“You’re ready,” he said.
“Yeah, right. I couldn’t sustain an attack from you this morning, let alone one from Tiamat.”
“You held your own.” He glanced outside. “In fact, I thought I’d see if you had time to go back down, do another few rounds. My aunt wants us practicing twice daily from now on.”
I actually felt my shoulders slump. I knew Hailana had said she expected me to practice tonight, but I hadn’t thought she was serious. Not after the council meeting from hell. It was already close to midnight.
“Come on,” he said. “It’ll be good for you. Tire you out so that you can sleep.”
Not being able to fall asleep hadn’t even entered my mind. I was so exhausted that the only worry I had was actually staying awake long enough to get to my room.
Still, he was looking at me like he expected I’d refuse. And that’s when I knew—he hadn’t chased after me because he’d actually wanted to spar. He’d come so that he could tell Hailana he had tried and I’d been the one to say no.
Anger spiked inside of me, chasing away the foggy tendrils of exhaustion. When I’d lived on land, I’d hated guys like him. Guys who thought they were so slick, that the rules didn’t apply to them. Guys who thought they could be total jerks and then turn on a little charm and all would be forgiven.
My chin came up and I glared at him, even as we dived back into the water. Where do you want to practice? The training circles are a little full right now. I gestured to the huge white tents full of refugees.
How about the park? It should be pretty quiet at this hour.
Fine. I’ll meet you there in ten minutes.
He raised an eyebrow. You wouldn’t be planning on standing me up, would you?
Do you always think the worst of people? I mimicked his tone and his eyebrow.
That startled a laugh out of him. I guess I do.
Well, stop. It’s not good for you. I glanced behind me, toward Mahina’s house. I’ll be there in a few minutes. There’s just something I have to do first.
He nodded and I turned around, swimming straight for Mahina. And Liam. I hoped he was okay …
A couple minutes later, I was standing over his sleeping form, rubbing his back. He was waiting up for you, Lily, Mahina’s mother, told me. But the poor little thing ended up crashing. He’s so tired.
Guilt trickled through me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to just abandon him here.
Don’t be silly. The kids had a great time. Besides, he’s got a bed, toys. I have extra clothes. Leave him until you find a family member.
I hugged her, and after assuring us both I’d be by first thing in the morning, I headed back outside. I knew Mahina’s family would take great care of Liam, but I had started to think of him as my responsibility. I didn’t like pawning that off on anyone else.
Besides, I’d rather be tucked up with Liam right now than facing down Sabyn for the second time today.
He was waiting for me as I approached the well-trimmed kelp forest—in the middle of a huge clearing surrounded by gardens of sea anemones and oyster beds, it was the closest thing to grass we had down here.
I stopped about fifteen feet from him, braced myself for an imminent attack. I’d let my guard down this morning. I wasn’t about to do it again.
You look ready for battle, he called to me.
More like bed, I answered.
Oh yeah? A spark of interest lit up his face. That could be fun.
I rolled my eyes. That’s why you brought me out here? To make innuendos when I could be sleeping? Can we just do this thing?
Sorry. The look he gave me was a little disgruntled, like he couldn’t believe I didn’t want to flirt with him. Which seemed ridiculous considering he’d tried to kill me less than twelve hours ago.
You have good form, he told me, covering the distance between us with a couple swishes of his tail. But you leave yourself too open during battle.
Intrigued despite myself, I asked, What do you mean?
You’re very straightforward. You face every threat head-on. He came around behind me, placed his hands on my hips.
I stiffened. What are you doing?
Relax. You former humans are so uptight. He applied a little pressure, turning me so that I was at an angle. You’re left-handed, correct?
Yes. I didn’t like him touching me, wanted to knock him back a few steps. But again, I wasn’t going to be the one to end this little practice session. I’d already pushed Hailana as far as I could this morning—if she thought I was blatantly disobeying her orders, there would be Hell. To. Pay.
So you should stand with your right arm forward. He turned me a little more, ran his hand over my waist and up my rib cage.
I elbowed him in the stomach.
He just laughed. You have really soft skin for a mermaid.
And you have a really soft brain for a merman superstar. Don’t do that again.
Why not? What Kona doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
I yanked away. You’re disgusting.
I’m joking, I’m joking. His fingers clamped down on my hips and he yanked me toward him again, so that we were pressed together—my back to his chest.
Sabyn, I said warningly.
Stop being such a prude and just listen, will you? He slid his hand down my right arm, then cupped my elbow and lifted away from our bodies. This is your shielding arm. If you keep it to the front, it gives you an advantage, a little extra boost that can mean the difference between living and dying.
Shields thrown up flat are more vulnerable, he continued, easier for your enemy to find a weakness in. If you keep it off-kilter, the energy is harder to read. Not impossible, but harder.
What do you mean? I turned back to look at him, realized our faces were only an inch or so apart, and jerked back.
He laughed.
When you’re fighting, you can actually read the other person’s energy? I asked him, intrigued. You can see how they formed their shield?
Of course. He looked surprised. Has no one ever told you that before?
No. I just thought you hit at it until you found the weakness.
Which is what you did to me earlier? he asked.
Pretty much, yeah.
Wow. I’m impressed.
Why? It was sheer luck that I got the spear through.
No. He shook his head. It was sheer strength of will on your part.
I warmed, unwittingly, at the compliment. It wasn’t as impressive as what you did, I told him. You sent that arrow straight into me.
Because you were facing me head-on. If you’d been to the side, I never would have gotten that shot. He held his hand out about an inch in front of my chest and waved it up and down. Always protect your midline.
Right. I brought my right arm back up. My midline.
The next half hour passed in a blur as Sabyn patiently showed me technique after technique, none of which I’d ever seen before. As we worked, I couldn’t help wondering why no one else had ever bothered doing this with me. Had Kona, Hailana, even Jared, relied on my power so completely that they failed to teach me even the most mundane blocking exercises? Considering how Sabyn had kicked my butt earlier, it seemed ridiculous.
Not to mention shortsighted.
Okay. Sabyn finally stepped back. You want to try out your new form?
I kind of did. Whereas training was usually something I suffered through, tonight I was excited. I wanted to see if Sabyn’s tips would help.