Page 36 of Devious Knight

“Motherfucker.” He grins. “This is getting too easy for you.”

“Maybe. Or I’m getting better than you.”

“Nice try. No one is better than me.”

He’s right, but I want to prove him wrong one day. “I’m on your tail, Ivanov. From where I’m standing, I’m not that much different from you.”

He roars with laughter. “Like fuck. Let’s see about that.”

He thrusts his staff into my stomach. Serves me right. I got too cocky and that made me comfortable.

Thorne laughs again and twirls the staff in the air like it’s little more than a baton. “Fight like a man, Kade. Come and get me and stop dicking around.”

I do.

He strikes and I counter with a spinning kick. He blocks and responds with a sweeping low kick that I evade by jumping into a backflip.

Then we go all out.

I imagine that we would both look impressive to anyone watching us. We’re of similar height and built, but I carry that football player muscle that should weigh me down. It never has.

Fighting makes me incredibly light on my feet and that’s what makes me good at football.

Fighting like this helps me to know the limits of my body down to the bone and beyond, so I can push them.

That’s why I’m training with Thorne.

At Raventhorn Academy the guys are combat trained to master seven styles of martial arts. It’s mandatory even if you choose to become a librarian.

The Knights are about power and strength so all men who join them must be trained for war.

The Reaping is the first ritual every sixteen-year-old boy must undertake in order to become a Knight.

I barely made it through. It was like being tossed into a scene from Apocalypse Now.

I also wasn’t myself because I’d just lost my parents months before.

Thorne trained the unit last semester for the Reckoning. The second worst ritual you have to pass to become a Knight.

I passed that with flying colors. By then I was on track to finding out who killed my parents. That gave me the fire to keep going and get even stronger.

When I realized I was up against the Malina, and Nickoli in particular, I knew I needed to do more.

Thorne always held back when he was training us, yet he wiped the floor with us and made us all—even me—look like a bunch of pussies.

I asked him to give me more training because I knew it would give me the best chance of fulfilling my plans if he did.

I don’t know what’s going to happen down the line, but I know I need to be strong for whatever comes at me.

Thorne has that inner strength I covet. He has no off switch because he knows he’s practically invincible.

I come from Spartan blood. Now it’s time for me to act like it.

Our sparring continues, an intricate play of attack and defense, but it sadly ends when he knocks me off my feet and I find myself flat on my back with his staff between my eyes.

One blow to my head and I’d be dead.

“Lesson over, padawan.” A smug smile drifts over his face.

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