Page 18

Rain has never graced my skin, nor has lightning raised my hairs. In you, menacing storms extend their rapture.

“Okay.” Takeshi squared himself to face her. “Let’s slowly mo—”

“Ahhh!” She charged forward, launching a flurry of punches aimed at his chest and head, attacking wherever she could reach.

Takeshi’s eyes widened at her sudden onslaught, but he effortlessly blocked each hit.

She threw one final punch, and he grabbed her wrist, chopping the side of her neck with his other hand. Her neck muscles spasmed, and she staggered back, a tingling pain running down her shoulder and arm.

She rubbed her neck and grumbled, “What did you do?”

“I hit a pressure point.” He turned toward her. “Now, are you done charging me like a psycho?”

“Depends,” she clipped. “Have I done any damage?”

“You’re not going to do any damage to me, Kanes.”

“Then I’m not done.” She kicked out her leg and actually made contact with his shin. Khalani didn’t waste another second, kicking her other leg at his stomach .

Takeshi caught her heel, and she started to do an awkward bounce to keep her balance. An evil look overcame his eyes and in the next moment, he swiped her other leg, and she fell on her back.

Hard.

He stood over her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. “Have you always been this stubborn?”

She breathed heavily on the ground. “Maybe. Have you always been this much of an asshole?”

The corner of his mouth lifted, and Takeshi crouched on the balls of his feet. “When I want to be. Do you have a problem with that?”

“What if I did?”

“You grow when you’re uncomfortable. The fact that you don’t enjoy it means I’m training you well.”

She lifted up on her elbows and gritted her teeth. “Just admit that you get personal satisfaction from hammering me to the ground.”

His eyes glimmered, and he leaned forward in challenge. “I’d like it more if you didn’t make it so easy.”

She scoffed and stood up, not liking how close he was. Takeshi wasn’t going to fluster her anymore. Khalani rolled her neck and held up her fists.

“Let’s go again.”

Takeshi abruptly moved forward. “The way you hold your fist, you’ll end up hurting yourself more than me. Never tuck your thumb inside your fist; you’ll break it. Instead, keep it on the outside…yeah, like that. Now fold it across your middle and index fingers.” He adjusted her hand, guiding her thumb into the proper position.

Khalani tried not to focus on the rough texture of his fingers as he held hers. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until he let go, apparently satisfied.

Her pulse quickened with a mix of indignation and wild stimulation, but despite the turmoil inside her, she listened intently and followed his instructions closely.

Takeshi challenged Khalani in ways that made her ache in agony and breathe in exhilaration. Every task he undertook, even something as simple as teaching her how to make a fist, Takeshi did with complete focus, intensity, and concentration.

Each training session reinforced why he was the Captain of Braderhelm.

For him, no task was too small to give maximum effort.

“The most important thing for you to remember are the vulnerable places of the body. That’s going to be the eyes, nose, throat, knees, and groin.” Takeshi’s deep voice resonated through the room. “For today, we will focus on the easier parts.”

He gestured for her to hold out her hand, and what he told her next made her face blanch. “You want me to stick my fingers in someone’s eyes? No. I think I would puke first.”

“If it’s a life-or-death situation, Kanes, you will do what you need to survive,” he stated without remorse.

She cringed the whole time, but Takeshi had a point. He refused to move on until he was wholly assured Khalani knew how to eviscerate someone’s optical organ.

“Good.” His eyes held a dangerous glint. “Turn around.”

“You told me I shouldn’t take my eyes off the enemy.”

“Right now’s the exception. Turn.” He made a slow swivel motion with his finger.

She hesitated and had to fight every instinct warring inside her as she reluctantly gave him her back.

Khalani’s breath quickened as she waited, her gaze fixed on the bars but her focus was outward, using all her senses to pick up Takeshi’s movement. Several moments passed, and she was about to ask what he was doing when he attacked.

No footsteps or heavy breaths betrayed Takeshi’s presence. He was a silent assassin. In a single heartbeat, strong arms enveloped her from behind.

His body was solid as a rock, and she grunted, straining to dislodge him. Her feet scuffled as she tried to push him back, but Takeshi was an immovable force.

He breathed heavily in her ear as she exerted every spec of energy, failing to loosen his hold. Sweat trickled down her brow as she continued to struggle. She might as well push against a wall for all the success she was having.

“Easy there, Kanes,” Takeshi whispered.

Khalani shivered at the vibration of his voice tickling her ear but kept trying to break his tenacious grip.

It was no use. After several minutes, her muscles were so exhausted that Takeshi practically held her up. She stopped fighting, and they stood still, both breathing heavily.

The top of her head barely reached Takeshi’s shoulder, and he encircled her completely.

Sweat dripped down his forearms that were wrapped around her. His alluring, musky scent trickled through her nose, and Khalani gritted her teeth.

Why was she noticing details like that?

“If someone grabs you from behind like this, first, you need to calm down. It will be challenging, but conserving your energy is crucial. Then, clasp your hands together and use your elbow to hit your assailant in the stomach as hard as possible. Your elbow is one of the strongest parts of your body. I promise you, they will let go,” his voice lowered, arms still wrapped around her.

