“Come on, Hathaway," he said, taking my arm. "You can be my partner. Let鈥檚 see what you鈥檝e been doing all this time."
An hour later, he had his answer.
"Not practicing, huh?"
"Ow,鈥� I groaned, momentarily incapable of normal speech.
He extended a hand and helped me up from the mat he鈥檇 knocked me down on鈥攁bout fifty times.
"I hate you,鈥� I told him, rubbing a spot on my thigh that was going to have a wicked bruise tomorrow.
"You鈥檇 hate me more if I held back."
"Yeah, that鈥檚 true," I agreed, staggering along as the class put the equipment back.
"You actually did okay."
"What? I just had my ass handed to me."
"Well, of course you did. It鈥檚 been two years. But hey, you鈥檙e still walking. That鈥檚 something." He grinned mockingly.
"Did I mention I hate you?鈥�
He flashed me another smile, which quickly faded to something more serious. "Don鈥檛 take this the wrong way鈥 mean, you really are a scrapper, but there鈥檚 no way you鈥檒l be able to take your trials in the spring鈥�"
"They鈥檙e making me take extra practice sessions," I explained. Not that it mattered. I planned on getting Lissa and me out of here before those practices really became an issue.
"Extra sessions with who?"
"That tall guy. Dimitri."
Mason stopped walking and stared at me. "You鈥檙e putting in extra time with Belikov?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"So the man is a god."
"Exaggerate much?" I asked.
"No, I鈥檓 serious. I mean, he鈥檚 all quiet and antisocial usually but when he fights...wow. If you think you鈥檙e hurting now, you鈥檙e going to be dead when he鈥檚 done with you."
Great. Something else to improve my day.”
―
Richelle Mead,
Vampire Academy