Her Heroes

Chapter Forty-Two

Beads of sweat dripped down my back as I pulled one of the boys' sweatshirts over my head. I wasn't sure whose it was, but it was much better than throwing on that stupid oversized button-up again.

Shaking my head, I left the locker room's confines and entered the gym. "I was wondering what had happened to you," Alexandre smirked at me as he pushed off a wall and moved towards the men's changing room, "I'll be back in a moment." Nodding my head, I turned my back to him and set to wandering the cavernous room.

Immediately, my eyes were drawn to a wall that was off to the side. Walking towards it, I took in the elaborate setup of knives and other weapons. Why on earth was it so important to these men that they have so many items? Let alone, so many weapons. Some things just would never make sense to me. I glanced over the rows of knives mounted on the wall quickly before my eyes shot back to a specific one. Taking a step towards it, I carefully picked it up from its mounts.

It was a single-edged knife, carved from dark metal. My hands caressed the blade carefully before making their way up to the hilt. There was nothing simple about the amethyst grip that was wrapped in a mahogany strip of leather. A carving of a dragon embellished the top of the hilt, making me think of the weapon as nothing more than a misplaced work of art. It didn't seem right that something this beautiful could turn into something so deadly in just a matter of seconds.

"It's truly magnificent, isn't it?" I whirled on my brother quickly, holding the knife to his throat before either of us could blink. My chest rose and fell as my breath continued to race.

Quickly, I pulled the knife away and cleared my throat. "Sorry, I don't know what happened..." my voice trailed off as I realized I didn't know what to say about what I had done. How do you explain that to your brother? "Sooo, when did you get back from the locker room? I didn't hear you exit it."

He sent me a knowing smile as he took the knife from my hands. His trained eyes studied the blade as he ran a finger along the edge, drawing forth a drop of crimson. "Not many can wield tungsten skillfully because of its brittle nature." Alexandre's eyes seemed to be a fire of coals as they settled on me. "But you, you were able to wield it with no thoughts. How?"

Narrowing my eyes at him, I tried to figure out where he was going with this. "I don't know what you're talking about, I've never wielded a dagger before, nonetheless a dagger like that."

"A dagger like this, huh? And what's that supposed to mean?" He swung it around as he talked, drawing my eyes to it once again.

"Could you please stop waving it around like that? You're making me nervous." My hands tapped gently at my sides as I watched him pause and look at me with a smirk.

"You're nervous? Imagine how I feel! I just learned that my sister can wield a knife like she has done it a million times! And to make it better, she angled the knife for a kill! If I were to move an inch when you held it to my throat, I would've been dead in seconds." Blinking, I struggled to grasp what he said before laughter overtook my system.

"Funny, for a second there I thought I heard you say that you were scared of me. That's comical; utterly comical!" I couldn't stop the continuous outburst of laughter as more and more bubbled up. It was just ludicrous that he thought I had done that before, like, if I had, there was no way I wouldn't remember! Unless... But that would be impossible, there was no way that would be the case.

"Nadia, I'm being serious." He set the knife back and looked at me.

"Yeah, I'm being serious too. I don't see the big deal." Shrugging, I turned away from him and towards the entrance to the gym. I did see the big deal though... This wouldn't end well. My fingers tapped faster as I realized what this meant.