Chapter 52 52. Chapter
Aurora
The air of the armory cooled abruptly as we both settled into a fighting stance. The House watched in a silence so dense it felt tangible. Elijah stood opposite me, posture flawless, his sword resting in his hand as if it were an extension of his arm.
“Well then, Hunter,” Elijah said, his eyes glinting red in the candlelight. “Let us see whether your dhampir blood is only good for regeneration, or whether it understands combat as well. Remember, what you did in the swamp yesterday was instinct. Here, you need technique.”
“Less talking, more action, Your Majesty,” I shot back, rolling the two black steel blades in my hands. “Just because you managed to get me into bed once or twice does not mean I cannot cut your ears off if you stop paying attention.”
Elijah smiled, and in the same instant he moved.
He was so fast that an ordinary human would have seen nothing but a passing shadow. But I was no longer ordinary. My pupils dilated and the world slowed around me. I saw the arc of his blade and felt the pressure of displaced air. I crossed my swords and the metallic clash echoed through the chamber.
“You are slow,” Elijah murmured as our blades locked. “Perhaps you should have eaten more breakfast and spent less time admiring your neck in the mirror.”
“Instead of admiring my neck, I focus on where to stab,” I growled, wrenching my weapons free and slashing low toward his leg.
Elijah leapt cleanly over the blades, spun in the air, and attacked from behind. I turned with him, my body knowing the rhythm without conscious thought. My movement was more fluid than ever before. I did not only defend, I countered. My twin blades struck with a speed that surprised even him for a brief moment.
“That is better,” he said, parrying my strikes. “But you still fight too much like a Hunter. Too much restraint. A dhampir does not duel. A dhampir kills. Use your weight, Aurora.”
“Maybe if you did not talk constantly, I could focus better on killing you,” I hissed. “And who taught you to fight anyway. A retired court master. You pose too much.”
Elijah’s eyes flashed. “Posing. Let me show you what I call efficiency.”
He changed tactics without warning. Instead of attacking with his sword, he charged with his body. He slammed into me shoulder first, driving me backward. I lost my footing and my back struck one of the thick stone pillars of the armory. Before I could recover, Elijah was there. He knocked my blades aside and pressed me to the pillar with his body.
My swords hit the floor as he forced my wrists above my head against the stone.
We froze there, both of us breathing hard. Our faces were only inches apart. The adrenaline of combat still pulsed in our veins, but the air shifted. The taunts and mockery faded, replaced by something darker and far more urgent.
Elijah’s chest was pressed to mine. I felt his heartbeat, slow and heavy, and felt my own racing wildly in response. My dhampir blood answered his proximity. The hunger that had begun the night before stirred again.
“Well,” Elijah breathed, his gaze sliding to my mouth. “What would you do now, Hunter. You are unarmed. Pinned. Completely at my mercy.”
His voice was no longer mocking. It was low, rough, and thick with desire.
“You think I am unarmed,” I whispered back, though my voice faltered. “I still have teeth. And I remember how much you liked it when I used them last night.”
Elijah’s pupils expanded until they nearly swallowed the color of his eyes. His grip on my wrists loosened slightly, only so his fingers could dig into my skin. His thigh pressed firmly between mine, and the tension that had been combat moments ago turned into pure, elemental attraction.
“You are far too dangerous for your own good,” Elijah murmured, releasing one wrist so his hand could trace my face and slide down to my neck, where my pulse throbbed wildly. “I thought we were training.”
“This is a kind of endurance training,” I said, summoning every scrap of defiance I had left, and pulled him into a kiss.
The kiss was wild, driven by adrenaline and the blood bond between us. There was no gentleness in it, only raw desire that could exist only between two creatures like us. Elijah lifted me, and I locked my legs around his waist, still pinned to the pillar.
The shadows of the armory seemed to coil around us. Somewhere deep within the House, the walls sighed in satisfaction. The fight was over, but the real battle, resisting each other, was utterly lost.
“It seems,” Elijah breathed against my neck, teeth grazing my skin, “that once again we will not reach the technical basics today.”
“Who cares about technique,” I gasped, clutching his shoulders, “when your instincts are so much better.”