Page 123 of An Unexpected Ascension
She rolls her eyes.
The long tail of her braid swishes as she stalks toward the center of the room where I meet her. We stand only feet apart, but it feels like a million miles.
“Let’s see what you’ve got, Angel.”
Without even thinking it through, she lunges forward and jabs, aiming for my ribs. She misses easily as I simply step to the side. Agrowl rumbles up from her chest. She spins behind me and without even needing to turn around, I sidestep again. This time, I grab hold of one of her arms and restrain it behind her back.
“It seems you look scarier than you actually are.”
Her dark brows dip in anger and her lips pinch. She raises her free hand and swings it down, trying to pierce my thigh with her other dagger. I catch that hand too, restraining it with the other one.
“Too easy.” I chuckle in her ear.
After a few seconds, I release her, and we both take a fighting stance in the middle again.
This time she puts all her energy into every move. Swiping viciously and aimlessly, as long as she hits something. Only to her dismay, she hits nothing. She pants heavily, her chest expanding with ragged breaths.
I can sense the rage that quickly replaces that emptiness inside of her. It’s a good start. Anger is better than feeling nothing at all.
“Stop thinking about what you’re feeling and start thinking about your moves. They need to have purpose.”
She glowers as she gives a slight crouch at the knees and raises her weapons. The sun glints against her silver metal blades that she twists in her hands. She steadies herself, steadies her breathing and with one step she starts left, but then completely darts right and manages to slice over the leather on my forearm.
I chuckle. “Good. Just like that.”
We go again. Immediately, I get her arm behind her and force one of her daggers to clatter against the stone floor. With a quick kick to the back of her knees, I have her dropping. Then, just to show her how much work she really needs, I take her free hand and force her own blade to the side of her neck.
She struggles, causing the blade to wobble near her throat, but she doesn’t let up. I disarm her, tossing the blade next to her other one and press her down into the ground with my body. Then, she twists until she’s on her back, glaring up at me.
“It will get easier. The pain,” I tell her then.
“I don’t want it to.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t deserve it to lessen.”
“It won’t. I promise that, but existing with that pain... you get used to it.”
I can feel the muscles in her body go limp, so I release the grip I have on her wrists. Her jade eyes soften just the slightest and my heart skips a beat.
My hands cage her head as I lower to face her.
“Briar, even if you never think of me as anything more than a wasteful soul, just know I will still slay every last God for you. And before I can even wash their blood off of me, I will look into your eyes and confess to you again how much I love you.”
I swallow the nerves threatening to choke me.
Her soft, pink lips part. It’s an invitation.
I dip my face to hers and sigh as our mouths collide. Even though I take the lead, she still kisses me back. Her tongue meets mine as I dip between her teeth, grazing the inside of her mouth. She moans loudly and I breathe the sound in.
It fills me. Warms me. Relieves me.
And then she stabs me.
Right beneath my ribs.
I grunt as excruciating pain sears up my side and into my torso. I bring my hand to the wound as she yanks the dagger out to try to stop some of the bleeding. She uses this moment to slip out from beneath me and kicks me to my back. The impact blinds me with agony, cutting my breath off as if her foot just crushed my chest.
