Stoupající

2

I groan in pain when my back hits the mat. Eric is on top of me straddling my hips, his hands around my throat.

"Break free," he commands and I groan again. Every training session ends this way and no matter how hard I try I have not managed to get out of his hold once.

I try to bring my knee up to hit him in his crotch but he simply tightens his legs, putting more pressure on my hip bones and preventing me from even moving an inch.

Next, I try to get my head up – maybe if I am able to headbutt him, aim for his piercings, I might have a chance. I quickly dismiss the thought, however, when his grip around my throat tightens and my oxygen supply is effectively cut off.

Black spots start dancing in front of my eyes and for the first time I actually start to panic.

"E-Eric," I croak, wrapping my hands around his wrists, yet he does not ease up. His eyes bore coldly into mine and I am suddenly sure that this is it, I'm going to die, Eric has somehow found out about my Divergence and is going to kill me.

But then he withdraws his hands and gets off me.

I immediately begin to gasp and roll onto my stomach, trying to get as much oxygen into my lungs as possible while bringing a hand up to rub my sore throat.

When my lungs are burning and my breathing returns to normal I slowly start to sit up. Eric grabs my forearms and pulls me to my feet.

I'm shaking so hard that my legs give out immediately and he slings an arm around my waist to keep me up.

"You okay?" he asks, brows furrowed, and for a moment I can only stare at him.

Then I snap.

"You fucking asshole!" I scream, not caring about any consequences for insulting him. "What the hell was that for? You almost killed me!"

I try to slap him but he easily catches my wrist.

"You done?" he asks after several seconds. I glare at him.

"I needed to show you what happens if you don't manage to break free," he then explains slowly. "And that wasn't even the worst that could happen to you."

He must see the confusion on my face because he sighs and then lets go of my wrist.

"Tris," he continues. "You are strong but you are also pretty damn small and I am twice your weight. In that position I could have done anything to you. Anything. It would have been far too easy to pin your hands above your head with one hand and rip off your clothes with the other."

My eyes widen when I finally realize what he's hinting at. I am starting to feel nauseous.

"How – how can I prevent someone from doing that to me?" I ask. "You have me pinned to that mat for weeks now, I wasn't able to even get you to loosen your grip on me, not once."

"I give you a week to come up with different ideas," he smirks. "It's your homework. And after the meeting with Erudite next Thursday you tell me what you could think off, we try out your ideas – and then I'll show you what will actually work. Until then, we'll focus more on your punches and knife throwing."

"Please", I snort. "You know damn well my knife throwing skills are awesome."

He rolls his eyes. "Don't get too cocky, trainee."

I'm about to respond when the door to the training room opens and Uriah walks in.

"Trissy," he sing-songs, "I'm here to pick you up for lunch-"

He stops abruptly, narrowing his eyes.

"Am I interrupting something?"

I blink and then realize that Eric still has his arm around my waist. I blush.