Chapter 211: Pinned With Vines

Elara:

I blinked at him, momentarily uncertain how to respond.

Reign Valemont giving me a genuine compliment was apparently another sign that the world had decided to abandon all sense of normality.

I had expected mockery, perhaps another irritating nickname, or a comment about how it’s all thanks to Lorien’s training that had made me marginally less terrible at defending myself. Instead, he was looking at me with something resembling genuine approval.

My shoulders loosened before I could stop them, and the tension in my stance eased by the smallest fraction. "Well, I suppose even you can recognize talent when it’s trying to kick your-"

A strange sensation prickled along the back of my neck. Something was wrong. Reign’s expression had changed, the amusement in his eyes sharpening into something far more deliberate, and my instincts screamed at me to move. I tried to raise my mental shield, but I was already too late.

Soft vines burst from the snow and coiled around my wrists and waist, pinning my arms against my sides before I could complete the movement. I jerked in surprise, twisting hard enough to test the magical restraints, but the vines tightened without cutting into my skin.

The next instant, Reign caught my momentum and guided me backward until my shoulders met the rough trunk of a tree. I barely had time to register the impact before the vines secured my legs, leaving me trapped against the bark while Reign stepped away just far enough to admire his work.

He stood in front of me with a victorious smile that made me want to commit several crimes. "Actually," he said pleasantly, "perhaps you are still a long way from being good."

I stared at him in disbelief. Then my gaze dropped to the vines before returning to his face, and the full extent of my stupidity settled over me like an avalanche.

Lorien had spent the last few days drilling one lesson into my head - against an opponent with supernatural abilities, physical combat was never enough. I had to keep my mental shield and my magic ready, always, regardless of whether my opponent appeared to be using theirs.

Yet I had spent the entire fight treating Reign’s challenge as though it were nothing more than a sparring match between two people relying on physical skill. He had shown no obvious sign of using magic, so I had convinced myself I didn’t need mine.

I had lowered my guard the moment he complimented me, as if the man had suddenly transformed into a trustworthy human being simply because he had acknowledged that I could throw a decent punch.

Absolutely brilliant, Elara. Truly worthy of a crown.

I tested the vines again, trying to call on my ice, but another obstacle became apparent almost immediately. Reign wasn’t merely holding me in place with his Earth magic. There was a subtle pressure against my mind, a persistent interference that made it difficult to reach the magic resting beneath my skin.

I could sense my power, faint and distant, but every time I tried to gather it, my concentration seemed to slip away.

The vines looked delicate, almost harmless, yet their hold was frustratingly effective. I pulled against them, then tried shifting my weight to loosen the restraints around my wrists, but nothing worked.

Reign watched my efforts with the expression of a man thoroughly enjoying a situation he had engineered specifically to annoy me.

"Let me go," I demanded, glaring at him.

He tilted his head. "That’s not a particularly convincing request."

"I wasn’t requesting anything."

"Ah. There she is." He pushed away from where he had been standing and began walking toward me, his steps unhurried. "I was wondering how long it would take before you threatened to kill me."

"Give me another thirty seconds and I’ll make you wish I’d started earlier."

His lips curved, and he stopped directly in front of me, close enough that the space between us seemed to shrink with every breath. I could feel the warmth radiating from him despite the cold morning air, and I hated that my attention registered the detail at all.

"You know," he murmured, "Jasper and Lorien really have been teaching you some interesting things. But apparently they both forgot to teach you that the most dangerous moment in a fight is when you think it’s over."

I glared at him, furious with him for trapping me and even more furious with myself for allowing it to happen. He was right, which made the entire situation considerably worse. I had let one compliment distract me, forgotten my magic, and handed Reign the perfect opportunity to demonstrate exactly how much I still had to learn. I could acknowledge the lesson without enjoying the way he had chosen to teach it.

"Congratulations," I said through clenched teeth. "You have proved that you are capable of ambushing someone who thought you were finished. Do you want a medal, or should I have one made from your enormous ego?"

Reign laughed softly and took another step forward. I instinctively leaned back against the tree, only to discover that the bark wasn’t going to offer me any assistance.

He was close enough now that I had to lift my chin to maintain eye contact, and the victorious smile on his face made it abundantly clear that he had no intention of releasing me before extracting every possible ounce of entertainment from the situation.

"All I’m saying, Trouble, is that you could stand to be a little more careful."

"And all I’m saying is that you could stand to be a little less insufferable."

"I doubt that’s possible."

"At least we agree on something."

His gaze dropped briefly to the vines binding my wrists before returning to my face. Then he leaned closer, reducing the distance between us until barely a few inches remained. "If you beg me nicely," he murmured, his voice low enough that the words seemed meant for me alone, "I might consider letting you go."

For one stunned second, I could only stare at him. I wanted to throw something at his head. I wanted to break the tree behind me and use the largest piece to knock that infuriating smile off his face. More than anything, I wanted to find a way to turn his own magic against him and leave him dangling upside down from the nearest branch.

Unfortunately, my current circumstances made all three options frustratingly impractical. So I lifted my chin, met his blue eyes without flinching, and allowed a slow, dangerous smile to spread across my face.

"Enjoy this moment while you can, Valemont," I whispered. "Because one day, I’m going to have you bound just like this, with nowhere to run and absolutely no one coming to save you." His eyebrows lifted, but I wasn’t finished. "And when that day comes, I’ll stand right in front of you and make you beg me to let you go."

I leaned forward as far as the vines permitted, holding his gaze with every ounce of defiance I possessed. "The only difference is that when I finally have you at my mercy, Reign Valemont, you won’t get to decide how long I keep you there."