Do not engage the infuriating instructor. Do. Not. Engage.
“Bit busy,” I said in a clipped tone. “Trying to recover and prepare for that midterm you're convinced I'll fail.”
Okay, so I'd engaged. But to my credit, Zevrial was hard to ignore, and I had been as close to polite as I could muster.
“Studying isn't what you need,” he said. His gaze slid up my bare legs, lingering on the top of my exposed chest. He didn't wait for me to respond. “You’ll have to use your ankles to the fullest.” Was that concern in his voice?
He had my attention, even if I was still annoyed at being treated like a child. “What are you even doing here?”
His inviting smile had my heart stuttering. “Enjoying the view.”
I pulled the towel tighter. “So, what’s the midterm then?”
“Nice try. That’s not for you to know.”
I glared up at him. “No, you can't tell me anything that might be useful. I might mistake it for human decency.” He folded his arms over his chest, mirroring my own posture. “But you can tell me I'm too weak to pass.”
“I never said you were too weak, or wouldn’t pass.” He blew out an exasperated breath. “I said you need more help.”
“You're splitting hairs,” I challenged.
“And you're impossible.” He dragged a hand through his hair, forehead creasing. “I'm trying to help you, and you're arguing semantics. I can't tell you what the midterm is, just like I can't tell anyone else.”
I bit my lip, only slightly pacified. He was trying to help me, in his own backwards way. And I didn't want his help to cheat my way to success at the midterm, anyway. I wouldn't like it if anyone else had an unfair edge over me, either.
“Let's say I believe you.” I sat down, dipping my legs into the edge of the dark water. The afternoon’s heat still clung to it. “What are you suggesting?”
“You need a dedicated trainer, someone to help you focus on the areas you need to improve. Someone to help so you can stay to seethe another day.”
I bristled, splashing water at his face. “Excuse me?”
His unfairly handsome face shone in the lanternfly light, as he wiped away water dripping from his hair. “You're excused. You've been lucky enough for long enough that it’s created the delusion that you're skilled and smart. But since you’ve injured yourself doing things your way, we both know you're not,” he rubbed at his chest. “You need a different approach.”
I gawked at him. The audacity of this man... “And I'm guessing you know the right person to train me.” I curled my lip back in a look of disgust. “You?”
Why did the thought of him training me make every nerve ending flush with heat? No time to dwell on that inappropriate bodily reaction right now. Especially to someone who had just called me delusional for believing myself skilled and smart.
He chuckled, low and deep. “You and I are too combustible, we'd kill each other within a week.” His eyes sparkled with mischief.
“That was a really long way of saying 'no',” I retorted, unimpressed. “You should be nicer to me,” I hummed, smiling sweetly. “Teaching me hand to hand combat is careless... Because you seem like a man who values his teeth.”
“I'll take it under advisement,” he mused, watching me sway my legs back and forth. “But I do have someone else in mind who would be able to train you well enough that the midterm, at least, would be a breeze.”
“And who might that be?”
“Veridiana,” came his all too smooth reply.
I blanched. “No thanks. I choose life.”
“She's the most qualified to help you at Fitness training. She excels at it, you've witnessed it.”
Just because I had didn't mean I would admit it. Veridiana was a dangerously unpredictable narcissist from what I'd seen thus far. She was not someone I wanted hanging around to help me train. “No.”
“Suit yourself, but if someone doesn’t help, there's a good chance you won't pass,” his voice deepened. “And it would be a shame if you washed out.”
“Yes, a real tragedy. You wouldn't have anyone around who you could torment,” I stirred the water with my fingertip.
He let silence brew between us longer than I expected. “I’d miss having you around.”
