Free Destructive Embrace by Robyn M. Pierce

order to learn how to fight, right?” he teased, shoving me
gently. It was enough pressure to make me stumble slightly, but I
caught myself and stuck my tongue out at him, which made his grin
grow wider. “Also, while you do have a very nice tongue, that will
not distract your opponent,” he said matter-of-factly. I took that
as my cue to stick my foot out and trip him. He stumbled for a
moment – more than I had – but caught himself and glared at
me.
    “ Distracted you ,” I sang, a self-satisfied grin
planting itself on my face.
    Dmitri growled and launched himself at
me. One of his hands wound around my throat while the other hovered
over his blade’s hilt. “How easy,” he sneered. I couldn’t help but
notice that he’d dropped fang on me, and smirked up at
him.
    “ Someone isn’t very
attentive,” I coughed out. I held one of my new weapons against his
back, having drawn it as he flew toward me. Pressing it against his
back, I smiled more.
    Dmitri scoffed, and then nudged my arm
with his shoulder. My amateur grip on the blade loosened, and the
short sword clashed to the ground. “Like I said,” Dmitri breathed,
grinning. “How easy.”
    I struggled against his grip, furious
that I hadn’t been able to do that correctly. He released me and I
retrieved my blade, grumbling. He cautiously reached a hand out to
pat my back.
    “ In due time, Elyssa,” he
said. His tone was comforting, and I sighed, nodding. Dmitri slung
an arm over my shoulder in an awkward half-hug. “I know you’ll do
well when we get to training you,” he murmured to me.
    As we rounded the next corner on our
way to the gardens for training, we nearly collided with someone.
Automatically, I jumped away from Dmitri; if it was Ollie, she
would assume the worst, naturally. But it wasn’t Olivia.
    “ Well, don’t you two look…
Comfortable,” Annibel said. Her tone sounded forcibly cheerful and
I frowned; it sounded so fake and odd coming from sweet
Annibel.
    “ We’re on our way to the
training grounds,” Dmitri told her with a shrug. The blonde
narrowed her eyes slightly, turning her gaze down to the weapons we
carried. She then smiled brightly at us.
    “ Have fun then,” she
chirped, turning on her heel to leave.
    “ Wait!” I blurted,
startling myself. From the look Dmitri gave me, he hadn’t expected
me to call her back, either. “W-weren’t you leaving?” I asked
breathlessly, remembering the goodbye – no, the ‘keep in touch’ –
we’d shared before Tywin had begun to attack me.
    Annibel appeared confused for a moment.
“What? No,” she said slowly. I frowned, clearly recalling the
conversation.
    “ Wyatt and I, it turns
out, were never Mated. It was an honest mistake, but one that has
opened up so many possibilities for my life. Keep in touch,
okay?”
    “ You told
me that your Mating to Wyatt was a mistake,” I pressed, a feeling
of dread filling me – what I was dreading, I didn’t
know. Something is off
here…
    “ Oh! Yes, it was just a
misunderstanding,” she mumbled, turning to face me once more. “But
I decided to stick around; I really like it here after
all.”
    I nodded slowly, letting a smile fall
onto my lips. A completely fake smile, but one Annibel should have
believed. She smiled back and gave me a short wave goodbye before
walking away.
    Once she was out of earshot, Dmitri
turned to me, one eyebrow arched. “What was that about? She and
Wyatt aren’t Mated?” I shook my head, unable to speak.
    Something was off. Was Annibel planning
something? Revenge on Zeke? She was acting so strange.
    “ Hello?” Dmitri waved one
hand in front of my face. I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“What was that about?”
    I began walking, pulling him along with
me. “I just very clearly remember her telling me that she couldn’t
wait to get out of this castle,” I murmured, glancing over my
shoulder. I shrugged. “It just seemed really weird to me that she
would want to stay.”
    I glanced