Page 12 of The Storm of the Empire

Midway through my warm-up routine, I couldn’t help myself anymore and finally lifted my line of sight to meet hers, only to be met with a glare.

Was she upset with me?

We’d been playful, but I had left once she was asleep. Had I burned a bridge? I lifted an eyebrow in a silent question.

She hesitated a moment, then shook her head and mouthed, “Nothing.”

“Sure?”I didn’t believe her.

She nodded in response and turned her attention to someone else.

Sometimes, I wished I could do that mind speech stuff the dragons and their ryders could all do. At least if I had to be left out of conversations constantly, I could have my own. They’d be naughty, of course. What else would you use that skill for?

I could only imagine the stuff Zaria said to Nyx all day long. The edging they could do without even touching each other. I could edge Hazel this entire class, teasing her with banter until she was panting by the end.

But since I didn’t have any stupid magical powers, I settled on the next best thing, teasing her with sword skills. All I had to do was get her to spar with me. I wouldn’t let her kick my ass, but if she did…my cock half hardened at the thought, and I had to push all the ways I could to tease her with my tongue out of my mind, at least until I was out of these damn gray sweats.

She avoided my gaze as she got training going, guiding us through warm-up stretches and then drills. I kept sliding over to try and meet her eyes or get some read on what had happened to her mood. But she artfully kept her attention on the whole class.

Come on. I couldn’t have fucked up that bad, could I? But not so much as a glance or gesture in my direction. All mask. But I’d gotten a glimpse of what was under her mask last night, and I was determined to lift it again. She was going to be a hard egg to crack, but I liked a challenge, and it had been far too long since I’d had a worthy opponent.

My mind spent the entire quarter of a candle mark in the gutter, but I managed to control myself enough to not create a scene. Barely. I’d had to beg my way into this class, and I was well aware half the flyers didn’t want me here, so a hard on in class would not be well received by anyone.

Finally, I had my chance with her as she paired off other students. She stopped near me, her attention at my feet, but she slowly lifted her gaze, assessing every inch of me. I knew she’d used it against me.

Our eyes met.

“Let’s see what you’ve got and if Tieran is lying about your abilities,” she challenged.

My brows lifted. I guessed being her sparring partner was more than I could have hoped for, but the way she was facing me down had me on alert.

Was this just a test for the class, or did she have something she wanted to work out on the mats?

She lunged at me, and we sparred.

She had me sweating in no time, working me over. It was intense but short lived, and my chest heaved as I stepped back. Others in the class had taken notice, and though I was fighting for breath and sporting a few welts, I could hold my head up high. I hadn’t let myself down, and I’d surely shown I deserved a place in the class.

“Not terrible,” Hazel said over her shoulder as if I mattered not.

I smirked but wished she would turn around and give me more. Instead, she approached the pair on the next mat. “Change partners with the pair to your left and go again,” she called out, then without another word, she threw herself into another battle without so much as a chance to catch her breath.

I was tapped on the shoulder, and I turned to find my next sparring partner. I had to accept that that was it.

She spent the rest of the class getting further and further away from me and never looked back. I had to turn my attention to my selection of partners so as not to get more welts, and when the class ended, Hazel took two flyers aside and was deep in conversation with them.

I wouldn’t wait around to catch her attention. If she was happy with a one-time thing, so was I.

I had things to do, so I headed off to my bathing chamber to make myself presentable again.

“I’m getting nowhere,”I admitted, slumping down into the chair in Nyx’s office. I’d thought about my progress as I’d rested after training and decided to pay Nyx a visit to discuss things. As an added bonus, I’d found Jaxus in his office, too.

“Funny… It looked like you were getting somewhere interesting with a certain weapons master.” Jaxus smirked giving me a once over.

I balked. On second thought, his presence was no bonus.

Nyx curled the corner of the papers he was reading over so he could peer at us on the opposite side of his desk.

I swallowed.

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