Free The Guild of Assassins by Anna Kashina

feet, but kept her eyes lowered, watching him out of the corner of her eye. When his gaze moved away and his body relaxed, she spun around with the speed that made the air around her whistle, aiming her fingers at the two spots at the base of his neck, right above the collarbones.
    His shape blurred as he shifted out of the way, her fingers landing harmlessly off the pressure points. His hands flew up and caught her by the wrists. She twisted out of the hold, but he grabbed her again, throwing her over his head and landing on top with all his weight. She gasped, struggling to recover her breath as he pinned her down to the ground, holding her wrists away from her body.
    “Don’t you ever give up?” he asked.
    She didn’t respond, relaxing against his hold so that she didn’t have to spend unnecessary strength. He was bigger and heavier, and he spread his weight over her in a way that made it difficult to move. She paused for a few breaths, forcing herself to relax so that she offered no resistance at all as he held her down. After a moment she sensed his grip weaken. She concentrated. Letting her strength carry her, she charged, her body turning from a completely relaxed state into a ball of muscle in a split moment. She kicked her legs up to dislodge his weight and pushed off with her feet to twist sideways out of his grip. As he moved to match, she flung her body the other way, sliding through the resulting gap. He reacted, but she was faster this time. She tossed her weight sideways against him, forcing him to spin over, and went for his neck again, a left-handed blow that whizzed through the air with the speed of an arrow. He parried, but his block wavered, unprepared for the strength of the attack. She went for the gap and he fought back. As they rolled over, he tried to pin her down with his weight again, but she twisted out of the hold and threw him sideways, landing on top.
    They stayed in that position for a long moment, breathing heavily. She balanced her weight over him, pinning his arms down just above the elbows, with his hands locked over her wrists. She felt the play of his muscles under her and braced herself, trying to anticipate his next move. But he showed no intention of throwing her off. Instead, he slowly released his grip and dropped his hands away. She held on, suspecting a trap, but he relaxed, spreading his arms out and laying back against the ground. His chest heaved as he steadied his breath and she felt the tension released throughout his body, pinned underneath her.
    She was glad for the break as she stayed on top of him, changing her grip to hold him by the wrists, leaning over him so that she could catch her own breath. Her hands still felt numb from his earlier grasp, tingling as feeling slowly returned to her fingers.
    She looked down at him. His shirt had opened wider from the fight, the sculpted muscle of his chest so impressive even in his relaxed state. Seeing him at this angle made her feel too aware of his body against hers. She knew it was the wrong thing to focus on in a fight, but it was so hard to forget the way he had looked at her earlier, his bold gaze reaching under her clothes. She clenched her teeth, angry at herself for falling for such a simple trick. Men had tried this on her before, but it had never worked. There was no reason it should be any different now, however good he was at this tactic.
    The position they were in was awkward. He showed no intention of continuing the fight, and yet she couldn’t afford to let go. If he used the gap to spring into action again, she would be in trouble. He was bigger, and he would definitely try to use his weight against her, just like before. She had to save her strength to counter it. She balanced her weight on top of him, enjoying a short rest and trying to force her thoughts away from how close their bodies were, every inch of his muscle toned against hers.
    She waited for another long moment, but nothing happened. Finally,