Astra raised an eyebrow at her sister before she walked over to her bag and started putting on her protective gear. Though they healed quickly, on workdays they always wore sparring gloves and padded boots on their feet. And a mouthguard. A missing tooth would take weeks for a Valkyrie to regrow, so the mouthguards were a necessity.
When Astra walked back to the center of the mat, Sylvie cocked her head and said, “You may not have gotten laid last night, but you met a man.”
Astra didn’t reply, merely assumed her fighting stance.
But like any annoying little sister, Sylvie smelled blood. “That’s it, isn’t it? You met someone!” She grinned around her mouthguard. “What’s he like?”
Astra didn’t respond verbally. She moved forward, aiming a jab at her sister’s face.
Sylvie blocked, as she expected her too, but didn’t quite get out of the way of her follow-up cross.
“Hey! I’m trying to have a conversation here!” she yelped.
Astra shrugged. “You can talk all you want. I’m here to spar.”
Sylvie’s eyes narrowed and then the fight was on. They grunted and sweated as they sparred, each of them looking for an opening.
Though Astra tried to stay on her feet, she knew her sister would get her on the ground eventually. Sylvie excelled at grappling. She was a couple of inches shorter than Astra and ground fighting leveled the playing field.
Though she did her best to avoid it, Astra ended up on her back on the mat. “Been taking judo again?” she asked her sister as Sylvie tried to kick her in the ribs.
Sylvie couldn’t answer because Astra swept her feet out from under her and she landed on her back on the mat next to her.
The struggle was short but vicious as they rolled across the mat, each trying to get the advantage over the other.
Unfortunately, Astra found herself on her back again, her wrist pinned to Sylvie’s chest and her arm trapped between her sister’s legs. Sylvie grinned as Astra tried to escape the arm bar, but her grip remained firm.
“Uh-oh,” Sylvie said.
Shit. Astra knew that tone. “Sylvie, don’t you dare.”
Her sister just grinned even wider. An evil grin that said mischief wasn’t far behind. “Do you feel that?”
“Sylvie, I’m warning you.”
“Too late.”
The air around Astra’s face felt too hot and suddenly an unbearable stench surrounded her.
She coughed and tried not to gag before she said, “You bitch!”
Her wicked sister just laughed and levered her arm a bit more so she couldn’t escape.
Desperate, Astra spit out her mouthguard and clamped her teeth on the back of Sylvie’s thigh.
“Ahhhhhh!” her sister screamed.
Within seconds, Astra was free and punching her sister wherever she could. “I.” Punch. “Can’t.” Punch. “Believe.” Punch. “You did that!” she yelled.
Sylvie was laughing too hard to fight back and merely curled up into a protective ball as her sister rained punches down upon her.
After a few minutes, Astra gave up because her sister was still laughing so the punishment was doing nothing to deter her from doing it again.
“I hate you,” Astra groaned, rolling away from her sister to stretch out on her back.
“No, you don’t. You love me, that’s why you were pulling your punches.”
Astra shot her a hard look. “Only because I knew Mom would blame me if I killed you. Because you’reher baby.”
