Page 74 of House of Ydril

“I don’t have all day,” he snaps at me.

And all of a sudden, I find the determination to wipe the floor with him. I don’t say anything, I just tap the Element Rune and send a wall of air flying straight into his chest.

It doesn’t seem to do anything. He’s still standing there, solid as a rock, with his hands resting casually on his hips.

I ball my hands into fists, cursing under my breath, but that only makes him throw me a smirk, his head tilted in amusement. “What’s that you said?”

Chill, Quinn, just chill, I plead with myself. And I do collect myself and send another, denser wall of air at him. He disappears for a second, materializing at the same spot without a hair out of place.

Grinningat me. “You know, it might be good,” he starts in an amused voice, “to try to use more than one tactic to beat your opponent. Just an idea.”

For a second, I just blink at him. Frowning, I dig my feet firmer into the ground and tap the earth rune with such force, it hurts. I open another chasm, right under his feet.

But of course, he just zaps himself away.

“On second thought…”

He startles me so much, I practically jump up. He’s appeared to my left, looking even more amused than a second ago. “Maybe you should stick to what you know.”

I just look at him for a second. Then I let out an angry growl and try to push him away with my hands.

His eyebrows raised, he just laughs, the sound rough but soft.

“You fucker, you think this is productive?” I yell at him. “I should be fighting someone my own level.”

Still smiling, he shakes his head. “You think that’s how the Trials will go? You’ll be able to choose your opponent? Besides,” he moves to follow me because I’ve started walking away, “I’m not even attacking you.”

I stop and turn back to him. “Well, why aren’t you? If we’re really aiming for all this to be as authentic as possible.”

He doesn’t say anything. He disappears and when I see him again, he’s gripping my forearm, his body so close to mine, I can only see his eyes. They’re still smiling when he says, “Because I’d have to hold back.”

At first, I’m at a loss for words. It’s all a bit too much, his eyes, his smell and the touch of his hand. I frown and I push him away. “You’re right, and this way, we can do without you touching me.”

Now, that makes the smile disappear from his face. But he’s not just back to his grumpy self, he seems to be seething.

“It was your idea anyway.”

I open my mouth, but at that exact moment, I hear a woman clear her throat somewhere behind my back.

My head darts in her direction and I see Faust’s blonde girlfriend standing a bit farther away, squinting at the two of us. “Am I interrupting something?”

My eyes dart to Faust.

“Actually, you are, Amelia,” he replies, his voice as cold as it gets, “you know I’m in training at this hour.”

What the fuck is going on, I think to myself.

“I do,” Amelia smiles as she appears next to him and grabs him by the upper arm, stroking his bicep. “And don’t get me wrong, baby cakes, I love it that you’re even doing charity work now,” she says as she throws me a nasty look, “but sometimes you need to live a little.”

“The training’s done when it’s done,” he snaps at her, his eyes darting in my direction before they turn back to her and linger there. “I’ll come see you after.”

There’s tension in the air as the smile slides right off Amelia’s pretty face. “Alright,” she says, quickly collecting herself and moving to walk away. “I’ll see you later then.”

She throws me another look and disappears.

Once she’s gone, there’s a moment of uncomfortable silence. I decide to break it by saying, “So… what do you want me to do now?”

“Nothing,” he snaps at me. “We’re done for today.”

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