She cautiously took the weapon, not taking eyes off his face.
“You must trust yourself and be stable with your intention. You can hurt someone only if you really want it,” he uttered. “If you are not confident in your thoughts you won't be confident in your movements either. You'll never be able to stab someone if you're unsure or have doubts, Little Witch. Never be scared you won't hit the target. Just stab. There's always a chance you'll still hurt your opponent even if not in the place you wanted. You'll win some time anyway,” with these words he stalked closer.
“One of the best parts to hit – the thigh above the knee. Another – side of the abdomen but it's much more difficult to reach.” Dante came around from behind and wrapped his palm around her hand on the dagger. “Hold it tight and with honor, it won’t bite you.” He dropped her hand. “Now imagine I attack you, what would you do?” His hands in a second landed on her waist.
Violette's spine straightened.
“I…” she stuttered, thinking, “I'd hit you in the stomach and I'd step on your foot…I guess.”
“Okay. And what about the dagger?” Dante's head lowered to her closer.
“Uh…” A strange excitation slinked under her skin. “Stab you in the thigh?”
“Much better. You can also hit me in the knee to throw me to the ground and put the dagger to my throat. Like this,” he whispered, moving her hand to her throat, another wrapped around her shoulder.
Violette swallowed, her eyes fixated on his palm around hers.
“But if someone did it to you,” he continued, “you can strike them with your elbow in the stomach as you said, then in the nose or their jaw, and while they're in pain, push in the shoulder to knock them down from their feet. Let's try, fight me, Little Witch,” he said, his grip tightened.
Violette's body tensed and she weakly hit him in the stomach.
“Come on, it should be much stronger to hurt me.”
“I don't want to hurt you,” she let out.
“Very bad,” he chuckled. “I thought you disliked me enough for it.”
She frowned and kicked him harder.
“Slightly better,” he said, his voice too even to think he felt something.
Violette's brows twisted together, she gathered all her courage and hit him with all her finding force. He clearly succumbed to her but dropped his grasp. Then she blew a strike at his nose and pushed him down to the ground, pressing him harder and pointing the dagger to his throat.
“Isthat better?” she blew, her voice came out panting.
His face was only a few inches away from her as she overhung him. His eyes flashed with merriment, a shameless smirk contorted his lips as he purred, “Oh, I just wanted to end up beneath you.”
Violette sputtered and pulled back, shoving on her feet.
A delightful chortle escaped his mouth as he lay on the ground.
“But you were good,” he said, lifting his body. “Need more practice though.”
Violette shot him an evil look. “Don't even dream,” she pressed.
Dante responded to her by gritting his teeth.
Chapter 27
THE POTION SHOP
The potion shop Violette entered had nothing in common with the shop she worked in, except the fact that they were selling ingredients for potions and ready to use liquids.
There was no magic pot that was brewing something on its own, nothing was fizzing in the corner, no magical haze in the air, however it did smell with a familiar floral scent. The picture she saw in front of her reminded more of a healing store with its herbal fragrance and lack ofmagic. It was calm and quiet here. Not like she was expecting fireworks inside the store and a crowd of wizards, but there was nobody except them, a seller and a woman examining a basket with colorful vials.
Violette was familiar with the silence her potion shop was submerged into when it was quite empty: there were days when she had a free minute for herself and her experiments, however, even in these moments there was never so much hush. Instead of voices and footsteps the air was occupied with the sound of boiling pots, fizzing and gurgling liquids. The mop was dancing around the room cleaning after customers, the rag would fly along the shelves, collecting dust, and the smoke in the air could plunge anyone into a restless atmosphere, blocking every sound from outside. The store which Violette and Dante found was nothing like this. This place reminded her of any other shop in this town – nothing special.
A middle-aged woman behind the counter was flipping the pages of a book. Behind her a wall with many shelves stuffed with different plantsin amusing pots, few wooden and marble painted boxes. On a counter were two baskets: one contained glass bottles with liquids, another a few pouches with colorful tags, assumedly full of herbal tea. Next to the cash register were lying several books about brewing potions.
