Page 34 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

Torin stepped forward and Gideon sprung into the air, turning and bringing his leg out to kick him in the chest. Torin took the blow to his chest and stumbled back. Emara couldn’t believe that he was still standing. Torin dived towards Gideon, tackling him to the ground, his face turning red. He sat up and delivered a single punch, pinning Gideon to the mat. Torin lifted his fist into the air again and Emara closed her eyes.

Cally let out a small yelp.

The whistle blew again three times in short, sharp blows and just like that the brothers both tore apart. They were no longer each other’s opponents.

Gideon got to his feet quickly and spat blood onto the mat.

“If you bleed on the mat, you clean the mat,” Marcus pointed, as he repeated the rules.

Torin flashed his victorious smile. He wasn’t bleeding. But Gideon was.

Brute!

For the rest of the afternoon, Gideon taught Emara the art of balance. He also taught her core skills in defence and techniques on breathing. After that, Gideon instructed that she must start running with a weight—which she found ridiculous, but he insisted on it for strength and endurance.

After the run around the sparring room, carrying the weight for half of the time, the skin began to wear on her hands from the heaviness of the iron plate. Calling it a day, Emara noticed that blisters were forming on the pads of her hands; with no healer in sight, she strode across the mats to the black box which was labelled “medical supplies.” She searched for material or some form of plaster that would protect her newly formed wounds.

“I saw you looking at the spears,” a warm, husky voice drifted down to where she kneeled. “In the weapon room.”

She looked up.

“Good choice for you.” Ice blue eyes that twinkled with mischief stared down at her, his dark hair still sitting perfectly. Torin was standing with one hand wrapped in a bandage. Taking in the red stains that seeped through the material, her eyes met his again, a little wider than before.

“Let’s just say my partner wanted to train with a weapon and isn’t very good with knives.” A smile tugged at his lips.

Emara stood, holding his gaze. “You let Cally train with a knife?”

“Why not?” His lip tugged upwards.

Gideon had told her that they couldn’t train with weapons, but she found herself laughing anyway. “And here’s me, thinking Cally would go easy on you.”

“Where would be the fun in that?” His eyes smouldered through her skin as if she were transparent. She let out a breathy laugh and rolled her eyes.

Thinking back to what Torin had said yesterday in the infirmary, she took a minute to let herself look at him. She had thought about what he’d said a lot since then and maybe she had overreacted at him trying to lighten the mood. Just a little.

“I wanted to say thank you,” Emara said gently. “To you.”

Surprise and confusion hovered across Torin’s face.

“I know it was you, um, in the bathroom...who killed that demon,” she fumbled.

Torin blinked.

“I didn’t mean to get so upset the other day in the infirmary and I feel—I feel embarrassed that I acted the way I did. So, I just wanted to tell you that I am sorry.” She expected Torin to laugh it off or make a funny joke to break the tension in the air, but there was nothing else in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you the way I did.”

She searched his face for something other than silence, heat filling her cheeks.

He drew a bandaged hand over his face and then met her stare. “It’s my duty. No big deal,” was all he said, and his body brushed past hers, leaving her alone.

As she stared at the empty space where Torin had been standing, she wondered, Did I say something wrong? Emara’s mouth twisted and her eyes squinted, trying to process what she had said.

She had apologised.

Confused, she spun on her heels to search for Torin, but instead slammed into Marcus.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t—”

“Don’t worry about it.” Marcus’ eyes were kind, and a gentle smile warmed his lips. “We are going to send you home for an hour to collect a few things. Only essentials. Don’t bring anything unnecessary into the tower.” He nodded.

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