I rolled my eyes. “Don’t apologize to me,” I scoffed. “Apologize to your fuckin’ wrist when you break it.”
Arken sighed heavily, clearly frustrated with herself over such a simple, minor mistake… and I thoughtmyperfectionist streak was vicious. I shook my head, more to myself than anything else.
“C’mon. Let’s just walk through the basics again, alright?” I told her, taking on the instructional tone that I knew would distract her enough to listen. Like clockwork, the tension in her brow eased and her eyes flicked up to me with focus as she nodded.
“Non-dominant leg in front. Toes toward the bag. Yep, good,” I said, walking slowly, circling her like a hawk. “Dominant leg back, toes towards me. Lean back more.”
From behind, I stepped forward and slid one hand around her waist, splaying my fingers firm against her stomach, guiding her… trying to disregard the sharp little intake of breath she’d pulled when my hand met the fabric of her sleeveless top.Alsotrying to disregard the way the scent of her sweat intermingled with that lemony sunshine of her hair, and those vague notes of earthiness I’d come to associate with her, like moss and rainwater and freshly tilled soil.
Focus.
“Always fall back to the dominant leg, shift your weight here when you need that center of gravity,” I explained.
Her ponytail tickled my chin a bit as she nodded, and I took a step back, if only for my own sanity. I’d been far too close to her neck, my tongue too tempted to taste the salt of her exposed skin.
Fucking focus.
“Elbows up,” I said, nudging one of her arms into a more appropriate angle. “Bend your knees a little more. There we go, atta girl.”
The corners of her mouth crooked upwards, shy acceptance of my praise. I couldn’t lie to myself, I was somewhat proud of my ability to get Arken out of her own head lately. Sometimes, it seemed like she just needed someone to help keep her in check—or just an alternate outlet for frustration, so she wouldn’t beat herself up over stupid little things. I’d gotten pretty damn good at reading her signals, jumping in when she needed that redirection.
“Alright, you remember how to strike?”
Arken nodded again, biting her lip. I took another step back to observe as she followed through the range of motion for a straight punch, slowly at first, warming up.
“Almost,” I murmured, briefly returning to my position behind her, placing one hand on either side of her waist, just above her hips.
“Remember, you’ve gotta shift your hips like this,” I explained, applying gentle pressure to show her how to move.
Arken huffed a small but light-hearted sigh. “Who knew that such simple calisthenics had all theserules,” she teased. “Isn’t this just supposed to be alternative cardio?”
“Yeah, but it’s best to form good habits now. When youactuallystart training for Physical Arcana, it will be harder—you’ll have to control your muscles and your Resonance in tandem. Might as well make sure you get it right now, that way you don’t have to retrain your brain and body later.”
“Fair enough,” Arken murmured, a fresh wave of determination passing through her expression.
I knew Arken was like me, in that anything worth doing—anything worth investing our time and effort into—was worthdoingcorrectly.And she worked best when she understood the nuance behind every rule, the reasoning behind each step.
“As you pivot that foot back and turn your knee, twisting your hips the way I just showed you—that’s where you create power. Momentum for the strike.”
“Right.”
With a steady breath, Arken applied everything we’d just reviewed, her fist meeting the striking bag with a heavy thump.
“Good. Just like that,” I encouraged, earning me another shy smile. “Gimme another thirty of those, and then we’ll move on to some alternative moves.”
“Varietyisthe spice of life, Captain,” Arken teased.
So they said. But as Arken continued her assault against the black leather bag, I couldn’t help but agree to disagree.
I could watch her do this all damn day.
Chapter Forty-Five
Arken
I was starting to think that asking Kieran to train me might have been a mistake.
As much as I wanted this, despite howbadlyI wanted to succeed next quarter where I had failed in the last round of entry exams, I hadn’t necessarily considered the consequences of working in such close, continued physical proximity to KieranfuckingVistarii, of all people.