Strength (Curse of the Gods #4)(43)

I shook my head as Rome tried to fit the branch back into place, before giving up and throwing that at his student, too. She managed to catch it in time, turning and placing it on the couch beside her. The seat cushions were flattened under its weight.

“Was that supposed to be a lesson?” I asked Yael beneath my breath.

“I can still hear you,” Rome answered in a raised voice, “you’re not that damn far away, Rocks.”

“Oh, right.” I shoved my thumbs up. “You’re doing a great job! Mind if we all just sit here and watch?”

“Go ahead.” He kicked one of the couches aside and then picked it up, leaning it against the wall to cover the hole that he had made. “I know I’m doing a great job. I do a great job at everything.”

“Can we maybe do training somewhere other than here?” his student finally asked. Her voice was rough, short, and lacking refinement. Her eyes were also sharp, and she couldn’t seem to decide where to put her hands.

“What’s wrong with here?” Rome gestured at the space by spreading his hands out. “It’s lovely in here.”

I snorted. Yael was trying to hold back his laugh. Aros was shaking his head. Everyone seemed to have turned to watch Rome, except for Coen, who was possibly taking a nap, and Siret’s sol, who was still listening intently to a Siret that the rest of us couldn’t see.

“There aren’t that many things to demonstrate my Strength on,” the girl replied.

“Strength is more than the physical damage you can cause,” Yael spoke up, stepping toward the girl with a very familiar look on his face.

He was being ‘persuasive’.

“Oh?” She turned fully to face him, as did Rome.

“Yes.” Yael nodded wisely, coming to a stop in front of her. “Strength is of the mind, also. The best exercise to demonstrate strength of the mind is to stand without movement or sound, for extended periods of time.”

“Really?” She sounded half-convinced already.

In reply, Yael simply walked her to the wall, and then stood back, looking proud. “You’re doing so well already. Mind you don’t move a muscle or make a sound, though. Blink three times if you understand.”

I was impressed that Yael had managed to trick her so easily. She was trapped in the experiment now, as questioning it further would break the experiment that he had sneakily started right under her nose.

She blinked three times.

“Can we throw things at her?” Aros asked, suddenly interested in the experiment.

“Don’t see why not.” Rome glanced from the chunk of marble on the couch, to his student, and back again. “It would certainly build strength.”

“Oooo-kay,” I interjected, jumping forward and standing in front of the weapon that would probably do more decapitating than strength-building. “Why don’t we all just let the girl do her experiment without torturing her?” I tugged on the sleeve of Rome’s shirt, pulling his attention to me. “Two? Want to take a nap? Look how much fun One is having.”

Rome glanced over at Coen, who miraculously still had his eyes closed.

“It does look fun,” he admitted.

“Okay, that’s settled then. You’re going to nap and the sol will still have a head for you to throw things at tomorrow.”

His hands found my hips, lifting me up and away. He then tossed the marble off the couch, causing another horrible cracking sound as the chunk of stone hit the ground. He slumped heavily down onto the couch, but too much abuse in such a short period of time caused it to splinter and collapse beneath him. He jumped up, scowling at it, before stalking into Aros’s alcove.

“Switch,” he demanded, staring at the Seduction student and the Persuasion student, and pointing at the broken couch.

The Seduction student got up from her seat gracefully, flicking a silky mass of red-pink hair over her leather-clad shoulder, before brushing past Rome. I fought the urge to pluck each gorgeous red-pink strand of hair from her dumb, gorgeous head. I couldn’t watch her as she sauntered seductively over to the broken couch, so I turned my attention to the Persuasion student instead. She had soft blond hair, left in waves about her shoulders, and a childishly beautiful face. She didn’t exactly have commanding features like Yael’s, but I could see how her suggestions would be taken easily. There was something about her that I just wanted to trust even though I kept trying to tell myself that the only thing I could trust about her was how much I wanted to lock her in a closet so that I could have my Abcurses back.

Was that unreasonable?

“A little bit,” Yael answered my thoughts, “but we’re not complaining.”

Rome sank down onto the vacated couch, propping his feet onto the other couch in that alcove and tipping his head back just like Coen’s. I watched as he shifted around uncomfortably, constantly re-adjusting his position. How the hell was Coen remaining so still?

“What did we miss?” a familliar voice asked from behind us.

Rome jumped up again, his eyes shooting open. “I knew there was no way you could sleep comfortably on those things!” he announced, sounding victorious.

Coen and Siret were striding into the room, and the apparent illusions of them had flickered out of view. Coen was no longer sleeping on the couch, and Siret’s student was no longer fixated on the spot where he was supposed to be standing. She had jumped up in alarm and was now staring at the real him, stuttering in confusion.