Page 31 of Dance of the Phoenix
I sneaked a look at Logan again. I knew everything there was to know about Logan. From the shallowest things, like which movie was his favorite, to the deepest ones, like what buttons to push to get my desired response.
With Ragnor, I didn’t even know what his favorite color was, let alone what he was thinking most of the time. In fact, the only subject I was intimately familiar with where he was concerned was what he liked in bed. And that was that.
It occurred to me, not for the first time, that I was in love with Ragnor, but I knew absolutely nothing about him.
So was that truly love at all?
With Logan, things had been simple. I’d known the entire time we were together that I wasn’tin lovewith him. I was infatuated with his good looks, sure, and liked his personality well enough, but that was the extent of it. What I’d felt about Logan was closer to possessiveness. I hadn’t seen him as a man with his own mind and thoughts. I’d seen him as a thing that I considered mine and mine alone.
Which, I knew, was a whole bucketload of shitty. But unfortunately, that was the truth.
With Ragnor, I didn’t even know how old he truly was. Hell, I didn’t know anything about his past. Nothing about his human life.Which, I also realized, was what dating was for: to get to know your partner better.
And yet ... maybe, like with Logan, I wasn’t really in love with him after all?
My thoughts went to Jada just then. I’d seen her briefly after breakfast, heading into the kitchens with her shoulders slumped and her head hanging low. The look in her eyes when she’d talked about CJ had been—despite the overwhelming pain—full of love, which had led to that despair in the first place.
Perhaps what I felt now, with Ragnor, was something similar to that.
Or was I deluding myself?
“Good morning, participants.” Margarita’s shrill voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I focused on her. I realized a line had formed where Zoey and I stood with all other eight participants. “We’re going to start with some basic warm-ups before Lieutenant Magnus and our Lord will join us for an assessment.”
She looked us over, and I saw her eyes skip from Zoey on my left to Yelene, who stood to my right—avoiding me completely. We were off to a great start. “As you know, in the Hecatomb, you’re going to fight in five pairs of one Gifted and one Common. Today’s assessment will determine the makeup of the pairs.”
CJ raised his hand. “What are the factors you’ll take into consideration?”
Margarita glanced at him briefly before she said, “Mostly, it will be about who complements who, ability wise,” she replied, almost uninterested in the question. “Some Gifted’s Gifts might not be compatible with someone’s combat style, so the review will be to assess what would be the ultimate pairs.”
She clasped her hands behind her back. “Now, let’s begin.”
For starters, she had us running laps. It was a great way for me to think through what she’d said about the pairing-up situation. Out of the five Gifted participants, I was aware of the Gifts of three. Cassidy had her powerful voice; Logan had his enhanced legs, surely partof the reason he was a Commander; and Neisha, one of the Troop’s Commanders, was the vampire version of a bionic woman. About the other two, Haneul and Oberon, who were also Commanders, I had no clue, but considering they were chosen for the Hecatomb, they had to have some insane Gifts.
I wondered who I was going to end up in a pair with. I hoped for Neisha. I would definitely feel safer with her by my side rather than Cassidy or Logan, whom I had prior relationships with.
After running laps, we were forced into a brutal warm-up session that, an hour later, left most of us fighting to catch our breath.
As I was lying on the floor, trying to get ahold of myself, I saw two men—Magnus and Ragnor—enter the gym, approaching Margarita. The three talked among themselves for a short while before Margarita clapped her hands. “Participants, sit down on the benches.”
All ten of us took to the benches. Zoey settled next to me, still sweaty. “This gruesome training is going to kill me before the Hecatomb can even try to,” she mumbled to me, groaning as she leaned back against the gym’s wall.
“Just a friendly reminder that youchosethis,” I told her with a frown. “Though I still don’t quite understand why.”
Before she could respond, Margarita clapped her hands again, bringing everyone’s attention back to her. “We’ll start with two-versus-two mock battles. Every Gifted and Common will have a chance to fight alongside each other today, so make sure to give it your all for our assessment to be as accurate as possible.” She paused and narrowed her eyes. “It’s for your own good, after all. Anyway, first up—CJ and Neisha versus Logan and Zoey.”
“Wish me luck,” Zoey murmured as she took to the floor with Logan by her side. The two exchanged smiley greetings.
The mock battles had a two-minute time limit. Right after Margarita ordered “Start!” it was abundantly clear which pair would’ve won if the fight lasted longer.
CJ and Neisha moved together as if they could read each other’s minds. They overpowered Logan and Zoey almost too easily, and notbecause either Zoey or Logan was bad, but they seemed almost clumsy in comparison. Logan and Zoey both focused on using their legs, that being their strongest suit (or Gift, in Logan’s case), which gave them a large disadvantage against CJ and Neisha, who covered each other’s weak spots seamlessly.
While the fight was happening, Magnus was scribbling things down in his notebook while Ragnor watched with a cool, impassive look on his face. But his eyes were following the movements, letting me know he was focused despite his expression.
The next battle was Cassidy and Yelene against Haneul and Sulien. Haneul, with a hawk resting happily on his shoulder, seemed like he couldn’t hurt a fly, but when the battle started, his whole appearance changed. His hawk, too, changed as if a flip was switched.
Before Cassidy could even use her singing Gift, Haneul’s hawk began attacking her with its talons. She cried out and tried to avoid it, while Haneul himself, as quick as lightning, came after her with his entire might, leaving Yelene and Sulien to fight it out between themselves. The battle was interesting in that I gathered Haneul’s Gift must be connected to the hawk. Was he a bird whisperer when he was human, perhaps?
Once the fight was over—I concluded neither of those pairs was compatible—Margarita called, “CJ and Oberon versus Aileen and Neisha!”
