Page 93 of Shadebound
Maya was next. She threw a couple of light jabs, the kind that wouldn’t leave a mark, and smirked when I didn’t even bother to dodge. She winked when the round ended, as if to say,that’s all you’re getting out of me.
Not every pairing was so nice.
Because then it was Alessandro.
We circled each other slowly, his smirk already grating on me. He threw a few lazy jabs, testing. They stung but barely. He wasn’t really trying.
I swung back once, clumsy, and he dodged easily. His grin widened.
“That’s disappointing, Alessandro.” Rayla called out. “You know how to fight better than that.”
Then his strikes sharpened. He stopped holding back. The jabs turned into real hits, faster, harder, pushing me off balance. I barely had time to brace when his fist cracked across my face.
Pain exploded through my skull as my nose broke. Blood rushed hot and metallic over my lips, pouring fast in the cold air. My vision swam, knees buckled, and I hit the ground hard.
I didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just lay there, head pounding, staring up at the grey stone ceiling high above.
“Wake the fuck up, Draconis,” Alessandro snarled. “Even with how terrible you are at combat, you should have dodged that. Why are you acting like you’ve been sedated?”
The cuff on my wrist pulsed. Bone snapped back into place, cartilage knitting. The blood vanished, the bruises erased. My face was whole again before I even pulled a breath.
But it didn’t give me back the satisfaction I wanted—the dark, burning need to make him choke on every drop he’d spilled from me. To make him pay for stealing my stones too.
Zayden’s voice cut sharp through the haze, raised in fury at Alessandro, words tangled with Alessandro’s sneer. I couldn’t make them out. Didn’t want to. I just stayed where I was, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Then someone crouched in front of me, blocking my view. Eris. Again.
I didn’t deserve her being nice to me.
“You all right?” Her voice was low, her braid falling over one shoulder as she leaned in. Her eyes scanned my face like she was looking for damage the cuffs hadn’t fixed. “You seem… off.”
I pushed up on one elbow, swiping grit and phantom blood from under my nose. “I’m fine. I’m always fine.”
She didn’t look convinced. Her brow furrowed as she offered her hand. When I didn’t take it right away, she just stayed there, steady, waiting.
I finally let her pull me up. My legs wobbled. She didn’t let go until she was sure I was standing.
“Don’t push it if you can’t,” she said quietly, her tone carrying more care than I’d expected.
I blinked at her, thrown by the softness, but managed a clipped nod. “Yeah.”
Professor Rayla’s whistle cut sharp. “Swap partners!”
I shook sand from my palms, dragged myself back into the line. My shoulders stiffened, my chest still tight. I wanted to act like nothing touched me, but Eris’s inky gaze lingered, warmer than I could handle.
When Professor Rayla blew the whistle for the last time, the whole class moved as one toward the showers attached to the arena. I let myself get dragged with the current, boots heavy in the sand, head bowed. My eyes stayed on the ground, fixed on the marks our footprints left behind. Zayden walked beside me—I felt the brush of his arm now and then—but I didn’t look up. Eris and Maya were close too. I heard them speaking in low voices, but the words blurred into background noise.
The closer we got to the showers, the louder it was. Voices raised, sharp whispers bouncing off the tiled walls, the faint gasp of someone trying—and failing—not to sound scared.
I lifted my head for the first time since leaving the arena.
A cluster of students filled the entry, pressed tight together. I slipped through them, too tired to push, until the view opened up.
A woman lay on the floor. She wasn’t a kid—maybe twenty or so. Her skin was pale, almost gray in the stark lighting, her ginger curls damp and stuck to her face. Two hooded attendants knelt over her, tugging a black body bag up around her shoulders.
Her eyes were still open. Wide. Glossy. For a second, I could have sworn they tracked me, followed me as the zipper drew closer.
The whispers closed in from all sides.
