“Master Tisera! How nice to see you.” And I couldn’t miss how his eyes moved over me. I was dressed for my walks with Veora, which meant fancy and flirty. My bright, orange-gold silk blouse clung to my torso, form-fitting, with buttons down the front and billowing sleeves. The skirt was dark red, loose and long.
He usually saw me in my training clothes. And though he didn’t say anything, I could tell from his surprised smile he didn’t mind the different look.
“Let me introduce you to your new students.” He motioned to the women with him. They too studied me with varying expressions: from skepticism to curiosity.
“Well,” one of them piped up quickly. “We haven’t agreed to do anythingyet, just try it.”
“I am a bit curious,” another said. This one seemed bashful, blushing at the drop of a hat.
“Indeed,” Leo said. He motioned to each in turn. “It is my pleasure to introduce Lady Willow Highcastle.” This was the blushing one.
She curtseyed. She seemed young, though perhaps her constant semi-flushed state made her seem younger than she was. She had blond hair, so pale it seemed tinged with blue, and rich cobalt blue eyes. She wore a blue dress which set off her eyes.
“This is Lady Emarra Silvermoon.” This was the first who’d spoken, seeming brash and a bit hot-blooded. She had strawberry blond hair and flashing forest green eyes. Her red dress was near to being scandalous, showing a little too much of her ample bosom, and the hem rose far above the ankle. She didn’t curtsey, just glared at me.
Interesting.
The last three were: “Lady Sinda Rosewood, Lady Molli Merryweather, and Lady Hedra Featherwing.” Of these, the first two were fairly standard nobles with blond hair and blue eyes, and the last, Hedra, had darker — more golden brown — hair and silvery-grey eyes.
I looked them over. The only one with any real mettle in her was Emarra. She might be a decent fighter one day, but then… that wasn’t what I’d be training these women for. Leo had suggested more of a need for self-defense and protection. Certainly, all of them were pretty enough that they’d have no shortage of male attention, whether wanted or not.
So, I asked them.
“What do you want from this?” I held a hand up as Leo was about to answer. “I want to hear it from them.” I turned to Emarra. I had a feeling if she agreed, the others would too. “You said you’d be up for trying it. I’m curious what you thinkitis?”
She clearly didn’t like being put on the spot. She got defensive.
“All I know is Leo said we had to try training with you, that it would be useful and we’d get a lot out of it. He said you could teach us how to break the hands of any man who touches us the wrong way.”
A very interesting way of putting it. Did they get “touched the wrong way” a lot?
Given their beauty, it wouldn’t surprise me.
“I didn’t used those words exactly,” Leo cut in.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said to him. Then to Emarra. “Is that what you want? You’re certainly quite attractive. You probably get a lot of attention from men. Would you like to know how to break a finger or two of those whose attention youdon’twant?”
She gave a grim smile. “That might be nice.”
“I can teach you that right now. Consider it a free lesson, to get a taste for what I do.”
Her eyes went wide. “Really? Now?” We were in the middle of a street, but traffic in this part of town was sporadic at this time of day.
I nodded, stepping in toward her. “Right now, yes.” I put my hand on her chest. Her eyes went a little wider and she backed off.
“If a man wants to grope you, here’s what you do. First, and this is the part that will surprise him and catch him off guard, capture his hand in both of yours — left hand over right hand — pressing his hand tight to you, as hard as you can.” I stepped in again, placing my hand on her chest and nodded toward it.
Reluctantly, she captured my hand in both of hers, pressing hard. “This feels like I’d be encouraging him,” she said.
“Don’t worry, once you know how to do this, this part won’t last too long,” I said.
“Now… step back. With his hand captured and him wondering what you’re doing he should be easy to pull off balance. It helps if you can crouch a little, get him to bend over.”
She did so, and with my hand captured as it was, I had to follow her, stumbling forward. I caught myself, knowing that had been coming.
“Now, with your right hand, reach around my hand, get your fingers under it and twist it as you remove it from your chest, sandwich it in both hands, keep it tight.”
She did so and saw how I was forced further in and down.
