Nyx
Don't think. Keep flowing from one move to the next.
I slipped under his next strike. I turned and went for his unguarded side. He caught me mid-motion. He twisted my arm behind me. My balance broke, then in an even faster move he pinned me face down. His weight was solid at my back. One hand held my wrist in place while the other pressed down between my shoulders—not painful, just controlled.
My breath came fast against the mat, with sweat clinging to my skin. My body ached all over. I tried to break free, but it was pointless.
"Stop," he whispered in my ear. Tonka bean and vanilla invaded my senses making me go still. To my dismay, my body went a step further and relaxed into the mat. Silence stretched between us.
I was slowly coming down from my battle high, so I wasn't sure if I was sensing things correctly. Is he smelling me right now? I wanted to sink through the mat and disappear. At some point during our spar, I lost partial control of my scent. Deciding to pretend I hadn't lost control, I warded my scent again. I was going to ask him to let me up, but he spoke first.
"Good job, Shārii (spark). You stopped overthinking." That wasn't a question. I swallowed.
"I stopped trying to control everything." His grip didn't tighten, but it didn't loosen either. I tried very hard not to think about how good his weight and warmth felt.
"Same thing, Nyxara." I huffed out a breath.
"Are you going to let me up now?" After a pause, he slowly released my wrist. The pressure at my back eased. He sat across from me, and I shifted into a sitting position.
I stretched under his ever-watching gaze. I raised a questioning brow at him. He handed me my water bottle, then took his own out of his storage ring. When did he pick up my water bottle? I was beginning to wonder if this man was in Azrail's division before he became my trainer. He can be so sneaky in his actions.
We sat in quiet but strangely comfortable silence until he tapped me with his foot to get my attention. "What changed?"
I took another drink before putting the water bottle down. "I stopped trying to decide what to do. Like you were trying to tell me, I let my instinct move my body. You, Keir, and Lux have been training the moves into me. I just had to trust that knowledge. It all just clicked when I made that leap of faith." I shrugged, not knowing how to explain it better.
He was quiet, but it was an understanding quiet. His nod and faint smile were all the approval I needed to know that I had achieved something today.
"What you learned is that power isn't just control, and it's not just instinct." He leaned forward into my space, speaking in a quiet, penetrating tone.
I leaned back onto my hands, keeping my breathing slow and easy. Is he flirting with me or unaware of his actions? I can never get a good read on him.
"It's knowing when to let one take over the other."
I let myself fall completely onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. "That sounds annoyingly vague, but it somehow makes sense. I feel I'm on the verge of understanding it." He stood up then offered me a hand.
"Cultivation is like that. As you ascend, it will both make more sense and less sense." I took his hand, and he pulled me up easily.
For a moment before he stepped back, our bodies were pressed together. The feel of hard muscle beneath my hand dazed me for a moment.
My hand had found its way to his abs. I was enjoying the feel when he broke me out of my daze with an amused question.
"Do you want to go another sparring round or keep groping me?"
I actually squeaked and yanked my hand away. I turned away trying to hide my blushing face. "Let's go another round. I want to fully grasp this understanding I'm on the cusp of." I waved my hand in front of my face to cool my face.
I felt his gaze on me. When he didn't say or do anything after a minute, I looked over my shoulder to find him holding out my water bottle. "Let's break for another two minutes, then we will begin again."
I nodded and reached out to take the water bottle. He did not release the bottle. Instead, he used it to pull me closer to him. When I looked up at him annoyed, that faint, almost imperceptible smirk returned.
"You are welcome to touch me whenever you want, my Shārii. Do you want me to go shirtless in the next round or would that be too much for you?"
I yanked my bottle out of his grasp, then stomped away from this vexing man. I heard him chuckle behind me. "Be back in two minutes, Shārii, otherwise this will turn into a game of capture the runaway."
I didn't respond to his provocations. I left the training room, then went far enough down the hall that I didn't think he could easily eavesdrop on my call to Zen.
"Hello. Aren't you supposed to be in training right now?" Zen sounded amused, as if she already knew why I was calling. "Zen." I whined.
"Elias is bullying me again." I made sniffling noises. "Was he bullying you or flirting with you?" She asked instead of comforting me.
"Why would you ask me that?" I dropped the pitiful act immediately.
"You tell me." Zen sounded distracted, so she must be navigating her way to her next class.
"He is bullying me. You are supposed to be on my side." I argued.
"I am on your side. Now I need to get to my next class, and I'm sure your break is over now. Love you. Byeee."
Then this traitor hung up on me. I stared at my phone, feeling betrayed.
"So I'm bullying you now?" The question came unsettlingly close from behind me. Looking over my shoulder, I felt like I was looking at my doom. "Well…you see…I wasn't…." I couldn't think of a single excuse.
In a blink, I was looking at the ground and being carried back into the training room over Elias's shoulder.
"Since you say I'm bullying you, then let me show you what bullying really looks like, my Shārii." The dark chuckle that came after that statement was the last warning I got before Elias worked me so hard I ended the session as a pile of mush
Note to self: if I'm going to complain about someone, wait until I'm in a completely different building.