Sefina Hale wants one thing and one thing only - to save her parents' dying sugar plantation. She doesn't care about her friend Elia's plight to win the king's heart, she doesn't care about the healing tensions of the war between Mavacuria and its n...
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"Advance!"
"Pass back!"
"Shed!"
"Empty fade!"
Each one of Yoongi's commands sent Sefina spiraling into its corresponding trained response. She leapt and jabbed and deflected, splitting her attention between listening to his warnings and identifying any weakness in his own defense.
He was a skilled swordsman, with fighting instincts honed as sharp as his weapon's edge. For every move he announced, there were three he performed silently. She spent all her energy dodging his attacks, but to no avail. The tip of his sword lightly tapped Sefina against her elbow, ribs, and chin. If this hadn't been a friendly sparing lesson, she would've been cut to ribbons hours ago.
A sequence of side-steps later, Sefina saw her opportunity. As Yoongi called his next position, his eyes darted over her shoulder, distracted. She tucked her sword against her side and dove. Rolling through the snow, she popped up in his blind spot and rapped the flat of her blade against the soft backside of his knees.
Yoongi staggered down to the ground. Through the lank dark locks of his hair, he shot a crooked grin. "Back side of the legs. Good."
"I learn from the best." She rested her dull training sword over her shoulder and cocked her hip.
"You're teaching her how to fight?"
Jungkook, the source of Yoongi's distraction, stood at the edge of the clearing. He resembled a disappointed father figure, only Sefina's father had never been disappointed in her. With fists clenched against his waist, he glowered down at Yoongi and raised a brow.
Yoongi pushed himself up. "I'm not teaching her anything, Sefina has always been a fighter." He twirled the point of his blade through the snow. "Only now I'm directing that energy into something more...useful."
"It'll get her killed," Jungkook said.
"It's called self-defense for a reason." Yoongi scoffed.
Sefina stepped forward. "There's nothing else I can do here. Yoongi is giving me something practical to do. And I'm not half-bad at fighting, either."
Jungkook ignored her and said to Yoongi, "I brought her here to keep her safe."
"And while I'm sure she appreciates your help, that doesn't mean she's going to sit around in your cabin like a princess waiting to be rescued in some backwards-ass, patriarchal fairytale," Yoongi spat.
"That's not how I treat her," Jungkook argued, but his voice wavered.
Sefina nudged Yoongi's shoulder. "Ignore him," she said, squaring up once more with her sword raised in both hands. It was there second day of lessons, and already she was hungry for more training. "Walk me through the step across again."
Yoongi only shook his head and sheathed his blade. Lowly, he muttered to her, "It'll be a nice day today. The pass will have melted enough in an hour or so."
