Page 136 of Commanding Flame and Shield
“Our complacency could get us killed,” Ansel countered. “Letting them keep her gifts, letting them implement whatever they have up their sleeves. It’s what they expect. But. I don’t like the idea of going in blind, either.”
“So, we let Ally recoup. We enjoy the holiday," Alec said with an airy shrug. “We unleash her when her power is back and see what to do from there.”
“It’s going to be…like a clairvoyant volley, you realize? Impossible to stay ahead, if he’s as gifted as Ally. Now that he knows we’re parrying.” August squeezed my hand. “She’ll pull threads, but the moment we decide, Adrastos will see it. He’ll evaluate his options and adjust accordingly. When his choices are made, she’ll see them, and so on and so forth. Unless you keep her on an IV, watching twenty-four-seven…”
Understanding settled in the group. We were fighting fire with fire on that route. Aren pressed his lips together.
“It will be a clairvoyant volley,” Aren repeated, and blew out a heavy breath.
FIFTY-FOUR
TRADITIONS
AUGUST
If there was anything I loved about the surreal Grayshell grounds, it was the eternal spring. The warmth that wrapped in between my bones. Loosen my muscles. Alec, it seemed, liked to poke raw wounds, and had asked the group who was going to kick Ally’s ass first, now that the playing field was even. She had snorted, the noise both a laugh, and a challenge. And somehow, that translated to coming outside into the bizarre grass that wasn’t really grass, for sparring. No powers, no elements. Just true, hand to hand combat.
“You have the benefit of having been inside minds for so long that you’ll understand how they work.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You can still anticipate their moves. Just remember their eyes, their center of gravity. Their decision making doesn’t change just because you’re not in their heads anymore.” I wrapped the tape around her wrist, and she gave me an obedient nod. But there were nerves in her eyes. Unease in the tense hold of her shoulders and ramrod straight spine. I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her cheek. It was a marvel, how natural it felt. As though it had always been that way, she leaned into the touch.
Alec was bouncing on the balls of his feet, grinning at us from his spot in the “ring”. Aren boomed a laugh from the other side, at something Ansel had said. They both sat on their haunches, fingers laced together. Wagers had been placed on these first rounds, as Ally acclimated. Aren would always bet on Ally. Always. But it seemed that despite her lost clairvoyance, Ansel would, too. It was Alec and Lana who thought her skills would be hindered.
I kissed her again, and again, and then leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“You are the bravest, most intuitive person I know—with or without foresight.” Alvara grinned at my words and turned to face me. She pressed her soft lips to mine, gave me a nod, and strolled into the ring. I said, a bit louder so Alec would also hear, “Now. Go kick his ass.”
And so, she did.
It seemed that mymatedid, in fact, have a natural inclination for violence. Aren had told me that, what seemed a lifetime ago. When I’d first arrived at Grayshell, he had chuckled about it. He was still doing so now, as she pinned Alec for the second time. Aren and Ansel both roared with laughter as he tapped out. The Commander actually rolled onto his back, clutching a stitch in his side. Alec won the round in between, so it was no surprise that he begged for best of five when she released him again.
“I’ll even heal your scrapes and bruises for you.” He grinned at her, and she shook her head.
“Honestly, Alec, I’m not sure why you crave the humiliation.” She flashed him that feline grin I loved and raised her brows. Fae choked on what might have been a laugh. She laced her fingers together and pressed them to her lips as if in prayer, brows raised with amusement as she stared at her mate in the ring. Her shoulders shook with suppressed giggles. She relaxed and grinned when Alvara and Alec embraced in a great bear hug. As they pulled apart, he set his hands on her cheek and wrist, healing two small scrapes. Some territorial instinct within me reared, but I silenced it. Alec playfully mussed her hair as Aren so often did, and I relaxed, swearing at myself.
Alvara made a b-line for me, wrapping her arms around my waist, and settling against my chest. As though she always had. Only, she then ran her fingers over my arm, my neck, feeling each inch she could easily reach. As desperate, it seemed, to feel me as I was for her. I kissed the top of her head.
“Good girl,” I’d barely whispered the words when she pinched the skin on my arm. I yelped. Alvara smirked before kissing me again. In a twirl of restored confidence, she looked back at our coven, swinging her arms to stretch them out. I crossed my arm under the opposite elbow, resting my face against my fist.
“So. Who’s next?” She stepped back towards the ring. Aren and Ansel exchanged glances, clearly debating mind to mind who would challenge her. I cleared my throat.
“Uh…what about me?”
She whirled on me, eyes narrowing. “Interesting.” She ran her tongue along her teeth, surveying me like a predator sizing up prey.
I shrugged a shoulder, feigning a nonchalance I didn’t feel.
“I accept your challenge, August Porter.”
The coven erupted with shouts, bets, and taunts, but my eyes didn’t leave hers as that coy grin stretched over her face. Her eyes alight anew. Not a spirit easily broken. If anything, she was enjoying the new challenge. I inclined my head to accept, and Aren boomed his amusement.
He clapped his great hands together. “Well, this should be fun.”
Alvara was a machine, through and through. The woman didn’t tire. From the moment she’d rolled her neck side to side, her energy shifted. She shot me one last coy wink, and then her face schooled into indifference. Chin raised tall. Game on.
From that point on, her strikes were fast, her movements fluid as water. In what felt like a handful of seconds she had me on my back, her knee in my chest, and fist against my throat, miming a blade. She grinned and dipped down to kiss me. Her breath hot against my face, I accepted. Then, with the little leverage she’d given me, shoved her over my head. She tucked and rolled right as Aren and Alec exploded with taunts from the sidelines.
“Don’t get cocky now, love.”
Alvara gave me a playful hiss, and crouched like a cat ready to spring, but I was faster. I lunged for her, but she rolled backwards, flipping out of my path and back to her feet.
