Roxana’s eyes snapped open.
For a mont, she just sat there. Wine dripped down her face, soaking into her shirt, running down her neck and pooling in places that made the fabric cling to her skin.
Then her brain caught up.
Her leg kicked the table. Not a gentle push. A full-force strike that sent the heavy wooden piece flying across the room.
CRASH!
It smashed into the wall and splintered into pieces.
She shot to her feet, stumbling slightly—still drunk, but very much awake now.
"How DARE you, motherfucker!"
Jax stood his ground, watching her with the sa cold expression he’d worn when he threw the wine.
Roxana wiped her face with her sleeve, saring wine and ruined makeup everywhere. Her black eyes burned with fury.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"I’m the professor who lives here. The one whose wine you were drinking. The one whose servant you were ordering around." His voice was ice. "Now answer my question. Who. Are. You."
Roxana drew herself up. Even swaying on her feet, she tried to project authority.
"I am Roxana Valtieri. Third Princess of the ridax Kingdom. And the newly appointed assistant professor of this academy." She jabbed a finger at his chest. "And you just assaulted royalty, you filthy peasant."
Jax looked her up and down slowly.
The wine-stained shirt barely clinging to her body. The shorts riding up her thick thighs. The sared lipstick. The five—no, six empty glasses on the table.
"Princess?" He let out a short laugh. "You look like a washed-up academy dropout who got kicked out for drinking on campus and ended up stripping at a tavern to pay rent."
Silence.
Roxana’s eye twitched.
Red lightning crackled around her fingers, casting sharp shadows across the room.
"Say that again." Her voice was low. Dangerous. "I fucking dare you."
Jax smiled.
"Drunk. Washed-up. Dropout. Stripper." He tilted his head. "Pick your favorite. I’ll repeat it as many tis as you want."
BOOM!
The lightning bolt scread past his head and punched a hole clean through the wall.
Night air rushed in. Debris scattered across the floor. The curtains caught fire.
Jax straightened slowly, brushing plaster dust off his shoulder.
He looked at the gaping hole in the wall. Then back at Roxana.
"Fantastic. First night in my new house and you’re already demolishing it."
Roxana stumbled forward, lightning still dancing around her hands.
"YOUR house?! I arrived first! I unpacked my bags! I claid the master bedroom! That makes this MY house!"
"You arrived first and imdiately drank yourself unconscious like a holess alcoholic celebrating finding a dry spot under a bridge." Jax shrugged. "Truly inspiring. The pride of ridax."
"I was CELEBRATING my new position!"
"With six glasses of wine? Alone? In your underwear?" He gestured at her outfit. "That’s not celebrating, Princess. That’s called having a problem. Several problems, actually."
Roxana’s face flushed darker. Her hands shook from rage or alcohol, probably both.
"I don’t have to explain myself to so random nobody who probably got hired because the academy was desperate!"
"Random nobody?" Jax laughed. "I earned this position. I passed the combat trial. I humiliated a senior professor in trials. What have you done since you got here? Besides get fat and drunk?"
The room went silent.
Roxana’s lightning flickered out.
Her face went pale. Then red. Then a shade of purple that looked dically concerning.
"...What did you just call ?"
Jax knew he’d stepped on a landmine. He could feel the ground crumbling beneath his feet.
But his new Resolve stat didn’t give a shit about consequences.
"Fat." He t her eyes without flinching. "And drunk. Did I stutter? Should I speak slower for the alcohol-impaired?"
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then Roxana scread.
Lightning exploded from her body in every direction. The room lit up like midday. Every piece of furniture rattled. The windows cracked. The remaining ceiling fixtures swung wildly.
"I’M NOT FAT!" Her voice cracked with rage. "I’M CURVY! THERE’S A FUCKING DIFFERENCE, YOU INSUFFERABLE PIECE OF SHIT!"
Jax grinned despite the electricity making his hair stand on end.
"Curvy is just the word won use when they don’t want to admit—"
BOOM!
Three bolts of red lightning scread toward him.
Jax threw himself sideways.
The bolts hit the kitchen behind him.
