Page 113 of Apprentice to the Villain

Sage’s knuckles went white around the dagger, and the torchlight illuminated pure anger etched in the lines of her mouth. “Perhaps you all should join him.”

Nobody moved.

“Now. Please.”

Trystan had never heard a plea sound so threatening. He’d be impressed if he wasn’t so shaken.

I didn’t find it difficult at all.

How did one move on from such a statement? How could he ever move forward when those words replayed on an endless, agonizing loop in his mind?

All the others moved immediately at her words, however, scattering back to the fortress. Becky leaned in toward Sage as she passed. “There is a very brave person standing here, and it’s not The Villain.”

“Ms. Erring!” This was mutiny.

Instead of looking remorseful, the woman just spared him a quick glance before scurrying after her brothers, a lightness to her steps that was different from the usual weight in her gait.

When his attention turned back to Sage, he was met with the tip of a dagger. The drizzle and the torchlight created an ethereal glow over her dampening curls. He arched a brow, his eyes going to the steel and then to hers.

I didn’t find it difficult at all.

“Sage…are you…all right?”Did I destroy you, just as destiny said I would?Have I already fulfilled destiny’s prophecy?

She picked up one of the stray thin swords and tossed it to him; he caught it easily. “Do you mean am I embarrassed of unrequited feelings? No, I am not. And since all I am to be is your apprentice, then I demand that my learning begins now.”

Unrequited? What a fucking cosmic joke.

His lips parted. The rain mixed with the sweat from his broken fever on his skin. “Learning what, precisely?”

She stepped toward him, stretching her arms high above her head, loosening her shoulders, and bringing her chest up. The top curves of her breasts were peeking out from her corset. Helooked down at the grass and the tops of his shoes.

And that was when Sage demanded: “Teach me to fight like The Villain.”

Chapter 69

Evie

“You want to learn to fight like me?” her boss asked with a healthy dose of skepticism.

“I don’t expect to ever be an expert, but yes, I’d like to learn to fight like you, or at least like the Malevolent Guards.” Evie was still reeling from her indirect confession of love and how foolish it had been to show her hand at the exact moment he’d toppled the whole deck.

“Then have the Malevolent Guards teach you!” he argued, the rain soaking his white shirt and pressing it to his chest. Internally, she sighed. There was nothing like a man in a puffy white shirt, and wet to boot.Andin a picturesque setting underneath the night sky. This was very not fair.

The stars were still visible through the rain clouds, and the torches surrounding them hadn’t gone out. They had an evening to kill, and if she wasn’t going to spend it in his arms, then she would take some delight in throwing sharp things at his head.

She made a show of looking at her nails. “Very well, then. I’ll ask Daniel the Philanderer.” She twirled away from him, only to be snatched back against hard muscle and locked into place. One large arm fell across her middle and the other over her upper chest, just below her throat.

“Firstly.” His voice was low in her ear, making her toes curl in her boots. “Don’t turn your back on me. I am your adversary.If I’d been a real opponent, I could’ve killed you a hundred different ways already.”

She went to jam her heel into his foot, but he caught her thigh in his hand, making them both breathe heavier—from exertion, surely; nothing else. Yet there was a pooling warmth in her stomach when his breath brushed against her neck. It made her blush everywhere. “Your leg is not a wind-up toy. You’re giving the person the chance to stop you.”

“But I need the force—” she started breathlessly.

“Screw force. One quick jam of your heel into their toes is all you need. Now show me.”

“I can’t!” she squeaked.

Hetsked, slightly mocking. “Now, Sage, I’ve seen your heel do a fair amount of damage. Surely—”