Page 56 of Of Gods and Pain

He grins, looking at the others in pure disbelief. As if it’s impossible for any female to teach a male anything. For any female to be stronger than a male. I wonder how many times he’s made Ansa and Talyn feel unworthy of their positions just because of what’s between their legs. The latter shifts, crossing her arms and gazing down to the floor.

That tells me everything I need to know.

“You may be a goddess, and the others may not want to offend you because of that, but I don’t care,” he spits, stepping forward. I pointedly look at Emrys, who is clenching his fists. I’m essentially asking him to not do his job, so I can respect his struggle. “Look at you and then look at me. See anything different there?”

I smirk, making a show of glancing him over. He’s wearing brown pants, boots, and a leather top I’ve never seen him without. He’s combed his light hair back, slicking it against his big ass ego. His raised eyebrows speak to a confidence he shouldn’t have.

He’s achingly predictable.

“Yes. You see a goddess with decades more training than you. I see a large brute who likely doesn’t know what the inside of a vagina feels like, since he insists on insulting every female he talks to.” Muffled sounds come from the rest of the group, Karis not holding back his bellowing laugh. But I don’t look away from Sam, determined to put this asshole in his place. My stomach flutters and shoots the sensation through my spine and down my arms, causing my hands to tingle.

“You bi—” He halts, obviously remembering the prince and captain are in the room with us. He huffs. “Fine. You want me to prove just how inadequate you are for the job? Agree to fight me, and I will.” I smile, my heart speeding up, ready to have some fun.

“Let’s make things interesting, shall we?” I turn and saunter over to the mat, placing myself at the center. “We’ll do three rounds. The first, no magic is allowed. The second, only magic is allowed. The third, both are allowed.” His brows scrunch into a grimace, as if I just said the most stupid thing ever.

“Fine.” He stalks over, pulling out his sword and dropping into a ready stance.

I don’t move, standing with my hands at my sides, not bothering with a weapon. I can tell he wants to say something about it, but just shrugs and indicates his okay to begin. I nod, giving him permission to attack.

He doesn’t hesitate to lunge, lifting his sword and swinging it at my neck. I swiftly roll forward, his uncontrolled swing giving me a moment to slip past him and end up at his back. I stand and swivel, kicking my leg hard into his shoulders; he grunts and flies across the mat, landing on his shoulder and rolling until he hits the window.

The rage on his face is priceless, and I giggle to myself, a lightness taking over my chest. That was a nice introduction, but I don’t plan to drag this out. We have a lot to get through in such little time. So when he leaps up, running at me with the full force of his fury, I watch carefully for my opening.

He comes straight at me with his sword, forgoing any previous instruction in order to satisfy his anger. I wait until the tip is mere inches from my breastbone before spinning. I grab the hilt of his sword as I throw my fist into his throat, forcing him to let go. I easily step behind him—since he’s distracted with trying to breathe—and hold the tip of the sword to the back of his heart. He stiffens, lifting his hands in surrender as he’s wheezing too badly to yield.

I lower the sword, handing it to him when he turns. I have no interest in gloating any longer, so I step back to my starting position.

“Go again. Only magic.”

He tosses the sword off the mat, clenching his jaw. His dark eyes home in on me, ready to claim the win he thinks belongs to him.

I know Sambril has fire magic, so when he thrusts a ball of flames at me, I do what I did with Emrys days ago: absorb it. I let it hit me, smirking at the shocked male as the fire encases my entire body. I don’t let it burn anything, just listen to the sweet words of the magic dancing around me. I lift my palm, mocking the movement of blowing a kiss, but I shoot his fire back at him instead. I force it to cocoon him from shoulders down, leaving him defenseless, as the magic will no longer answer to his call. It’s mine.

I let him fight it for a minute before he shakes his head and curses to himself. Only then do I dissipate the flames and gesture for him to pick up his sword.

“Last round. Use whatever techniques you please,” my voice is sweet. Taunting.

I’m glad we had this little spar before I began with their training. It’s shown me they have much to learn. I’ve barely moved from my spot on the mat and have so easily taken down one of the army’s best soldiers. Honestly, this is worse than I thought. They’re too comfortable, and that will make them sloppy.

Sam charges me again, not learning from that mistake the first two times. I build a thick wall of air just in front of me, time slowing as he swings for my legs. I don’t move, but I hear the worried shouts from the group telling me to. I smile and Sam scrunches his brows, confused only for a moment before realizing what I must have done.

Too late.

He’s already swinging, the momentum impossible to stop. His sword hits the wall, the force of it bouncing him backward onto his ass. I shift the wall into a box just tall enough for him to stand. His nose smacks into it as he attempts to walk forward, and his eyes widen when he reaches all around him and finds himself stuck.

I don’t care that he disrespected me. But I know he’s treated the other females here as less than, and most likely the ones at the camps, too. He needs to learn that if he fucks with any of them again…I don’t give a fuck who his prince or captain are. That is not something we tolerate in Europa. We are all equals until time proves otherwise.

Even then, we would never disrespect each other like this. It ruins the balance of a team, forcing each member to fight individually instead of working together in a cohesive dance.

He will learn this, or he will be stripped of his title.

I wait until he faces me again to start the flow of water into the box. It takes only a moment for him to realize that I’m filling it up, eyes widening as he beats on the immovable wall. He looks to his superiors, gesturing to me like I’m crazy.

I won’t hurt him. I send the message to my males, knowing they understand the need for this particular lesson.

Sam’s jaw drops as he realizes no one will help him. He turns back to me, and I can see the conflict in his eyes; does he want to beg me to not do this, or does he want to curse me out in his last moments?

I wince as the memory of my mother drowning me surfaces. She did the same thing to me I’m now doing to this male. She was trying to release my essence magic, and it worked. Unfortunately for Sam, he won’t have that ability. I didn’t think I did, either, though.

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