Page 48 of Obsidian Throne
I glanced up at him in surprise. “Do you mean that?”
He nodded.
“Remember that the Unclanned were all soldiers at one point, and you’ve taken down your share of them.” Evander peered down at me curiously. “Why did you think I gave you a sword at all after we sparred the first time?”
“Well, in fairness,” I countered, “all you said back then was,watch your footworkandyou’re dropping your elbow.”
He shrugged, managing to make even that look graceful and masculine.
“Both of which were true. I wanted you to be as prepared as you could be,” he said seriously. Then, a smirk graced his lips. “And that delightful blush you get when you’re angry might have been a welcome bonus.”
He trailed a finger from my chest, which was slick with a sheen of sweat, up to my cheeks. I glared at him, irritation making that very thing happen. Well, it was at least partially due to irritation, anyway.
“That’s the one,” he remarked. Backing away, his features turned serious once more. “You have definitely honed your skill since your time in Lochlann, though.”
“Well, I had a lot of anger to work out,” I muttered without thinking.
When he went deadly still, I wanted to take the words back. It came close to things we rarely referenced, the months we both thought we might never make it here.
“And now?” His tone was carefully neutral.
He was asking whether I still blamed him for that. It was a loaded question, because the simple answer wasno. I was just happy we had gotten where we were now.
But there was a part of me that couldn’t help but notice that he still didn’t see anything wrong with the way he had made the decision that I needed space for both of us.
Since I didn’t have a good answer, I thought about his question more literally. Between Ava and our upcoming meeting with Iiro, there was still plenty to be angry about.
“And now,” I responded, picking up the sword I had dropped during our last match. “I’m sure our impending trip to the Obsidian Palace will give me sufficient rage to pull from.”
And the fact that Iiro would find a way to starve our people when we got there.
Evander’s face darkened. “Speaking of which, we leave at first light in three days.”
“So soon?” I asked.
“We’ll need to take a carriage, and we’ll be staying with the lords and at Wolf Estate instead of in the inns, so...it will be slow going.”
“Wonderful,” I intoned. Then I opened my senses up, letting myself feel the elements around me. “Although it will be cool enough that at least we shouldn’t bake inside the carriage.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of advantages to being shut up in a carriage, with the curtains drawn…” He let that thought dangle in the air, then went on the attack without warning.
“Aalio,” I muttered, dancing out of the way.
“Good.” He nodded.
And though I told myself I didn’t care about that small sign of approval, the reality was that Evander was grace and speed and power in motion. On top of that, he was an obnoxiously good teacher, his watchful eyes constantly assessing and correcting.
We had sparred nearly every day since my arrival, and I had come further in those three weeks than the two months I had been training constantly in Lochlann.
“I want you to wear a sword while we’re on the road.” He interrupted my thoughts, not remotely out of breath from the exertion.
My eyebrows rose as I deflected one of his blows automatically with my right hand. He came in from the left, easily landing a hit, and I scowled.
“You distracted me on purpose,” I accused.
“Deflecting an attack on that side with your left sword needs to be your instinct, not something you think about. Again.”
We started again, and he waited a few moments before speaking. “I wasn’t just distracting you, though. There are more Unclanned gathering now that Iiro has driven away the bands near the Obsidian Palace, so we need to be careful.”