Page 54 of Kill the Queens

"Don't we need to leave soon? The sooner the better, honestly."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We have to leave soon. Just one quick lesson, I suppose," Rehan said. "Come here."

Ace allowed herself the few steps it took to close the space between them. As soon as she was in arms reach, he was holding her shoulders spinning her around so her back was tohim. His hands rubbed up and down her arms, warming her skin.

"Now close your eyes," he prompted.

"Is this necessary?"

"Is what necessary?"

"The touching," she said even as she closed her eyes.

"Obviously. Who's the teacher, you or me?" His fingers tapped gently against her.

"You." She sighed.

"Right. Now close your eyes. Tell me what you feel."

She tried to focus on her body, to drown out the sound of the Fae camp all around them. "I feel your hands on my arms. I feel my heart beating. My chest rising."

"No deeper than that."

Deeper? There was a flutter in her stomach, a nervousness that she would fail this. She ignored all those things that she certainly could feel and tried to search for something else. Instinct drove her toward that lifeline inside her, the rope she was only able to grasp when she was the most desperate.

"I feel…" She swallowed, trying to come up with the words, but nothing made sense to say out loud. After a moment she settled on, "There's a humming. A humming that leads me to a chord. I've used it before to gain access to my holy fire."

"Yes!" He cheered. "Right, now take hold of it."

"I can't." She opened her eyes, twisting to look at Rehan.

"Yes, you can." He shook her a little and forced her to turn around. This time he stepped up even closer so that his chest aligned with her back. "Close your eyes and try."

"I don't know how I'm supposed to do that with you trying to fondle me."

"Are you saying that my touch is distracting? That I stand a chance at gaining your affections?"

Ace couldn't help but smile at his hopeful wonder. He sounded like a child who might earn a chance to get dessert or aprize at the fair. "That's not what I'm saying."

"Well, if it isn't an issue then by all means continue." The heat of his breath blew across her ear. "I'm only this close so it might be easier to feel the holy fire within me."

"That sounds like some kind of innuendo." She closed her eyes with a chuckle. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

Rehan stayed quiet and still as she tried to grasp for that rope. Every time she mentally reached for it, it either pulled away or was too slick to hold. She huffed a breath and tipped her head back in frustration, smacking the crown of her head against Rehan.

"Um, ow." He leaned away from her, one of his hands leaving where he'd been touching her arm as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry."

"Try this again, but I'll help you." He held her arms again but there was a noticeable distance between her back and his chest now.

Where his palms rested against her bare skin tingled as warmth seeped into Ace and when she tried to jump for that chord that somehow connected her to the gods it was like bouncing off a trampoline, an extra push so she could get a good grip. Mentally, she clung to it as holy fire rippled through her.

Ace's hand filled with the reassuring heaviness of her holy fire blade as it expanded to its full length. She cracked an eye, scared that if she let herself get even slightly distracted, she’d lose her hold.

"Your sword comes easily. Which is good, also unsurprising since you were born for battle." The tingling sensation ran down to her wrist before Rehan was placing his hand over hers to twist and turn the sword in the daylight. White sparks danced off its edge falling to the dirt under them where the embers died.

"Born for battle," Ace repeated mostly to herself. She sighed. Battles killed innocent people and she didn'twantto do that. The vengeance inside of her was reserved for the queens.