Page 22 of Foxes of Legend

When I finished chewing, I put up my fists. “How about that training?”

Kairos raised up his hands, frowning skeptically. “I saw you out there getting your ass kicked today. Let’s practice some moves.”

“I almost beat Brynn, for your information,” I said defensively, thankful he had let the topic go. If Kairos found out what Vince had done, he’d definitely kill him. A bubble of comfort formed around that murderous thought.

Kairos walked me through several different attacks and defenses and what to look for when someone is about to attack.

Enko yawned, lying on the grass as he watched the two of us go through the motions of each move. “That’s the third time you’ve told her to watch her weak points.”

“Fine, are you ready?” Kairos asked, giving an exaggerated sigh at Enko. We nodded to each other as we began a practice fight.

He swung his arm forward at an embarrassingly slow pace, and I quickly whacked him away from hitting me.

“Good!”

“Good? You were going at a tenth of normal speed.”

Kairos smiled and punched again, faster this time, but I dodged skillfully. My back twinged at the backwards lean as I drove a palm towards Kairos’ chest. He deflected easily.

Attack-mode ensued, throwing punch after punch at the golden-haired man. He matched every move I made, his speed unreal—that was his magic kicking in.

It became a dance of dodges and strikes, and the more he held back, the more I pushed myself. My fist connected with his chest. He pushed the fight to the next level.

After nearly half an hour of sparring, I was out of breath and he hadn’t even broken a sweat. He threaded his fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes.

“No good habits, but you can learn those. Not many bad ones either. You’re weak. Enko will get you on a weight-lifting schedule.”

Kairos continued talking over moves with me as we moved into the gym and Enko got close to me, pushing a weight into my hand. In his hand, the dumbbell looked miniature.

“Start with that, do fifteen reps with each arm, four sets,” he said in some kind of foreign language. We hadn’t begun weights for physical training yet.

“Huh?”

He smiled and picked up his own weights. “Copy what I do.”

And what Enko did wasn’t very fun. But it did allow me to watch his muscles flex and have some entertainment while I worked.

Enko positioned himself behind me, his chest pressing against my back as he guided my movements. His shirt grazedmy back and excitement rushed into me, his hands on mine causing heat to sprout all over my body.

Until one of his hands wrapped around my forearm. I flinched in pain and he loosened his hold instantly.

“What’s wrong?” Enko’s eyes filled with concern.

I pressed my arm against my chest, shaking my head. His stare intensified, reaching forward and pulling back the sleeve to reveal the bruises in this distinct shape of fingers. He drew in a breath, holding it in for too long. When he released the air, his growl reverberated through me.

“Who did that? Who dared to hurt you?”

Kairos jumped up from his bench across the room, striding over to me to inspect my arm, gingerly holding my wrist and turning it over to get a full examination. He narrowed his eyes, frowning at me.

“Who?” Kairos stroked at the marks, clenching his teeth together. “I didn’t hit you hard enough to leave any bruises.”

“It was Vince. Last night,” I whispered.

“What happened?” Kairos demanded. Enko’s hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“He cornered me in the city and said that I must be a slut because I had three mates.” Kairos’ eyes were locked on the bruises on my arm as I spoke. Repeating Vince’s words made my voice waver, and I hated that his words had any power over me or my emotions.

“He saidwhat?” Kairos’ wrath bubbled up to full intensity.

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