Nox dragged Rayne along with him by her broken arm. Debris and glass was buried inside her back. Grasping, she scraped her nails across the floor until her fingertips bled. He raised her up by the ruined arm, forcing her to climb to her feet. He smiled all the while.

She screamed, “I look forward to ripping your nacre from your chest!”

Nox laughed with genuine mirth again. “There’s that storm. All these years of training. No eating. No sleeping. Barely spending time with your friends. And spending all your nights with me… With a nacre of your own, you’d make a formidable opponent.” He put his face in hers. “Now, all you require is some incentive to take one.” Nox wrenched her arm until it popped again.

Rayne spat in his face. “Incentivize that.” Her blood spattered across his mouth.

Much to her dismay, Nox licked it from his lips. “That’s a rude way to address your dance partner.” He spun her away from him by her broken arm. She crashed against the riot gate, hitting it so hard her vision blacked out.

Appearing behind her, Nox twisted her bad arm against her back. The elbow bent inward.

Gasping, Rayne murmured, “I never agreed to dance with you.”

Nox pressed his ear to her lips, asking her to repeat it.

She ground out, “I never. Agreed. To Dance. With you.”

He had that signature villain laugh down to an art. A lot of evil with a dash of sexy.

Rayne hated it.

Nox suggested, “Let’s make a deal between warriors then. I convince you to dance with me, and you wear something outstanding.”

“Never. Going. To happen.”

He bent the elbow again and wrenched her arm the other way until she screamed.

The fire spread. Ceiling panels warped and melted, landing all around them. Looking up, the beams above shifted as if they wanted to give. She missed the numb feeling in her arm. The pain came close to making her faint.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Nox leaned his full weight on her mangled limb. Against her ear, he whispered, “Show me you’re ready. Are you prepared to defend your world or not?”

Rayne clenched her teeth. “Fuck. You.”

“We could do that or…” Nox whirled Rayne around to face him. His smile disappeared. This unfamiliar expression frightened her even more with its emptiness. He brushed his knuckles against the brand. “We could do this.”

Rayne hissed at him.

Nox clutched strong fingers around her throat, squeezing firm enough to choke her. She sipped raw breaths into her dried husks for lungs. He bent her backwards. The debris in her back buried deeper, but that pain was minuscule compared to what came next.

Fire. There was fire. Rayne craned in Nox’s firm grasp to see the flaming heap of rubble he held her over. The shredded cloth of her shirt gave way to the flames licking across her back, kissing the bloody scrapes. Unable to scream, she wept.

Rayne drove her nails into the skin of his wrist. Nox clenched his jaw and squeezed his fingers. How could he burn her with no remorse?

“Let. Go.”

He raised Rayne high above him by her throat. She choked in convulsions, trying to find air. Raking her nails down his wrists made little rivers of blue blood that he ignored.

Nox asked, “Wouldn’t you say your lessons were woefully incomplete? Tell me, did you ever ask yourself if an Icarus would really teach you how to take another of his kind down?”

If Rayne could speak, she would say that Xelan wanted him overthrown for his abuse of power. But was that the only reason? Or was that reason enough?

Her vision blurred. Spotty. She couldn’t breathe.

Nox threw Rayne into another section of lockers near where the fight started. The fire was less here. She drew ragged gulps of air. Blood dripped into her eye. She touched her fingertips to it and winced. Letting her hand fall to her side, she touched something cool. Grasping it, she suppressed a smile.

Was she supposed to answer his question? Rayne said, “No. The thought never occurred to me, being only fourteen and all.”

Rayne lifted her eyes. Nox stood over her, sword in hand, with that empty expression which unnerved her so. He wanted a challenge.

Ready to give him one, she stood carefully until she was stabilized. The storm in her surged on. This ass kicking stopped now. She leveled her eyes with his dark stare, and rage filled her.

Nox didn’t miss the renewed confidence in her stance. Smirking, he swung the sword at her face. Her sword met his above her head, clanking loudly. He reached for her, seized the meat of her left shoulder, and pushed.

A sickening sound emitted from her arm, and Rayne screamed, “Son of a bitch!” Staggering back, she realized some mobility had returned to her left arm. It was painful with the bone pulverized.

Nox lunged for Rayne, and she crouched to the floor. She swept his legs out from under him, and he fell on his back. Rayne made to strike for him, but he kicked her in the leg like a little bitch. She crumpled to her knees.

In a sheer defiance of physics, Nox pulled himself upright, feet planted to the floor. He kneed Rayne in the face, and she grunted as she went down again. After a perfect kip up, she waited in front of him, sword in hand.

That twisted smile returned to Nox’s lips. “Now, you look ready.”

Rayne wasn’t sure which expression she hated more.