Page 75 of A Touch of Stars and Stones
“Cal, don’t?—”
“Chill, Ten.” He cuts me off and steps in before I can stop him.
I look over at Ever, who’s gone deadly still, like prey after scenting a predator in the woods. At least she has good instincts.
Calix starts to prowl, and I see the shift in his stance that takes this from light-hearted to lethal. I know all his tells. Zuns, we fight the same, but he’s got his Warrior strength, so he’s the strongest of us all.
He doesn’t waste any time and steps right into her space, levelling a punch right across her cheek, sending her sprawling backwards. His follow-up is a gut punch that creases her at the waist, and she drops to her knees.
Anger races through my blood as I watch. “Calix!” I warn.
“She needs this, Ten. Nobody draws blood against my family. You should fucking know that.”
“Fuck!” I swear. I can’t intervene. It would mean crossing the threshold, which is forbidden. A particularly useless rule I’ve never thought about breaking up until about four seconds ago. Now, I’d enter and pull Ever out in a heartbeat. “Focus, Ever. Use his strength against him.”
“Not helping,” she wheezes, but at least she stands up.
Calix is ruthless. He builds every punch, layering them so they cover her upper body. She has no time to counter, her arms up in a feeble attempt to block and shield herself until he pulls back and unleashes his arm, repeating the harsh strike to her cheek.
To her credit, she’s still on her feet, but blood tracks down her cheek, and she hugs her torso to herself.
“Calix, this is about utilising power, not just a straight fight,” Rowan warns from the sidelines. Perrin’s attention is locked on Ever, thankfully.
“I can’t help it if my strength is my power.” He turns around, joking with us, as Ever staggers behind, hunched over and catching her breath.
Fight. Come on, Ever.
I watch as she staggers forward, then rushes the last few feet and jumps on Calix’s back, wrapping her arms and legs around him, clinging her whole body to his.
“What the zuns?” Calix grabs her arms, but she sticks tight, not sliding off. Then Calix twists and pushes all his weight back, falling and dumping Ever against the hard ground.
Her moan of pain shoots straight to my heart, and I turn away, pacing until I can’t help but look back to check. This is fucking torture.
But she still doesn’t release Calix. And he doesn’t thrash and fight as he would usually when he’s hit the ground, pulling out of his opponent’s grip.
They both lie there until Calix finally rolls to his side and leaves Ever sprawled on the floor. He crawls away, gaining speed the further he moves from her, and I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s still on her back, limbs lying limply.
Shit.
“Perrin!” I turn my eyes to the Custodian and hope he heeds my impatient tone. Thankfully, he’s already moving. Once he’s crossed the line, I head straight to Calix, but he’s already standing, a cocky grin curling his lips.
“Really? Her face?” I’ve been on the end of his fists, and I’m impressed she kept upright for so long. My hands grab for his collar and pull him towards me, but he just shrugs out of it.
“You didn’t seem to be that concerned for Crimson.”
It’s an effort not to roll my eyes. “Crimson can handle herself.”
“And Ever needs to learn,” he snarls at me, and the vision of punching him in the face is tempting as fuck. But he has a point. I just hate thathe’smaking it.
I turn back to the ring and see Perrin still working on Ever, his hands lightly placed on her face and ribs.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be so cruel. But he does have a point,” Ascella offers beside me. Ever still has two more opponents, and while she might have bested Crimson, she’s got no fighting skill to protect herself, no matter what else she might be able to do.
It takes Perrin several minutes to get Ever back to standing, and it’s only then that the tightness in my chest releases.
A fraction.
The second Perrin steps out of the ring, Ascella breezes right across to her.
