One More Time

Battle of Wits

"Come on sweetheart, is that all you got?" Cassian's signature smirk found its way onto his face. A smirk, he knew, that made Nesta absolutely furious.

Rhys, being the brilliant High Lord he is, was the one to suggest that Cassian would be the perfect person to help Nesta release some of her pent up anger.

He recalled Rhys' sly suggestion, "You could try taking her to a training area; show her some moves."

Not necessarily full blown training, but just enough to help her with self defense and controlling herself. This, Cass thought, should be an interesting experience.

So here they were, face to face in one of the private training rooms, trying not to tear each other's throats out for the past half an hour. He had already shown her some basic maneuvers and techniques, but getting her to reciprocate them was the difficult part.

"Well if you would get your head out of your ass, then maybe we would actually get somewhere, Cassian." His name left her mouth in a hiss and he would be lying if he said that hearing Nesta say his name was, on his part, a moralistically questioning turn on.

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a complainer and followed instructions, this would go by a lot faster, Nesta."

Her fist swung out and he barely avoided getting hit as he dodged to the left.

"Ah, there we go. Try hitting me one more time, just keep your shoulders more square and keep your chin down." He accentuated his orders by pressing his palms against her shoulders, pushing down until he knew she was firmly grounded. He pulled back, but not before he gently gripped her chin and tugged it a little lower.

A low growl came out of Nesta; a reaction to being told what to do. "How about I hit you where it counts?" Her eyes dropped and he followed her gaze to his manly parts. His nostrils flared as he recalled a not too distant memory, of him getting distracted and her planting her knee in the exact spot he was looking at.

Cassian should have known better in future reference, but Nesta just so happened to use his current distractedness as a one way ticket to decking him in the stomach.

He doubled over, clutching his abdomen for a few seconds. Damn, she knocked the breath out of me. (Both physically and romantically *wink wink).

Cassian started to chuckle. Glancing up to see Nesta in fighting leathers and her fists at the ready; her hair tied back in a bun, he realized how adorable she looked. Deadly, but adorable.

Her eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth was a hard line. "Come on sweetheart, is that all you got?" The question was a mockery of his previous one. Now that Nesta has actually done something with her skills, his only response was a wolfish grin.

"Oh no, there's a lot more where that came from."

Without giving her a second to process this, he swung out his right leg, sweeping it under her feet and making her topple to the ground. He made sure to grab ahold of both of her arms so she wouldn't be able to use those pretty little hands to cause trouble. (He mostly just didn't want to get punched in the face if he was being honest.)

With both knees on either side of her waist and her hands above her head, Cassian had Nesta in the perfect defenseless position. Although he could feel her straining against his hold, Cass didn't budge. He flared out his wings in a sign of dominance, showing her who was in control.

Leaning down, he whispered in Nesta's ear, "Now, maybe if you would actually listen to me, you would have figured out how to avoid that attack. If I was an enemy, and wanted to get in your pants, this would most likely be how they would go about trapping you so you wouldn't be able to resist them."