Yanking up my left arm, I blocked Henry’s fist before it could reach my jaw. Dull pain reverberated through my forearm as the punch landed, but I ignored it and jabbed towards Henry’s ribs. He slammed his other hand down, shoving my attack off course before leaping back and aiming a kick at my side instead. I dodged it.
Sweat trickled down my spine as we continued sparring.
I needed to work off some anger after that ambush Audrey had set up in her mansion. Or at least, that’s what I told myself. The truth was much more complicated. And infuriating.
After Sienna had left, I had taken Audrey back to her room. And because she had been unsupervised inside her own home earlier, I’d had to get her to strip completely naked to make sure that she hadn’t smuggled in any more knives that might end up in my chest. She had of course undressed in the most annoying way ever, which stirred up emotions inside me that I was supposed to be carving out of my heart.
But her little show might not have affected me as much if it hadn’t been for the fact that her power play against Sienna in my study earlier had also made my breath hitch and my heart skip a beat. I didn’t even know what to do anymore. It was as if every move she made and every word she spoke branded themselves on my soul. Which was a huge problem.
That was the real reason why I was currently trying to get rid of all of my frustrating emotions by sparring with Henry.
“So, Sienna backed off,” Henry said as he swung a fist at my head.
I ducked it and jabbed at his side. “Yeah.”
“That was a surprise.”
“Everything is a surprise when it comes to Sienna. Malcolm and Grant… even Audrey… everything they do is in line with their personalities. But Sienna seems to just be making decisions on a whim.”
“That, or she’s got more than one.”
“More than one what?”
“Personality.”
I huffed out a laugh.
Henry used that opportunity to dart sideways and slam a foot into the back of my knee. Crashing down on the padded mat, I rolled forward before he could grab me from behind. After swiping out with my leg to make him jump back, I shot to my feet again and went on the offensive.
The oil lamps in the ceiling cast flickering reflections in the dark windows. Evening had fallen over the world outside, and with it, another day was coming to an end. Five days now. And we still hadn’t been able to break Lance Carmichael.
Regret blew across Henry’s face, as if he could read the thoughts in my eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to break him yet.”
“No one expected him to be this stubborn.” I ducked under Henry’s fist, and rammed a hand towards his chest. “And our biggest problem is that we’re very limited in what methods we can use since we need him to be pretty much physically unharmed.”
He drove his elbow into my arm, making it snap downwards before the strike could hit. “But still. It’s not exactly my first time torturing someone. I should have broken him by now.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.” He swung at my head. “Grant and Sienna might have agreed to back off, but Malcolm won’t take this lying down. He’s gonna make a move sooner or later.”
“Then let’s hope it’s later.”
Dull pain spread through my side as Henry’s fist connected with my ribs. But it wasn’t nearly as bad as it should have been. I narrowed my eyes at him as I sidestepped his next attack.
“You’re pulling your punches again,” I said.
Embarrassment flickered in his gray eyes. Henry was both taller and more muscular than me, and he was also a lot more skilled at hand-to-hand combat. I knew what a real hit from him felt like, and this wasn’t it.
“I don’t wanna hurt you by accident,” Henry replied.
Pressing forward, I kicked at his hip and then aimed a fast strike at his jaw. He blocked it easily.
“You’re not helping me by going easy on me,” I said as I tried to push the advantage again. “How am I supposed to win a real fight against someone your size if I don’t get actual practice with it?”
“You’re still getting practice.”
“Yeah, but I won’t improve if you don’t go all out.” Lifting a hand, I twitched my fingers at him. “So come at me with everything you’ve got.”
Henry shook his head and blew out a long sigh. “Your funeral.”
He shot across the floor. It took everything I had to keep up enough to block his lightning speed attacks. And when they hit, the strikes seemed to vibrate through my bones.
My stomach lurched as he swept my legs out from underneath me, sending me toppling backwards. I hit the padded mat hard. Blinking, I tried to suck air back into my lungs, but Henry was already on top of me.