The table didn’t just break. It exploded. Splinters the size of daggers flew everywhere. The chairs around it caught fire instantly.
’Holy shit!’
He rolled behind the dining room doorfra.
Two more bolts followed.
CRACK! CRACK!
The chandelier above him took a direct hit. Crystal and tal rained down. Jax barely dodged, shards cutting his cheek as they fell.
He drew his sword and pressed his back against the wall.
’She’s trying to actually kill . This drunk bitch is actually trying to kill !’
Another bolt hit the doorfra. Wood exploded inches from his face.
Jax dove out of cover and sprinted toward the staircase.
Roxana tracked him with her hands, firing bolt after bolt.
The bannister. Destroyed.
The portrait on the wall. Incinerated.
The vase on the side table. Vaporized.
Jax deflected one bolt with his sword.
CLANG!
The impact sent vibrations up his arm so hard his teeth rattled. He was thrown backward, boots skidding across the floor.
A second bolt grazed his shoulder.
"FUCK!"
Pain lanced through him like fire. The sll of burnt cloth and singed skin filled his nose.
’She’s strong. She’s drunk off her ass and she’s still this strong. What the hell is she when she’s sober?’
Roxana advanced, swaying but sohow still aiming with deadly accuracy.
"What’s wrong, peasant?!" She laughed wildly. "Can’t handle a little lightning?!"
"Can’t handle your fucking property damage!" He ducked behind the ruined couch. "Do you know how much this furniture will cost us?!"
"THEN DON’T CALL FAT!"
Three more bolts.
The couch ceased to exist.
Jax was already moving—sprinting straight at her.
Roxana’s eyes widened. She raised her hand—
But instead of a bolt, red lightning coalesced into sothing else.
A whip.
A crackling, snapping whip of pure electrical energy.
She cracked it with practiced ease.
SNAP!
The sound alone made Jax’s ears ring.
’Oh, you’ve got to be kidding .’
She swung.
Jax brought his sword up.
The whip wrapped around the blade. Electricity surged through the tal and into his hands.
His muscles spasd. His jaw clenched so hard he thought his teeth might crack.
But he held on.
He twisted the sword, redirecting the whip’s montum—
It unwrapped and lashed out wildly, coiling around one of the support beams.
CRACK!
The beam split down the middle.
The ceiling groaned above them.
’No no no no—’
CRASH!
Half the ceiling ca down.
Chunks of plaster and wood the size of boulders. Dust filled the air like fog. Fires smoldered in three different spots.
Jax dove one direction. Roxana dove the other.
When the dust settled, the room was unrecognizable.
Jax coughed, waving debris away from his face. Blood dripped from his nose—probably from a piece of falling rubble.
Through the haze, he heard sothing.
Laughing.
Roxana was laughing.
Not angry laughter. Genuine, unhinged, absolutely insane laughter.
"This is FUN!"
Jax stared at her through the smoke and dust.
Then he started laughing too.
"You’re fucking crazy!"
"AND YOU’RE A FUCKING ASSHOLE!"
They faced each other across the ruined room.
Roxana’s whip crackled, casting red light across her face. Her eyes were wild. Her chest heaved. Wine and sweat mixed on her skin, making her shirt cling to every curve.
Jax’s sword glead in the firelight. Blood ran down his face. His shoulder throbbed where the lightning had grazed him.
But he was grinning.
She was grinning too.
They circled each other through the wreckage like two predators.
Roxana struck first—a horizontal crack aid at his chest.
He sidestepped.
She swung again. He ducked under it.
Again. He deflected with his blade.
Each exchange brought him closer.
Roxana realized too late.
He was inside her guard.
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist—the one controlling the whip.
The lightning died instantly.
Roxana’s eyes went wide.
"What are you—"
Jax spun her around and slamd her back against the wall.
His other hand braced beside her head, caging her in.
Their faces were inches apart.
Both of them were breathing hard. Sweat dripped down their temples. The air between them crackled and not just from the residual electricity.
Jax looked down at her.
And smiled.
User Comments
0 comments from readers