Already, they were taking bets on how badly I was going to lose. Daniel seemed to be of the opinion I'd be lucky to keep my head. Even Nathan, my supposed friend, seemed to think I wasn't getting out of this without a broken arm or two.
"You know I can hear you, right?" I asked.
"Ah, A, we're just being realists. Liam has never come close to losing in dodge ball, and you're barely in your infancy." He shrugged, not seeming regretful in the least. "The outcome is practically already determined."
I glared at him for a moment, before my attention swung to where Liam patiently waited.
No faith. Not in any of them.
I'd show them. I didn't know how quite yet, but I would. There was too much riding on this to consider failing.
Grumbling to myself, I sunk into a crouch. After a breath to center myself, I dropped into my magic sight.
As useful tools went, it wasn't much. My sight couldn't give me super speed or harden my bones to take the hit I knew was coming, but maybe it could give me the smallest of advantages.
Sometimes victory was decided by a hair and not a mile.
Liam's power swirled in my sight, a deadly armor he held close to his skin. Perfect control with not even a smidge wasted. Every ounce doing what he needed. Impossible to read until it was too late.
This was part of the reason he was so highly sought after by the council. No one I'd met had his depth of mastery. Not even Thomas. It made him a deadly force against beings much more powerful.
Worse, I knew he wasn't going to hold back. My safety was too important to him.
Nor would he come at me head on. If he got the ball past me, it was as good as a loss.
I simply needed to stop the ball. Not redirect it. Not avoid it. Stop it.
I reached for that calm space in my head, falling into it as I listened to the breath move in and out of my lungs until I came close to a trance-like state.
There was no warning before he moved. I never even saw the ball leave his hands. One moment he was motionless, the next it was gone.
My body moved as if it already knew what to do.
A powerful force punched me in my chest. My sternum cracked, several ribs along with it. My breath whooshed out as blinding pain shot through me. My body went numb, my brain protecting me from the agony. I tried to move my arms, to catch the ball.
I had no idea if I succeeded. Darkness closed in around me, shutting off the lights.
TEN
THE MOST GLORIOUS taste in the world and an argument taking place above my head brought me back to the land of the living.
I didn't pay much attention to the words as I sucked down the most decadent dark chocolate ever created. The power contained within was madness and desire, sending zings of awareness zipping along my nerve endings.
"I didn't think she would catch it. I have no idea how she anticipated which direction my throw was coming from," Liam snarled.
Uh oh. Someone wasn't happy.
"Now, you know you were wrong. Perhaps you and the Lord Master can stop taking such liberties with her wellbeing," a cross voice responded.
I pulled deeper at the wrist held against my lips, moaning as liquid sin filled my mouth.
"I think she's coming around," a feminine voice pointed out.
A soothing hand stroked the back of my neck, and I became aware I was making greedy sounds while clutching someone's wrist to me like it was a one-way ticket to nirvana. In a way it was, since Liam's blood had a way of sending my inhibitions into orbit.
I finally opened my eyes to see Sam's face above mine.
"Welcome back," she said.
