“Why’s that?” I swung another fist.
My hit didn’t connect, but it got me back to the center of the mat and out of Milo’s trick.
“Because you don’t want to be great. You want to be perfect. You want to avoid the mistakes of the past.” Milo’s demeanor shifted, calm and somber. “Last time you faltered, met an unstoppable foe, you lost a piece of yourself. We both did. The difference is you walked away and shut out everyone and everything.”
Milo’s loneliness crept to the surface of his thoughts. It sent an uncomfortable rush of warmth through him, embarrassment and shame and guilt for all the moments of his past he’d believed he failed to prevent.
It gnawed at my insides, reminding me that no matter who I was now, I was still that broken man who grieved and lost myself to grief, abandoning Milo in the process.
He did well to bury his sorrow, even if forcefully, while letting his mind dart with obvious tactical blows. I weaved around his leading strikes and moved in with one of my own. My fist connected with his chin, and left Milo stunned for a moment.
“What happened with Finn will never happen again.”
Part of me believed that comment would end this, would silence Milo into surrender, but the wily bastard smirked.
“You’re right, because I won’t let you split your focus.” Milo grabbed ahold of my arm and flipped me over his head. The whoosh of his telekinesis hurled me all the faster, but thankfully softened the landing when Milo slammed me down. “You want to aim big, target the deadliest coven of witches that ever witched it up, fine by me. I trust you. I believe in you. I need you. But I’ll be damned if you take on more than you’re ready for, if you distract yourself, guilt yourself, overwork yourself, and burn out.”
Milo’s mind jigsawed with blurry possibilities. Most of his visions still remained veiled from me, even if several thousand were locked away safely in the back of my head. All the same, Milo never did anything maliciously. If he opposed me taking on an intern, he had his reasons. He’d likely seen every possible outcome of my failure to balance enchanter work, Global Guild missions, and mentoring.
Why was I always so thick-headed? I never managed to take anything at face value. I always had to pick a fight, to prove a point, to challenge Milo.
“Plus, we both know you’d never be satisfied with mentoring one kid or three kids or twenty kids.” Milo stared down at me, grinning his goofy fucking grin, revealing all the stress knotted inside him had washed away. “We both know you’re going to use your telepathy to stalk your students and check in on them, so I made sure you had the time for that.”
I scoffed. “I don’t stalk.”
“You totally do, babe. It’s cute. I like it.” Milo smirked. “And since you won’t have to officially mentor, you can focus on any and all your kiddos. Then bitch about their mentors not doing things to your liking.”
“Like how you sent Gael off on some solo venture his first week?” I glowered. “Absolutely horrible.”
“Exactly, just like that.” Milo pointed a finger, commending my scolding. He was the worst. “I want you to prioritize the Celestial Coven. I want you to help me bring them down, to prevent the visions they conjure, the horrors they seek to unleash, and then I want you to go back to your usual grumpy self without the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
“Here, I figured you’d like someone carrying a bit of the weight with you.”
“Look, my workout routine requires I carry the weight of the world all on my own.” Milo flexed. “How else do you think I got this cut?”
“You’re absurd.” I playfully shoved him.
“Yeah? How absurd?” Milo nudged me with his shoulder, his thoughts dancing with taunting words, and a desire to continue our sparring session.
“You know, I can predict all your moves, right?”
“When’d you become a mind reader?” Milo batted his lashes, taunting and sweet and so annoying.
“I can read your thoughts, so I already know what you’re—”
POP.
I blinked in stunned surprise. “You just slapped me.”
“I thought you’d see it coming.” Milo snickered, circling me. “All that talk, and your moves are still so slow.”
“That didn’t count.” I braced my arms and studied his movements. If I hadn’t goaded him, his thoughts would flow more freely, yet now he tiptoed between ideas, making it harder to anticipate his next move.
“Left side.” Milo swung, true to his word, and nearly decked me.
I tumbled backward as I maneuvered out of the way, then was forced to crawl away from Milo’s continued strikes. He didn’t relent for a second.
“You wanna work with the best, then you better hold your own with us.” Milo stomped his foot with swift kicks that were leading me back to the wall. “You’re following my thoughts, but you’re not reacting fast enough to do a damn thing with them.”
