Page 118 of The First Spark
“And sit there for hours, doing nothing? No, thanks. Theron’s planning to kick everyone out anyway.” She gulped down water, set the bottle on the stand, and drew in a deep breath. “Mother’s frantic, Selene is sulking. Father’s nowhere to be found, but it’s not like he was there when any of us were born… Anyway. Target practice?”
Zane nodded. “Have you ever shot before?”
“Basic self-defense.”
“Judging by what I’ve seen so far, the lessons clearly didn’t stick.”
“Someone’s rude today. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?” Kalie arched her eyebrows. “Or was the other side of the bed taken?”
Zane clenched his teeth. It hadn’t been, even though the maids that had been sent to help him bathe were very hot and very available. He’d sent them away, a decision he was profoundly regretting. No matter what he did, Kalie would still think he was worthless, so what was the point in playing nice?
“Jealous?” he taunted.
“You wish. Let me guess—the maid from dinner?”
“The one that’s screwing your father?” Zane scoffed. “Pass.”
Kalie stilled, and as her eyes swept to the floor, he gritted his teeth. Noted. Her father and his affairs were a touchy subject.
“Sorry—”
“If you’re going to be this rude,” she snapped, turning away from him, “I’ll hire a private trainer instead.”
“No, I… Sorry. I don’t know why I said that.” She was late, and needling her was always fun, but for better or worse, he was stuck with her now. He couldn’t lash out at her every time nightmares kept him up. And she’d sat with him that night on the ship—she’d been kind and understanding, she’d tried to spare him from embarrassment. Zane sighed. “We’ll go over the basics first, and once you feel comfortable, we’ll practice with the targets.”
Kalie eyed the closest target. “I can hit that.”
“Yeah?” Zane smirked as he held out the pulser, pointing the barrel at the ground. “You want to give it a shot?”
She hesitated, then curled her fingers around the grip. Resting her finger on the trigger, she swung the pulser towards the target.
“Careful!” Zane lunged forward, putting his hand on the slide to stop her from firing. “Take your finger off the trigger. There you go. Rest it on the slide. Never,neverput your finger on the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. If you trip, or if you sneeze… not a good idea. And be careful where you’re pointing that barrel. You could’ve shot me when you swung that thing.”
Frowning, Kalie tilted the pulser. “The safety’s on.”
“And if it wasn’t?” Zane pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright.Slowly, switch the safety off and aim at the target.”
The safety clicked, and Kalie lined up with the target. Her grip was weak, and her stance was awful. Zane bit his tongue. Better to let her fire once and miss, so she’d actually listen. She squinted—a mistake—and squeezed the trigger.
The recoil knocked her back. The ring of blue light soared above the target, vanishing into the range.
“You set it to stun?”
“If you screw up, I don’t want you to kill us.”
Scowling, Kalie lined up again. Her muscles were stiff, another rookie mistake, and she leaned away from the weapon.
As she fired, the blast veered way to the left.
“Fine,” she huffed, glaring at him. “What am I doing wrong?”
What aren’t you doing wrong?he almost asked, but while it was fun to see her riled up, it wouldn’t be helpful. She needed to learn to defend herself.
Dropping his smirk, Zane stepped forward and motioned for the pulser. She flicked the safety on as he seized the grip.
“The key is to have your hand as high on the pulser as possible. If your hand is too low, the slide will recoil. That’s what causes your shots to go wild.”
He modeled the grip and held it out to her, keeping the barrel pointed down at the cement slab. Kalie bit her lip, took the weapon, and braced her trigger finger on the slide.
