Page 61 of Light in Your Eyes

“Why did you say it like you don’t believe me?” Jaxon asked, and I could imagine the frown on his face.

“Because I don’t,” I said truthfully.

It was hard for me to believe that I could defeat my opponent without my sight. My opponent would surely have an upper hand.

“Come on, Kellan.” Jaxon sighed. “I came all the way here from Italy to teach you martial arts, and that’s how you’re going to act?”

As soon as he talked about Italy, it fueled my anger. “Why do you have to go to Italy for such a long time?” I protested. “What’s there to do?”

Jaxon was silent for a while, but then he said, “It turns out that I can learn many things there. Fenrir is teaching me some cool stuff.”

My jaw ticked in irritation. “I hate Fenrir when he did that. You two are going to leave me alone again.”

“Come on, don’t say that.”

“But it’s all you’ve been doing,” I said defiantly. “Leaving me for Italy. For fun.”

“Going there isn’t something that we can consider fun,” Jaxon hissed. “I’m being serious here, Kellan.”

A scoff left my mouth. “Then why do you like to go there so much?”

Jaxon sighed. “There are important things I have to learn and do over there.”

My brow furrowed in confusion. “Okay, then, why don’t you just bring me there with you?”

“I can’t,” Jaxon said, his tone filled with regret. “I’m sorry. But I can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”

I felt rejected, and that made me want to break something. “Too dangerous? Even if I mastered martial arts?”

Jaxon was quiet for a moment. After a while, he said, “If that makes you want to learn martial arts, I may ask Fenrir to reconsider it.”

My heart thud. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Jaxon said quietly, and I could sense that he was preparing to teach me to fight. “Now, we begin.”

***

Age 17

“Why the fuck can’t I go there with you?” My voice boomed as soon as I heard from Jaxon that I couldn’t go to Italy with him.

We were arguing again in the boxing ring.

Jaxon sighed. “We’ve talked about this so many times,” he said, and I could hear guilt in his voice. “I can’t do that. Please don’t do this to me.”

“But I’m now qualified as a trainer,” I demanded. “I can train our Italian members.”

“Yes, you can,” Jaxon said. “But I can’t let you do that.” His last sentence was said firmly.

“Why?” I bit off. “Because I’m fucking blind?”

“Because it’s too dangerous there, and I don’t want to lose you,” Jaxon raised his tone, losing his temper too. “I’ve nearly lost everything. Do you think that I will allow you to take such risk and train our members in Italy?”

“I almost lost everything too,” I snapped. “It’s not all fucking about you. This is a chance for me to prove myself, and now you want to take that away from me too?” My voice was laced with disbelief.

I heard Jaxon taking a deep breath. “Kellan,” he hissed. “I fucking told you to not do this. My decision is firm.”

“I will promise you one thing,” I kept going. “I will solely train at the base-camp, and I will not go anywhere else. Reconsider that.”