Page 58 of Bound By Darkness

“There are no rules during battle. If an opponent sees an opening, they will take it and you.” His hands stuffed into his pockets as he stared at me, his eyes beckoning for a challenge.

Unguarded, his weapons lay beside Fin near the roaring fire.

I hadn’t managed to land one hit against him. His body moved too quickly, and his maneuvers were of a skilled fighter honed from relentless battles. He even had the muscles to prove it. An eyesore my eyes kept trailing to despite my best efforts.

Ivan stood before the fire, his shoulders squaring as he assessed me with those cold eyes. He was waiting for me to make the first move.

Steeling my mind, I gripped the dagger tightly and shuffled my feet against the ground until my stance evened with my shoulders.

“Good posture.” His eyes flicked up and down. “Assess your opponent. Figure out their weak points.”

I held back a laugh. He had no weak points… at least, none to the naked eye.

“Lift your arm slightly higher,” he said as he pointed toward my elbow. “You’re dragging the weight at the hilt.Your strikes won’t have any impact by holding it there. You need it at the sharpest point to break skin and bone.”

“Got it,” I hissed before adjusting my arm. It burned where his fingers had touched earlier, the same warmth I’d felt when I shook his hand for the deal.

Tossing the thought from my head, my muscles screamed in protest at the unnatural angle. Every inch of my body worked in tandem effort to maximize my strength.

“Use those skills from the prison to hit me.” He tapped his chest once. “Even if you barely graze your fingers here, I’ll end the lesson for tonight.”

My brow rose at the challenge. “And if I don’t?”

“We’ll keep going all night until you do,” he said, a hint of a smile curling at his lips.

Even with sweat dripping from his brows, there was no denying Moria would have been right. The Fae gods had blessed him and it pissed me off to think so while he was torturing me.

Shifting my eyes to the trees, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I can barely keep my arms up, and there’s no more faelight.” My eyes drifted to the fire as Fin blew on a bowl of soup, steam billowing around his face. Gods, I wanted food so bad. “Fin, help me out here.”

“Oh, no. I’m not jumping in the mix,” he said, his mouth full of beef and carrots. “If I intervene, he might slit my throat.”

“You better start soon,half-breed,” Ivan mused. “At the pace you’re going, you’ll wind up beneath me every single time.”

The embers flickered as I glared at him, his lips curving into a vicious smirk.

Fine. If he wanted to play, so be it.

Setting my arms out in front of me to maintain my balance, I assessed my opponent. Images flickered of what Ihad learned during my time with him. He seemed to favor his right side, but even a novice assassin knew to remain cautious. The same was true of his left.

An idea sparked in my head. An old idea my sister and I had used to tackle my father once… only once, but if I played it right— “Fin, get some ready for me.”

Fin glanced at me, but he placed a bowl next to the fire without a word.

“Cocky, are we?” Ivan’s eyes gleamed with a sheen of mischief.

I shook my head. “No, but you are,” I said as a playful smile lit my face.

Ivan’s brow rose briefly, but I didn’t give him time as I launched forward, my swings wide and violent.

Ivan dodged each one effortlessly, his feet light as he danced around me. “Giving up already? Pity. I assumed you had more spark.”

“No,” I rasped as I angled the dagger toward his head.

He swooped low, my blade slicing the air above his head as he reached for my foot.

I jumped back, my legs threatening to collapse at the exertion.

“You’re forgetting your form again,” he purred as his hand grazed my elbow. He tapped it once and I might have leaned into that touch for a second before I swung wide, my blade meeting air as he stepped to the side. This wasn’t a fair fight.

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