Chapter 69: Your Weak Side

The Advanced Training students gathered on the combat field the next morning, and the pairings were already posted on a board at the edge of the mats. Roxanne found her name beside Kai’s and read it again, though she knew it hadn’t changed since the night before. Liam had positioned himself at her shoulder before she finished, humming something suggestive under his breath.

Kai ignored him completely, tightening the strap on his wrist guard as though Liam were a breeze. Roxanne turned around and looked Liam in the eye. "If you say one more word, I’ll volunteer you as our target," she said. Jace, a few feet away, burst out laughing, and Kai looked down at the mat with the corner of his mouth twitching.

The instructor blew a whistle and explained that this would not be ordinary sparring. Partners would fight together against increasingly difficult opponents, and every pair would be judged on coordination as much as skill. Roxanne rolled her shoulders and waited for Kai to start giving orders, the way he had during their earlier combat classes.

Instead, he stepped closer and asked what she wanted to work on. She stared at him, thrown off. "You’re asking me?" she said, and Kai shrugged. "It’s your assessment." He wasn’t deciding what she needed anymore, and she realized he was actually listening, which made the question feel bigger than it sounded. She thought about it for a moment and told him speed and counterattacks.

Their first drill put them against two training opponents, older students who moved with practiced ease. Kai drifted to Roxanne’s left almost immediately, and it took her a few exchanges to realize he was covering her blind side. He did it smoothly, without any fuss, but she could feel him doing it. When the round ended and they stepped back, she wiped her forehead with her sleeve. "Stop doing that," she said. Kai asked what she meant, and she told him plainly. "Protecting me."

Kai studied her, and she couldn’t tell whether he was annoyed or thinking. "I’m covering your side," he said.

"You don’t have to," Roxanne said. He gave a small nod and looked her over once. "Then don’t leave it open."

They tried again, and this time it felt entirely different. Roxanne watched the shift of his shoulders and knew where he would be before he moved, and Kai stopped hovering and trusted her to handle her own opponent. They fought as equals, and the coordination came so easily that the instructor stopped talking to watch them.

He raised the difficulty after that and asked for a synchronized sequence. At one point Roxanne had to step backward without looking, and she didn’t hesitate, because she knew Kai would be there. She fell back, and his hand caught her waist and steadied her against his chest. For a second neither of them moved. His face was close enough that she could see the flecks in his eyes, and her heart jumped in a way she hoped he couldn’t hear. His grip tightened slightly, not possessive, only steady.

"Trust me," Kai said quietly, and she looked up at him. "I do," she said. The instructor called for a reset, but neither of them moved right away, and it took a second sharp whistle before they stepped apart.

In the next round, Kai took a hit meant for the formation, stepping into a blow that would have caught Roxanne’s shoulder. When he straightened, there was blood on his lip. Roxanne stopped mid-motion and felt anger flare hot behind her ribs. Kai told her he was fine, and she gave him the exact look he always gave her, flat and unimpressed.

"You’re bleeding," she said, folding her arms. He almost smiled and told her it was nothing.

"I know," she said, walking to the medical kit at the edge of the mat. "I’m still checking." It was the same dynamic they had always had, only reversed, and Kai sat down on the bench and let her dab at his lip without a word of protest.

The final test came without warning. The instructor announced that partners would have to defeat each other, and the only way to pass was to show they understood their partner’s fighting style well enough to predict it. Roxanne and Kai stepped onto the center mat and faced one another. Neither of them wanted to hurt the other, but they both knew how to fight properly, and they did.

Kai anticipated her first move and slipped it. Roxanne anticipated his second and pivoted out of reach, and she remembered everything he had ever taught her, every drill and correction and quiet piece of advice. They traded strikes across the mat until she saw the opening she had been waiting for. She caught him with the same reversal technique he had shown her months ago, hooking his ankle and turning her hips, and she pinned him to the mat with her knee at his shoulder.

The mat went quiet. Kai looked up at her, breathing hard, with something almost like pride in his expression. "You remembered," he said, and she grinned down at him. "You taught me," Roxanne said, still catching her breath. "I did," he said, and she rolled off him and sat back on her heels. Neither of them seemed particularly interested in who had technically won.

The instructor gave them an excellent score and dismissed them for the day. Kai fell into step beside her as they walked off the mats. "You were better today," he said.

"I know," Roxanne said, and Kai laughed. It was short and surprised, and it sounded completely real. She had made him laugh without Liam forcing the situation, and she felt absurdly pleased about it.

Nearby, Liam looked horrified. "Did Kai just laugh?" he whispered, gripping Jace’s arm.

"Apparently," Roshan said, watching Kai with quiet interest, and Lucien simply walked away with a look that suggested he had seen this coming. Kai pretended not to hear any of it.

As Roxanne left the training grounds, footsteps came up behind her, and Kai caught up with something in his hand. He held out her training wristband, which she had forgotten on the bench again. She looked at it and then at him. "Again?" she asked.

Kai shrugged. "You keep leaving things behind," he said, and she smiled. "And you keep finding them."

He looked at her for a moment, steady and unhurried. "I notice you," he said, and then he walked ahead of her down the path. Roxanne stayed where she was, turning the wristband over in her fingers, and understood that it didn’t matter what he was or what people expected of the two of them. Kai noticed her, and that was enough to keep her standing there long after he was gone.