Aimee narrowed her eyes. “Okay…really annoying.”
“And,” Mira continued smoothly, “the sacred water must be collected from the spring at the top of the mountain.”
Aimee tilted her head back, following Mira’s upward glance. The sun had risen higher now, streaking gold along the jagged ridgelines above. She squinted, calculating the hike, the elevation, the terrain.
Laughter bubbled within her. “And how many trips? Would you say are required?”
“Many.” Mira’s voice was flat, but her eyes sparkled. “Many, many trips. With a single, palm-sized stone bowl.”
Aimee stopped in her tracks, mouth slack as she stared at the woman who turned back just long enough to toss her long red hair over one shoulder and flash her a smug, absolutely unrepentant smile..
“He is going to hate that,” Aimee whispered, eyes wide.
“I know,” Mira said sweetly, cocking a hip before resuming her casual descent.
“Oh, my stars.” Aimee burst into laughter, one hand bracing on her knee as she bent slightly forward, the other wiping at tears gathering at the corners of her eyes. “You’re positively evil, woman.” She tilted her head back, cackling. “I fucking love it.”
Mira chuckled, her steps slow but sure as she continued down the path.
“Now.” She glanced back over her shoulder, tone returning to something measured and expectant. “Tell me how my son has been progressing.”
Aimee straightened, her smile lingering as the laughter faded—then, she fell into step beside Mira, knowing the real tests of the day were only just beginning. At least for Kazuma.
Chapter nine
“Pivot,”Aimeeinstructed.“Hingeat the waist, as if someone is tugging a string from the crown of your head.”
She ducked under Kazuma’s outstretched arm, her body flowing low and sinuous, circling around him in a wide sweep of steps.
“Then twist,” she continued, demonstrating as her front knee lifted, hands drawing together at her chest in a mock prayer. “Centering your energy here.”
Kazuma stayed frozen mid-motion, his fist extended as if he had only just missed connecting with her.
“Pivot. Turn the hips. Attack.”
Her body snapped with the motion, air rushing from her lungs in a pointed exhale as she spun. Both palms shot forward, striking lightly against Kazuma’s back, just hard enough to show the placement.
She held the position for a beat, her arms extended, chin angled toward him. Then she looked sideways to the rows of young faces gathered around them.
Nearly fifty children, boys and girls ranging from five to fifteen, leaned forward on the stone steps of the training amphitheater. Their eyes tracked every movement.
“Got it?” she asked, straightening to her full height.
Kazuma moved inside her arms, his hand brushing along her forearm. A casual touch, fleeting, but her pulse caught in the smallest way before she refocused on the students.
It was the fifth slow-motion demonstration they had walked through. A basic evade-and-counter she favored when she wasn’t aiming to kill.
“Yes!!” Shinka shot to his feet in the front row, fists pumping. “Faster now!”
The older boy seated behind him immediately clamped a hand down on his shoulder, shoving him back into place without a word.
“Hey!” The smaller boy scowled, twisting in his seat as he shoved the hand away.
“Show respect, Shinka.” A girl in the second row chimed in.
Shinka’s response was to stick out his tongue. “Miss Aimee is not like the other teachers, she’s—”
A blur of motion cut him off. Aimee lunged forward, faster than most of them could track, and in the next instant, she was standing beside Shinka’s seat. Her arms crossed, shadow falling long over him.
