Page 56 of When Storms Ruin

“You are decidedlyunpredictable,” Nik said, meeting my gaze as he set the box down on the bench by the doorway. “But I know why you train as hard as you do.”

If there was anyone who could understand my need to prove myself, it was Nik. He had spent his entire life trying to prove himself to his father, to earn his favor. In the end it had never been enough. Isaac had become a father figure to Nik, despite Nik’s actual father still being out there…somewhere.

“I wouldn’t have to if I could use my storm magic,” I told him, inclining my head in a knowing way.

“I don’t make the rules,” Nik replied, palms up. “If you want to go toe to toe with Isaac, be my guest. But I must warn you…you won’t win.”

“My magic is stronger than his,” I reminded him, pushing the punching bag back against the wall.

“But he has resolve of steel, trust me. Once he has made up his mind, there is no changing it,” Nik replied. He sheathed a dagger onto his thigh and strapped a few throwing knives to the sheaths at his ankles.

I turned back to Nik, waiting for him to join me on the mat. I hadn’t told Tess what I had overheard Nik and Isaac talking about in the infirmary…maybe because I wasn’t ready to even think about it myself.

Nik hadn’t known I was awake, and yet, he fought for me. He had told Isaac I was his only concern, and that thought sent a shiver down my spine. I had been keeping him at arm’s length, and that resolve was beginning to whither bit by bit. How could it not when he was one of the few people that cared more for me than they did for seeing an end to this war?

He was chipping away at my armor…and I was letting him. He had gotten under my skin…again. A part of me desperately wanted to forgive him, to give in to the feelings that had crept up on me. But a bigger part of me still stung with his betrayal.

I knew that he was not on Donika’s side. That everything he had said about his relationship with her had been true, but the fact that there had been a relationship at all still bothered me.

Things had changed for Nik somewhere between when he had met me in Silver Oaks, and when I had been captured at The Stone City. But I wasn’t ready to let him back in yet. To risk breaking my heart again. The worry in his eyes when he had seen me in that infirmary bed had undoubtedly softened me towards him, but I needed to keep my shields up around him.

As I told Tess, there was a war at hand, and the last thing I needed was to deal with boy problems. Tess’ boy problems had disappeared entirely, and I was sure she and Puck weredestroying the townhouse in our absence today. I would stay here and train as long as I could to give them their privacy.

“You ready, Firecracker?” Nik joined me at the center of the mat, looking every bit the avenging angel. His blond hair was a stark contrast to his black training leathers, and when he smiled I could see the dimple on his cheek pop.

“I was born ready,” I replied, unsheathing Stormslayer.

“I’m not sure I’d say that…” he replied with a mischievous grin, moving into his fighting stance, feet apart.

“Now, Kolya, that’s not very nice.” I began to circle him, my feet light on the mat.

“I never claimed to be nice,” he responded, a wicked glint in his crystal blue eyes.

His shadows whirled out from behind him, fanning out to come at me from both sides.

“That’s cheating!” I moved towards him, bringing Stormslayer down in an arc towards him. “We agreed no magic.”

“Did we?” he asked innocently, deftly moving out of the way. “I thought that was onlyyouwho couldn’t use magic,” he teased.

I ducked under his arm and hit him hard in the back with my elbow, sending him to his knees on the mat. He whirled, his foot coming towards me too fast for me to get out of the way as he swept my feet out from underneath me. I caught myself on one knee, rolling into a somersault to escape his dagger as it swept towards me. I sliced out with Stormslayer as I passed him, leaving a cut in the side of his leathers.

“One point for you, firecracker.” He nodded, a smile on his lips as if he was proud I had drawn first blood.

He moved towards me first this time and I parried, my dagger smashing against his forcefully. I thrust my other fist up and hit his chin, his head snapping back, surprise in his eyes. He deflected my next blow with his forearm, pushing forwards to try to disarm me.

I sliced through the air to keep him back, dodging his next strike with ease. I could wield Stormslayer confidently now, all of those training sessions with Warrick had certainly paid off. Warrick kept things clean and straight forwards, but I learned the risky tricks and the real skill from my sessions with Nik. He wielded his weapon as if it were an extension of himself, as if he and the dagger were one.

He came towards me again, but I used my smaller stature and my speed to duck under his arm again, but this time he was expecting it. He caught my thigh as I passed and he tackled me to the ground, abandoning his own dagger to grapple with mine. He was the stronger of the two of us. With his knee still firmly planted on the mat and me flat on my back, it wasn’t long before he was able to wrestle Stormslayer away from me and pry it from my grip.

He threw my weapon to the mat, bending over me to grab me by the wrists.

“Do you yield?” he panted, his breath warm against my cheeks.

“No.” I struggled against his hold, trying my hardest to get my legs back up underneath me to shove him off. His knee was still firmly fixed to the mat between my legs. He pinned my wrists above my head and leaned over, a drop of his sweat beading down to fall against my throat.

“Well, isn’t this familiar,” he teased, his eyes darkening.

My arms were pinned above me on the mat, his hands around my wrists. His knee was pressed between my legs, and a blush so deep I was sure I would die from embarrassment flushed my cheeks.

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