[Featured on WATTPAD PICKS]
The last thing you'd imagine Earth's General having is an identity crisis, let alone in the middle of an interstellar war, but for General Avalyn Concerto she begs to differ.
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The winter air nipped Ava's cheeks and threatened to freeze her eyeballs. Her breath fogged against the bowstring and arrow ready to be released. Her wound throbbed with each stretch of her muscles, but it was a pain she grew to love.
Neon pink ribbons hung from their daggers, surrounding her in a cage. Steadying her breath one last time, she released the arrow. It stabbed straight under the dagger and into the twisted tree branch, adding to the ten arrows she already shot off.
Two more, then three more arrows. Ava ran on automatic. Her boots crunched the snow, making impressions everywhere she turned and struck. The faster she went, the clearer her mind became. It dwelled away from the gods. Away from the Black Rabbit and Reaper. Away from Marc's bouquet of roses and Mika's hurt expression.
She aimed at the sky. The leaves rustled in a slight breeze from outside her cocoon, waving about like they were cheering her on. Steady breath, she let the arrow sore and grabbed for the next one behind her back. Like all the rest, its wooden base fit differently between her fingers, nothing like the arrows she used with her weapon. These were solid.
"You will make your wound worse if you keep straining it."
Startled, the arrow slipped from her fingers.
Darious caught it, the tip inches from his lean neck.
Ava was awestruck. He wasn't affected by it at all—not afraid. She almost killed him. He was too calm and collected, and just as stuck up as usual. Yet, it still sent an odd prickling sensation across her skin from this dark feeling inside her gut, a challenge. One day, she'd fight this man and see how strong he really was.
He twirled the arrow between his fingers before presenting it to her. She took it and prepared for the next attack. "Did you not hear what I said?" Darious asked.
"Oh, I heard you loud and clear." Ava pulled the string back tighter out of spite.
From the corner of her eye, she caught him staring her down. She couldn't remember the last time someone watched her do archery. It added stress to her mind and weight on her shoulders. She pulled the string tighter. The muscle popped around her wound and released the arrow into the forest. It hit a branch nearby but nowhere close to any of her daggers.
Ava grasped her upper arm, clenched her teeth. It ached, burned into an agonizing pain. It felt like it would never stop. Darious grabbed her and unzipped her coat. She pulled away from him. "What are you doing?"
He told her to take her arm out of the sleeve and did it himself when she resisted. Ice nipped her skin, shaking her whole body to the core. It made him move faster. Before she knew it, he drew a koto spell on her arm.
His writing was sloppy like the writing in the koto books back at the Capitol. The Ama character for numb flashed over her elastic band, instantly smoldering pain and left her with his cold touch.