When I had gotten my eyes back into focus, I found his closed fist hovering a mere inch from my face while his knee dug into my chest, pinning me to the floor.
A surprised laugh escaped my throat. After repositioning my arm, I tapped my hand against the floor.
There was a slight smirk on Henry’s face as he stayed like that for an extra second. Then he removed his fist and rose to his feet. I pushed myself into a sitting position while he leaned down and held out his hand.
“You okay?” he asked as I took his offered hand. With a firm yank, he pulled me to my feet.
“My body, yeah.” I rolled my shoulder as I glanced over at him. “My ego, on the other hand… Maybe I should be letting you pull your punches after all.”
“Sorry.” He chuckled and dragged a hand through his messy brown hair. Then his eyes shot to me and he added, “Boss.”
I waved a hand in front of my face. “It’s alright.”
We drifted over to the long flat benches by the wall. A couple of towels and some pitchers of water had already been set up there. Grabbing the two towels, I tossed one at Henry’s chest before drawing the other over my face. He caught it in one hand and did the same.
Sweat trickled down my neck and bare chest. After I was finished with my face, I draped the soft white towel over the back of my neck and let it hang there. With my hands once again free, I bent down and grabbed a glass of water before sitting down on the wooden bench. It creaked in alarm as Henry dropped down on it as well.
For a while, we just sat there next to each other, gulping down water. My heart was still thumping in my chest from the lengthy sparring session, and pain pulsed through my back from the abrupt end to it.
“Can I ask you something?” Henry said, breaking the silence.
Turning my head, I looked over at him. “Of course.”
The flames from the oil lamps cast shifting light over his angular features, and his temples were damp with sweat. But he didn’t look exhausted. He looked… concerned.
“Why did we really go to Audrey’s mansion?” he asked slowly.
“Because you’ve gotta have an audience for a formal surrender.”
“Okay, then why did she have to do a formal surrender?” His perceptive eyes searched my face. “You’ve already bound her magic and made her your prisoner. She’s already completely at your mercy. And her lands are unprotected. Without her there to defend them, you could’ve just gathered up the rest of our guys and gone up there to slaughter them all and take the mansion by force. Why go to the trouble of trying to get her to surrender formally?”
Only the faint sound of evening winds blowing outside the window broke the silence when Henry finished speaking. I slid my gaze to the opposite wall instead. For a while, I didn’t reply. Henry only sat there next to me, saying nothing.
Leaning back, I raked a hand through my hair and blew out a long breath. “Because I need to make her hate me. Truly hate me.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t get rid of my feelings for her when she keeps… flirting with me. She keeps saying that she’ll kill me, and I don’t doubt her. I know she hates me enough to kill me. But she’s also still open to fucking me, and I can’t handle that. Every time she looks at me like that, or touches me like that, all of my resolve crumbles. I can’t breathe properly when she’s in the room and my heart does this ridiculous thing where it beats twice as hard when I just look at her. So I need to make her hate me so much that she will never even want to be in the same room as me again.”
For a moment, Henry said nothing. Then he expelled a deep sigh. “Fuck, Callan. You don’t just like her, do you? You love her.”
“No.” I flicked a glance at him to make sure that he believed me. He didn’t. “Dark mages don’t do love and relationships.”
“Make sure to tell your heart that.”
“Shut up.” Forcing out a strained laugh, I slapped Henry’s chest with the back of my hand and then stood up. “Now, let’s go again. I suddenly find myself wanting to punch you in the face.”
He shot me a smug grin as he pushed to his feet as well. “Yeah, because that worked out so well for you last time.”
As we squared up against each other again, I tried to force my mind back to the task at hand. Beating the shit out of Henry for even suggesting that I loved Audrey.
What a ridiculous notion.
I might find her intelligent and cunning and witty and ruthless and really fucking hot, and I might also be a little bit infatuated with her, but I didn’t love her. Dark mages didn’t love. And I most certainly couldn’t love her. My infuriating enemy.
Rolling my shoulders, I got ready to slam my fist into Henry’s face.
I did not love Audrey Sable.
