself on his elbows, his wings long gone. He studied her with an intensity that sent a shiver down her spine. "A sphinx?" he mused, tilting his head. "No, love. You just happen to be predictable."
Adan scowled. "Bullshit."
He smirked, pushing to his feet in a single, effortless motion.
"You fight with instinct," he said, dusting off his hands.
"Which is good. It makes you deadly. But it also means you have patterns."
He stepped toward her, forcing her to tilt her head back slightly to keep his gaze as he walked past her.
While Nox headed towards the house, Adan did nothing but stare at the empty space where his wings used to be, his shirt abandoned on the fence.
What are you?
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