Page 160 of Death of a Mortal

“Scared, Naci?” Torin asked, his deep voice barely above a whisper.

“Of breaking a nail? Maybe. Of you? Not at all.”

I caught Drayce’s smirk out of the corner of my eye before he said, “You know the rules. On my go.”

The rules of combat here were simple: no magic, no whining, no killing. Match ends when someone taps out.

I’d never tapped out.

Drayce hadn’t even said “go” before Torin was swinging at my face. I leaned back to dodge, but the foul play had been unexpected. Before I even had my hands up, he grazed my chin, the hit hard enough to snap my head to the side.

“Torin!” Drayce yelled.

“Sorry, sir, thought you said go.”

Motherfucker.

I put my hands up and started bouncing on my toes in my fighting stance as he continued to smile and taunt me.

We circled each other for a minute, then he lunged, arms open, intending to wrap me up and take me to the ground.

I’d been waiting for this. He was predictable. I sidestepped toward my right, using both hands to shove his arm away from me and drive my knee into his stomach, using his momentum against him. The hit stole his breath and his smile, but he quickly righted himself.

The next time he came at me, he kept one hand up to guard his stomach while the other swung at the left side of my head. I ducked under and landed a jab to his exposed ribs, earning me a grunt.

This was too easy.

“Too soft, Corren. You won’t take him down with dainty punches,” Drayce said.

Did he just call my punchesdainty?

I turned to look at him, outraged, and Torin’s fist connected withmy cheek, knocking me to the ground and sending stars across my vision.

“You got distracted, Corren. Can’t lose focus,” Drayce chimed in again.

Was he serious? He caused the distraction that resulted in the hit!

I got up, rubbing my tender cheek, and resumed my fighting stance, jaw clenched.

Torin’s smile was back.

This time I came at him. He blocked the first punch I threw at his head, then the second at his stomach, but he wasn’t expecting the uppercut that followed and connected underneath his chin, knocking his head back and making him stumble.

I looked at Drayce with a smug grin.

“Didn’t finish the job, Corren. Missed opportunity.”

I dropped my smile. He was more infuriating than the fight itself.

Torin was quickly pursuing me again. I ducked under his first punch, and he pivoted, landing a punch on my already-bruised cheek.

“Too predictable, Corren!”

“Fine!” I yelled through the pain. My shadows were stirring, adding a new distraction to the mix. I wanted to throttle both these males with my shadows, but I knew better than that.

Instead, I ran at Torin, drawing a block from him at my fake punch. I kicked the inside thigh of his front leg, then planted my foot and spun in closer, landing an elbow to his nose and a punch to his gut before spinning back away.

But not before he punched me square in the middle of my spine, sending me flying forward.