Page 109 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

“Agrrh, I want to smack you so hard—”

“Then show me.” He leaned into her. “Prove you can.”

“I am not going to show you anything.” She spoke through her teeth as the rage began to boil over.

“Oh, yeah?” he said again, coming closer to her face. “How about I make you show me?”

“You can’t make me do anything!” she screamed, swinging a fist towards his face.

Okay, maybe I just lost my marbles, she thought. Had she just swung a punch in the direction of a ferocious Hunter?

Torin responded with movement, swinging out with his arm, his hand catching Emara’s. She swung again, but missed.

“What a temper you have, little Witchling.” He gripped her fist in his hand. “I like it.”

Emara ducked quicker than he expected, breaking the hold, and unsheathed a small sword from his weapon belt. She noticed surprise flicker in his eyes, but he didn’t show any other emotion to her theft. She pulled herself back and kicked her leg out forcefully, connecting her foot with Torin’s abdomen.

Create an opportunity for space if you can.

Gideon’s words ran through her mind like a stream of directions. Torin’s mass only took one stumble back, and then he was crouching like a predator stalking his prey. He smiled wickedly while drawing out a dagger from his belt.

“You should have said you wanted to play, angel. I would have been more than obliging.”

Dangerous excitement edged into his features and he sprung up and dove towards her. She raised her arm to block his blow with her weapon, but it was a trap. He spun under her arm and was behind her before she could react. His firm grip pulled her into his hard body, the dagger pointing to her neck.

“That will be a win for me,” Torin breathed, the warmth from his mouth tickling her ear. “Just a heads up, I don’t lose.”

I would rather go to the underworld than let him win. The steam in her blood sizzled and the rage erupted like lava pouring from the funnel of a volcano. The wind blew through the trees, and the dead leaves from the ground twirled into the air like a swirling pool of colour. One hand slid down her waist and spun her to face him; his large hand lay heavy on the base of her back. Her eyes locked down on Torin’s face as his gaze smouldered into hers. Torin didn’t even look to see the storm that was brewing around them. He looked at her like she was the only person in the world—the universe.

But she wasn’t done.

The air around her brought Emara a new strength and she pounced forward, bringing up her weapon, but Torin anticipated the move and pulled back. Taking a different approach, she swung her elbow like Gideon had shown her and cracked it into the side of his face as he moved towards her. He quickly recovered and ducked around her arm, causing them to be standing face to face. A tiny bead of blood dripped from his lip.

“Torin.” She stilled. “I am so sorry.” She placed her hands up to his lips. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

The leaves fell around them and the whipping wind that lashed at her hair died instantly.

“Don’t apologise.” He sucked in his lip, drinking in the blood. “You did exactly what I wanted you to.” He wiped one wrist over his mouth, looking down at his hand to see a smear of blood.

“What?” Her nose wrinkled in confusion. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I got you to show me.” His face was unreadable, not like before. “Show me what you are made of.”

“I still don’t—”

Torin cut in, “I provoked you into using your magic.” His eyes ignited a fire within them as he wiped his hand on the back of his leathers. “I wanted to see if another of my theories was right. Magic is often connected to feeling and emotion. I want to see what stirred beneath those unusual eyes.”

She blinked. “I…I…I used my magic?” She stumbled backwards, but Torin caught her elbow quickly, pulling her upright. “I have magic?”

“Did you not just see the winds wrap around us? Nowhere else in the forest had a gale force breeze ripping at their trees.” His face relaxed. “That was the element of Air.”

The element of Air.

Her mouth hung open as she looked around herself. “Did I do that?”

“You did.” He grinned, somewhat genuinely. “And you threw a mean back elbow.” His eyebrow raised in amusement, allowing a dimple to appear in his cheek. “I am slightly impressed.”

She raised her chin towards him. “Just slightly?”

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