“Is this the part where I elbow you in the stomach?”

“Not unless you want to be restrained the rest of the week.” He paused. “The kind you won’t enjoy.”

Her stomach clenched and goosebumps prickled on the back of her neck. “No, thank you,” she grumbled.

“What I thought.” Takeshi sounded amused. “Now that we have that settled. Let’s practice the motion.”

He walked her through the technique, and when she felt more confident, he slowly loosened his grip and turned her around to face him. She lifted her chin defiantly, and he returned the heated gaze.

They were the only two people in the room, but it was like they were the sole occupants of Braderhelm. She could almost feel the tendrils of scalding energy flowing along her body.

“Last part,” he slowly drawled. “If your enemy comes at you directly from the front and overwhelms you...”

He held a large hand to her throat, a few inches away. Her gaze flickered uneasily as she swallowed deeply.

“Kanes.” Takeshi brought her attention back up to him. “When we prepare, we go all the way. Tuck away your fear.”

She could do this. She needed to.

Khalani exhaled and nodded, giving him the go-ahead. Takeshi didn’t waste another second, and his hands closed the distance, wrapping around her throat. She could still breathe, but her eyes widened as he held her with a firm, unrelenting grip.

He frowned at the panic in her eyes, and the slightest hint of consternation flashed across his face.

She suspected he might let go, but a steady resolve cemented over his expression. He started walking her toward the lining of the bars, hands still wrapped around her throat.

Khalani could do nothing but walk backward until her back hit the edge of the cage. Takeshi leaned over her, his eyes burning intensely.

“Tell me what you’re feeling right now,” he demanded, studying her face.

She took a small breath. There was only one word that completely encompassed that position.

“Powerless.”

Takeshi’s jaw tightened. “Yes. You feel out of control, weak. But that isn’t you . You need to take back that control and prove that you are not to be thrown around and discarded. You, Kanes, are strong.”

Her face contorted at the sincerity, depth, and earnestness of his words.

Throughout their sessions, he humiliated, punished, and dragged her to the ground. Frail. Defenseless. Incapable. She thought it was his mission to prove her weakness. But she realized the truth was far more complex than that.

He was proving to her that she was strong enough.

Proving that it didn’t matter how many times Khalani collapsed to the ground or failed over and over. She never gave up on herself, despite those failures.

And that was worth more than every waking opinion in the world .

“If you’re put in this position, you drive your knee into your opponent’s groin. Even if it’s a girl, it will hurt like hell and give you the upper hand. Do you understand?” Takeshi didn’t break eye contact.

“I do,” Khalani said, grappling with a surge of emotions as if scaling a steep rock face littered with jagged edges. At the peak, the power and fortitude to break every chain, physical and perceived, bound around her body.

Takeshi nodded, releasing his grip on her throat.

As his fingers slid away, Khalani’s pulse quickened. He stepped back, and they stared at each other in silence.

She wanted to say everything and nothing at the same time.

Takeshi was distant and ruthless, but every time he looked at her, their bodies froze in suspension, waiting for the other person to attack their walls or reveal the fabrics of their soul.

Takeshi’s fists tightened at his side, and he opened his mouth to say something, but the alarm rang, blaring across the walls.

Their time was up.

They continued to stand still, unsure of what to do next.

He was the first to break the spell. “We should go, Kanes.”

She frowned and nodded slowly, realizing she wasn’t quite ready to return to her cell. Khalani wanted to stay and train—or maybe she was looking for an excuse to talk to Takeshi more.

And she was too bewildered and disheveled to fully understand the strange sentiment.

They didn’t speak all the way to her cell. When he began to shut the bars—not making eye contact with her—she wrapped her hands around them and whispered,

“Takeshi?”

He breathed a heavy sigh and lifted his head to meet her gaze. His dark eyes pierced her differently. They were more subdued, as if to conceal something potent. Lethal.

“What is it, Kanes?”

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For training me and believing that I could do it. You didn’t want to help, but you showed up anyway. I just wanted to… I’m sorry, I—” Her hands tightened on the bars as she lost the right words.

The unspoken truth swallowed deep inside, unwilling to loosen from her tongue. Takeshi’s brows pinched together, and he shook his head, staring at the ground. A few moments passed, and he finally lifted his chin.

“Kanes, you better not die tomorrow. I’ll only allow it when you can beat me in a fight.” The intensity in his expression stole her breath.

“I doubt that would happen anytime soon,” she joked. “Possibly never.”

“Exactly.”

The accompanying silence spoke for them. It felt as if no bars separated them. The very air was still, and not even the cockroaches moved. It was as though everything and everyone was locked in stasis.

Takeshi’s dark eyes fastened around her grip on the bars, and his jaw clenched as he walked away. She hung her head like a weight of bricks descended on her neck.

Takeshi continued to wedge himself beneath her skin, peeling back layers, unveiling Khalani for who she really was.

She wasn’t that same little girl who begged to perish with her parents.

Khalani would stand on the earth’s surface tomorrow, like her ancestors before the Great Collapse. She would face the Governor, the man who murdered those she loved most. The one who robbed her of everything that mattered.

Apollo taught her well.

Justice wasn’t true unless it was coated with blood.