Free Destructive Embrace by Robyn M. Pierce Page A

up at Dmitri. His face was
hard. I paused, frowning. “Oh, right,” he muttered coldly. “Because
you can’t imagine why anyone would stay here.” He began to walk
away, but I grabbed him by the arm and hauled him to a
stop.
    “ I didn’t
mean it that way, Dmitri,” I said. He moved to tug his arm away,
but I duh my heels in and held on tight.
“ No ,” I
said sternly. He glared down at me fiercely. “Annibel told me
herself that she desperately wanted out. My reason for wanting to
leave is different, you know that…”
    He sighed and nodded. “I know,” he
whispered. His voice told me how much pain he was in talking about
it, so I released his arm and hugged him tight. He wrapped his arms
around me and squeezed.
    A few minutes later we were at the
training grounds, preparing for my first official fighting lesson.
I knew my hair would get in my way, but tying it up meant revealing
the bite wounds on my neck from my time with Zeke.
    I absolutely cannot do
that , I thought, biting my lip.
    Dmitri looked at me oddly, holding back
a smile. “If you don’t out your hair up, I won’t be able to resist
using it against you,” he chuckled, stepping closer. I tensed when
he played with the ends of my hair, worried that he would move it
out of the way.
    “ I uh,
don’t have any ties,” I stuttered breathlessly. “And I would need
two, if I want to be comfortable sparring.” It wasn’t necessarily
the truth, but it I didn’t feel like having my hair used against
me, it was going to be going into two low ponytails, one on each
side. That way the marks are
covered… Damn Zeke and his potions!
    Dmitri patted his pockets and shrugged.
“Sorry. Don’t even have one. Guess I’ll have to try my damnedest to
not use that long hair against you,” he said, grinning.
    Making a face at him, I pushed him
away. “Like you need even more of an advantage right now?” I asked.
He seemed to think about that for a moment before nodding
energetically. I scowled at him.
    “ What?” he asked, laughing.
“You’re the one who said it. I just agreed.” I sighed; there was
just no winning with him. “Anyway, let’s get started?”
    I nodded, and then checked to make sure
my new set of blades were on properly before looking back to
Dmitri. I froze as he lifted his shirt off over his head, tossing
it off to the side before strapping the long sword onto his back.
From the front, you couldn’t even tell that he had horrible
scarring from Zeke using silver-tipped whips on him.
    Before my thoughts could run away from
me and lead me down a dark path, I refocused myself on what was
about to happen. Learning how to fight. Training so I wouldn’t ever
forget my blades again. Being able to properly defend myself.
Starting now.
    I heard the air whooshing around his
body before I could look up in time to see him. Automatically, I
dove out of the way. The ground met me unpleasantly, making my
shoulder ache as I collided with the hard surface. As I rolled over
to haul myself up, a blow to my ribs knocked the breath out of me.
A sick crunching sound accompanied the fierce pain.
    I folded one arm over my side, hugging
myself tight as I fought to breathe through the pain. I was used to
pain – Zeke’s beatings weren’t exactly walks in the park – but
suddenly having broken bones was different.
    Dmitri allowed me the time that I
needed to recover. He stood off to the side silently, eyes trained
steadily on me. When I was able to stand upright without bracing
myself with my arm, he moved to stand beside me.
    “ I’m sorry,” he said
quietly. I knew he meant it, so I nodded. “In my experience, people
learn best when they’ve had a taste of what could happen to them in
a real fight. It shows them something they don’t want to feel
again. You understand?” I nodded again, lifting my hand to wipe
sweat off my forehead. I moved slowly, my breath hitching as waves
of pain rolled through me; the potion was preventing my broken
bones