But as we head toward the classrooms, my insides tie into a string of knots.
It’s not as if my two high-ranking matches were always sweet to me. I experienced plenty of Byron’s domineering chill and Salvatore’s cocky crudeness after I started at the academy. They said lots worse in the years before our bond sparked.
It’s just that it’sbeenyears since I had to face their harsher attitudes. I’ve gotten used to their protective and tender sides.
When it comes to those two, the defenses I spent so many years building have long since crumbled.
I’ll have to try to rebuild my inner walls. Because if I break under pressure, I might never get back to the versions of those men who own my heart.
Five
Salvatore
Professor Kwong paces one end of the gymnasium. He’s not the most impressive guy to look at: half a foot shorter than my six-foot-two and much less bulked out. But you can tell from the way he holds himself that you’d be an idiot to mess with him.
I mean, I could take him, but it wouldn’t be a walk in the park.
So it’s a good thing he’s here to teach all of Luminary Academy hownotto get their asses handed to them.
His firm voice reverberates off the high ceiling in a lecture he’s given enough times I could chant along with him if I was looking for a beating after all. “It’s important to train in pure physical combat as well as incorporating your magic. We need to make the most of all our possible strengths, not just our lucent powers. You never know what tool in your toolbox might come in handy when your life is on the line.”
“Also, throwing each other down is fun,” I toss out when he pauses, to chuckles and giggles from several of my classmates.
The laughter has a nervous edge to it. Anywhere I go in the academy, it feels like every other student in the room is braced for me to explode.
Good. I like keeping the puffed-up idiots on their toes.
Kwong narrows his eyes at me, but I can tell he’s suppressing a smile. Of course he is. I’m his best student. The guy has to adore me.
“If you can find entertainment value in it, I’m happy to see you commit that much more enthusiastically to your studies,” he says wryly. Then his tone darkens. “As Luminary graduates, you won’t be on the front lines against the voids like your peers from Beacon. You still have to do us and yourselves proud if you’re called on in an emergency. And the lucent community may face other threats that’ll require a forceful response.”
I’m not sure what sorts of problems the fancy fuckers around me would be dealing with using violence. Most of them wince when they get a smudge on their gloves. But what he’s saying is certainly true for me.
I’d rather be out there exterminating the vicious but mindless void creatures that pop up here and there throughout the world than tangling with most of the pricks my families piss off. Not that I get a choice in the matter.
After another reminder that we’re not allowed to add any magic to the mix, Kwong pairs us off. I find myself across from tiny Mia Somerset, who looks at me and appears to swallow her tongue.
Her twin, what’s her name—Madison—has enough punch in her identical scrawny body to have earned a spot in the Cutting Flame, the combat club I rule. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mia land a strike that could knock out a fly. She should pick up some tips from her sis.
I grin and crack my knuckles through my leather gloves. “Don’t worry. I’ll only bash you around a little.”
Mia’s face turns even paler, but she’s still got her tongue. “Because it’s fun?”
“Ah, more fun if the other person can keep up.”
Since Mia can’t, I only need to keep about half my attention on our sparring to stop Kwong from getting on my case about slacking off. The familiar soundtrack of thuds and grunts fills the room, alongside the rising tang of sweat.
I fall into the easy rhythm—feet pushing off the mat, muscles flexing—and my gaze veers from my hopeless opponent to evaluate the other forces in the room.
The last thing I expect is for the other half of my attention to snag on the academy’s queen bee.
Elodie Devine is facing off against Heath Ridley a few mats over from us. He’s a pretty good fighter, both physically and magically—he got an invite to the Cutting Flame a couple of years back. The rich bitches like her usually put in a little effort so they don’t screw up their grades, but I’ve seen him knock her flat in thirty seconds before.
Not this time. Elodie Fucking Devine is meeting him blow for blow. Her dark hair swishes in the ponytail she’s tied it back in, a few stray bits sticking to her dampening forehead. Her greenish eyes that I’ve always thought look kind of murky gleam with a keen intensity that’s totally unfamiliar on her poshly pretty face.
What the hell’s gotten into her today?
She deflects a punch I can tell Heath didn’t hold back with and doesn’t even stumble. Her fist finds a brief opening and smacks into his ribs so fast the strike lands before he can block it.
