Page 137 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

“No can do, Re—”

My fist slams into the side of his face before he can even react, and he goes flying across the room, into the wall. It takes a second for him to get his bearings before he stands. He rubs his jaw, pressing against it with his hand until I hear him clicking it back into place.

“You hit me,” he says seriously before his face morphs into uncontrollable pride. “You actually hit me.” He starts laughing.

“Yeah, training with Kaia is actually helping,” I say.

“So, you’re going to fight me to leave?”

“I don’t want to, but I will if I have to.”

He closes his eyes for a second and lets out a breath as if hoping I would have said anything but that.

“And I’m not letting you go.”

That’s all I need to hear. I run at him at full speed, my eyes slowing down everything around me just as he’s been teaching me. I see Finn stumble back in complete horror as he sees me move, and I remember that he has no idea what I can do. I’ll have to explain it later.

As soon as I reach Ajax, I throw out my fist, but he dodges it with ease. He moves to the side, spinning until he is behind me. I know that he’s about to attack from behind, so I drop to the floor quickly, falling into a roll that puts a few feet of space between us. I turn quickly and find him watching.

“It seems that all I needed to do all this time was give you something real to fight for.”

I ignore him as we circle each other like two predators. He never takes his eyes off me, anticipating an attack. Kaia says the best way to surprise an enemy is to make the most obvious move— they expect something exceptional and often miss the simple ones. As we circle, I inch closer with each step.

“Even if you get out of this room, you know that Karius will stop you, anyway.”

I shrug. “I’ll be long gone before he even notices.”

“You underestimate what he will do to keep you safe.”

I snort at this.

“You mean what he’ll do to keep himself safe?”

“No…you.”

Before he can pull me in with more false words, I throw out a simple jab, and as he goes to block it, I lift my knee, slamming it into his groin. He doubles over in pain, cursing under his breath.

“That was dirty.”

“It was smart.” I slam my foot into his chest, sending him sprawling, but he clamps onto my ankle and drags me down with him. I scream as I land on top of him, but before I have the chance to react, he spins us until he straddles me, pinning me beneath his weight. He holds my arms to the ground firmly as he looks down at me.

“Get the fuck off me.” I spit.

He flinches at my words as if I physically hit him. I buck against him, fighting against his hold like a wild animal. His hold on me tightens, but I can tell that he is struggling to contain me.

“Red, stop.”

“I said, get off me, now!”

“Adina, calm down! What the hell is wrong—”

“My sister is becoming an impure!”

The words leave my mouth before I can stop them, and we are both still in an instant.

“Your…sister?” he whispers in shock. I nod.

The horror of my confirmation is etched all over his face. He looks down at me, his eyes searching mine as if he will somehowfind that I’m simply joking, but as the tears leak from my eyes, dribbling down the sides of my face, I see the realization dawn.