“Right,” Lux agreed, tugging his boots on. She held her shoes in her hands, darting out from the room and into the hallway, hoping that Ehlaria wouldn’t be?—
“Good morrow, Princess.” She leaned against the doorframe across the landing. “Luxuros.” He gave a half-hearted wave. “A bright morning, is it not?” She rolled her eyes, fading back into her room.
A blush threatened to suffocate Astra.
Lux didn’t wait for her to recover, taking the dozens of stairs to the bottom of the tree two at a time, desperate for the fresh air as the Moon rose outside. She followed him in silence to the edge of the village. Several elves were still scattered across benches and rugs, not quite making it back into their homes.
They didn’t speak through Ehlaria’s mirage. They didn’t speak as they wound through snapped twigs and gnarled trees. They didn’t speak as they came upon the clearing she’d made home so many times.
She couldn’t take the awkward silence any longer. Her mouth barely opened before Lux called out, “Quick!”
He dipped low, tackling her legs out from under her. Her body twisted over his back, his arms clenched tightly around her legs. The world rolled in a blurred circle. She hung upside down behind him, her head slamming against his back.
“The Nether are you doing?” she yelled, her lungs struggling to inflate properly at the angle.
“What are you doing?” he shot back, breaking into a run. “How are you going to get out of it?”
A fucking drill. After everything last night and this morning. Anything to avoid talking about his godsdamned feelings.
She shook her wild curls, trying to force the image upside right in her mind so she could determine her best chance, but the throbbing headache from the elf-wine hangover was almost as loud as Lux’s playful mocking.
“Congrats, you just got kidnapped by a Solarian,” Lux chuckled, rounding a fallen log and bounding into the meadow. Her squirming had absolutely zero effect on the mighty oak of the commander.
His ribbing was the exact trigger she needed to clear her head. She let her light flow freely, throwing her hand out above them. A twisted branch severed with a thunderous crack from the birch above, stopping Lux in his tracks.
“Shit!” He fell back, stumbling, giving her time to calculate her next move. Her hand was still blazing hot when she brought it down to touch the back of his leg, causing him to shout and loosen his grip. She yanked one leg free and used the momentum as it swung down over his shoulder to capture his arm between her thighs and bring him to the ground.
His heavy body fell to the side of her with a thud so loud she’d surely knocked the wind out of him.
She scrambled out from under his weight and hopped to her feet. Just as she was about to shove her boot in his neck, he grabbed her foot with both hands and pushed back, sending her flying onto her ass.
“Fuck you,” she groaned. “I was going to win that one!”
Lux pushed himself up across from her, reaching out his hand to pull her up from the forest floor, both their chests heaving. “You were doing okay,” he said, gesturing to the broken branch. “That was quick thinking, but it was sloppy. Could have just as easily landed on us and knocked your ass unconscious, or worse.”
“But it didn’t,” she argued.
“This time,” he pushed.
“Would it kill you to just let me have one win?”
His face flushed red. “It wouldn’t kill me, it would kill you! You need to be a thousand times more focused than that if you’re going to keep yourself safe.”
“I can focus,” she insisted. “I’ve been working at this for months now. The goal was to get out of my assailant’s grasp, and I did that!”
“That’s not the point.” He shook his head, clutching his chest. “Blindly throwing fire or sunlight or whatever the fuck will not get you far in hand-to-hand combat. It’ll probably just cause you more pain than your attacker.”
Fire rose in her chest, the anger hot on her tongue. The last twelve hours roiled inside her and there was no amount of meditative thinking that would stop the floodgates from opening.
“You’re such a fucking bastard,” she said through clenched teeth. “You know I can hit any mark you give me at this point. Why are you being so impossible about this?”
He didn’t respond, which only fueled her rage. Fine, he wanted to be a prick about it? She could show him just how focused she could be.
She narrowed the flame behind her index finger, envisioning it the size of a sewing needle. She fired the tiniest spark across the space between them, landing right on her target. The leather cord around his neck broke in two and slipped beneath the collar of his shirt, disappearing.
He wanted to be stubborn about it? Fine. She’d force him to show her the feelings driving his mystifying commitment to belittling her.
She smirked, victorious as he reached for the cord. “How’s that for?—”
