Iron Heart (Rune Heart Book 3) by Celeste Baxendell

Author:Celeste Baxendell [Baxendell, Celeste]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

The rune beneath their feet lit up and grew, turning into rune walls that marked their fighting grounds. Nadiya could see Sulien hovering at the edge. Canace also wasn’t far. The other Runai were scattered around the edges of the arena, some receiving medical attention, including Raeka, but all eyes were on the swath of arena the rune covered around her and Lateo. Plenty of space for a fight.

She lifted her blades and took her stance, eyes on Lateo’s hands and waiting for his first rune. But Lateo just smirked at her and gestured for her to make the first move. He said, “You went to a lot of effort to steal those swords. You might as well show me you know how to use them.”

Nadiya sneered, “Don’t talk to me about stealing. Come on, mage, show me what you’ve been hiding all these years.”

Lateo still didn’t move first. Fine. If he insisted.

Nadiya rushed forward. Her eyes were trained on him, ready for him to lift his hands to defend himself. But even as she moved to swipe at his arm, all he did was dart back out of her way. He was still smirking, and she resolved to cut it off of him.

He was light on his feet, always dancing away from her as she kept coming after him. He never moved to retaliate.

“Put up your hands and show me some magic! You can’t beat me without it!” Nadiya spat as he slipped away again. “This is a duel, not a dance!”

“If we were dancing, trust me, I wouldn’t be this far away from you,” Lateo said, his eyes darting over her whole figure as his smirk widened.

Nadiya was also going to cut his tongue out. And his eyes.

His eyes widened as her furious shriek ripped through the air and she clipped his arm. A tiny jolt of vitae hit the swords, causing the runes to glow. He hissed, rushing back and reaching up for his arm as blood welled up.

He was just trying to get under her skin so he could take her down easily.

She needed to get under his.

“Huh. I never got a hit on Sulien when I sparred with him. How about that?”

She could see Lateo’s jaw clench as he shook out his arm, brushing his other hand over his chiton, clasped over the left side of his chest. He said, “You were never able to put a scratch on him and you think he needs you to fight his battles for him?”

“Oh, Second,” Nadiya said with her own smirk as she shifted, keeping the blades at the ready, but she was done chasing him. “Of course he doesn’t need me to fight his battles. It’s my honor to get to. He’s not fond of me because I fight for him. He’s fond of me for all the other things we do.”

Lateo’s eye twitched and his hands curled and uncurled. “You mean all the ways you ignore him taking advantage of you?”

“You don’t have room to talk about taking advantage of me.

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