Valkyrie Rising ✓

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"I don't know, Shark. Maybe you can do better." Kaz shakes his head, as if ashamed of himself, but his grin says otherwise.

Shark comes over as I push myself up to stand. "I bet you tried your hardest, too." His voice is full of friendly sarcasm. "I'd make her work for it." He imitates Kaz's statement during the instructor's competition.

Shark pins me easily within only a few minutes. Some of my moves surprise him, but not enough to really give me an edge. Plus I can feel Kaz watching me the whole time, which makes it almost as difficult to concentrate as when his hands were on me.

On our way to lunch, Kaz whispers, "Maybe we should practice our wrestling techniques more often."

Wick joins us before I respond.

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who got my arse handed to me by a girl." He claps Kaz on the back. "Although, I'm pretty sure my fight was far less enjoyable."

I feel myself blushing and look away. Kaz just grins.

"Whelp, I'm starving. Wonder what's for lunch." Wick moves in front of us.

Lunch is relatively quiet, each of us scarfing down our own goulash. Eveia tells us about her swimming ordeal: she had to tread water while trying to shoot an arrow at a target floating fifteen feet away. Otherwise, we focus our energy on chewing.

In U-Gym again after lunch, I learn to use my heels as weapons. The most practical situation we discuss would be if someone grabs me from behind, I should stomp on the inside of his foot with my sharp heel. While this would be extremely painful in any circumstance, the force from my heel could crush my attacker's instep completely, rendering his foot useless and him unable to pursue me.

We practice these moves for the rest of the class, interspersed with some knife and other close-quarters weapons practice, to make these moves second nature to us.

*

After Briar's, the six of us from Hejae's floor trudge down to T2 for more Viry review. My legs are tired from all the effort in my high heels. I'm thankful I get to just sit and go through the review; no dancing is involved.

I pull out my schedule at dinner. "Awesome, double Force with Shark's floor tomorrow." My voice is flat. I'm not excited to train with the Force-oriented Trainees.

"Let's hope it's not more grappling." Kaz winks at me.

I smile down at my plate of pasta.

"Psh, she needs all the help she can get," Wick says. "You went easy on her, but Shark finished her in a matter of minutes."

"I could take you, Wick," I say.

Eveia laughs. "Yeah she could. Man, I wish I got to train with you guys again."

"Nadia and I were talking about practicing our wrestling after dinner; maybe you guys should, too?" Kaz smiles a little too innocently.

My eyes widen as my face heats. "Were we?"

"Oh, our match was definitely to be continued."

Eveia's grin is much too smug. "I think we'll leave you two alone. To wrestle." She nudges me when she says it. I am so embarrassed; how can they all be so nonchalant about this subject?

Eveia tugs Wick off to the cave entrance after dinner. "We're going for a walk. You two enjoy your 'training session'." She draws air quotes around the last words.

I don't say anything, suddenly feeling very shy.

"Hey, I was just teasing." Kaz must have noticed my discomfort. He takes my hand. "Let's hang out in the lounge." He bumps his shoulder into mine. "Lot's of witnesses."

I laugh, both relieved and disappointed in myself. I do want to be alone with Kaz; I just don't want so much attention drawn to that privacy.

I pause on the stairs, looking into the lounge.

"I guess we could also hang out in my room."

My stomach squirms with nervous excitement.

Kaz stands in front of me, my hand still in his. "Look, I'm not going to take something you can't give. You believe in saving yourself for your Partner, and I respect that." He grins. "Even if the guy the Viry Chose is a donkey."

I can't help smiling, relieved at the sincerity in his voice. "Well, it's not for the Viry to Choose anymore, either. But thank you for being so understanding."

He pulls me over to our couch in front of our TV in our corner of the lounge.

"Just don't question me if I have to pull away sometimes," he says. "My self-control only goes so far."

Kaz hands me the deck of cards, and leans back against the sofa, watching me shuffle. We spend the rest of the evening playing card games.

He doesn't mention even the possibility of anything else happening, not even when he briefly kisses me goodnight outside my door.

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Boom chicka wow wowwww.

Til next time,

x zuz