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“Why do you possess the ability to command two elements?’
“My mother is not from Boreas. She belonged to a powerful house of the Caelum kingdom. They were a large, wealthy family that had a powerful bloodline keni. Before my father became the Ricarkri of Boreas, he went to Caelum as an emissary to share information about the elixir spring. He met mother and they fell in love. The Ricarkri of Caelum did not want an alliance with Boreas and forbade the marriage. Mother, however, eloped with my father to the distress of her kingdom. Mother was then exiled from ever returning to Caelum, and she was blessed that her family was powerful enough and of the highest aristocracy that an order of death was not placed on her.’
She really liked how he looked at her, with banked heat.
He dipped his head. “Show me your keni,” A soft order against her lips.
She jerked away from him. “I have no control and cannot wield it with precision. I inherited the ability to use my keni early as I am only one hundred and twenty five years old. Normally it takes several centi. My mother believes it is because I am also of the wind. I could not risk a demonstration with you,” she breathed.
“What is your bloodline inheritance?”
His tone had a deep inflection of curiosity that tugged at her, reflecting a similar need that burned inside of her. “I combine my shenkiris to freeze an object and then manipulate it by using the sharpness of my wind to cut and shatter it into thousands of pieces. I normally execute it within seconds.”
His gaze was remote. “Why is it that you cannot control it?”
Saieke faltered, hating the lack of inflection in his voice, the absence of feelings in his chakra.
He clasped his hand at his back and slowly glided around her, observing.
She spun and tried to keep him in her sight. “It’s not that I cannot control it. My range is very wide. I could not hit only you as a target. If I should unleash my keni I could do a lot of damage that I do not intend.”
He continued to circle her without responding. Saieke bit her lips at his contemplative silence.
“With practice and age, I will eventually master my keni,” she murmured.
“Your taijiu skills?” he asked silkily.
“I have been trained extensively in close warfare for more than thirty years. I only used it in battle for the first time against the Mevians who attacked me.” Saieke’s muscles uncoiled and flowed into battle readiness as he appraised her with a look she did not trust.
His lips curved into a predatory smile when he observed the subtle tenseness in her body.
“Drac,” Saieke said his name like a warning, not understanding the way he assessed her.
“Why were you not able to defend yourself and incapacitate the Mevians warriors who pursued you?”
Of course…he detested weakness. “I had never been in battle before, and they were more skilled that I.” Saieke remained coiled, unsure of what she was waiting for.
He lashed out a blow that would have taken off her head if she had not deflected sharply with her wind. “Are you insane?” She yelped when he flashed to her side and had her neck at an odd angle with a wicked looking blade angled below her chin.
Saieke went perfectly still.
He eyed her in that intense, predatory way of his. “I am moving at your speed. I am within your light range, so you are able to map my movements, yet I was able to come under your left flank,” he said, and then nipped at the corner of her neck sharply.
Saieke’ heart thumped. He’d made a move that was hard for her to counterattack. Excitement unfurled, and she dipped her hands into the folds of her caftan to unsheathe her blades. Her body flowed into battle mode, and she balanced herself lightly on her feet. His lips curved into a smile which was really a parody as it looked sinister and cruel, but approval flared darkly in his eyes before he attacked.
Chapter Twelve
Saieke panted breathlessly with sweat trickling down her temple matting, her red strands. They had been dancing around each other for more than an hour. Drac engaged her in a way that put all her taijiu skills to use. His skill was something she could not keep up with, even though he limited his speed. His attack and countermoves flowed with a mesmerizing rhythm.
He was lithe and quick, but brutal. His points of contact were always one move and were at areas that caused maximum damage. He focused on nerves, vessels, spinal cords, and the bending and rending of bones.
It was a most exacting
combination delivered with the sole intention to incapacitate. She had never been trained like that before; her taijiu art was focused on inflicting damage at about the third point of contact and concentrated on re-directing her opponent’s flow of attack. It was more of a defensive technique, Saieke realized.
He came at her so often she had learned to deflect moves that she was open to before. It was exhilarating. Her muscles ached, her blood pumped and her body felt alive. She had always loved training, but with him it was so much more.
Saieke smiled with pure devilry as her wind lashed out and yanked at his shirt. She used the sharpness of her wind to rip it away from his body. The rending of the material was sharp in the air.
