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Harlin gestured for me to put more effort into my strikes. "Looks to me like you're the priestess of whatever you need, whenever you need."
"And Zeal seems to want me to make something completely new."
He lifted a brow. "Zeal, huh? What doyouwant, Priestess?"
"To make my god happy." I sent a pair of jabs at his face.
He blocked them easily. "And? Because everyone wants something."
"Dunno." I was starting to breathe a little harder. "I've got most of it. My life's pretty good."
"So find the next thing." He stepped in, forcing my feet to move. "Sounds to me like you want something, otherwise you wouldn't care about the grade."
I swiped one of his strikes out of the way and came back with my leg. "I want to figure out this Path!"
Harlin caught my ankle, turned, and dropped me to the floor. "Get up!" And he kept coming. "Push for it."
I hopped back to my feet, knowing he wasn't simply talking about sparring, yet aware that he'd grounded me so easily. "I don't know what I'm pushing for."
"Doesn't matter. Pride's enough." He began to add some real strikes, one landing lightly on my arm. "Defiance. Change. All of these are enough, and you're making change happen. What do you really want more than anything else? Right now. What is that thing?"
"I want," I said, changing from defending to attacking, "people to see my god. I want people to stop thinking I'm crazy." I threw hits and kicks in the middle of my words. "I want my god to be powerful again, and for this temple to stop feeling like..." I shook my head, unable to come up with anything.
"Like what," he pressed. "What does it feel like now?"
"Like a sham. Like everyone's living high on the tithes of believers, but more focused on our own pleasure and desire than the needs of our patrons. Like we've stopped taking temptation seriously. I fucking want people to realize that there's a reason our god has us do these things and that we're not simply whores, but a real tool. A way to keep some control over the worst parts of humanity. We, the Priests of Temptation, are the front line against the darkest parts of humanity, turning those needs into something controllable."
"Take it out on me," Harlin said. "C'mon, Nari. Put some effort into those hits. Show me you can fight back."
And I hit. Over and over, I struck out at him, but there was no flailing. I might not have been precise, but I had rage, and it needed to be used. I was tired of needing to hide my god. Of pretending like he wasn't a major part of my life. I was sick of all the priests who said they served him, but didn't truly believe. I was so mad at Anver and the way he'd so easily forgotten all about the things we'd shared because he wanted a weak and spineless girl.
I was just mad, and my attacks proved it. Harlin blocked, he dodged, and then he didn't move fast enough. A hard punch to his face skipped off his forearm but pushed through. My knuckles connected with his nose,hard. I not only heard, but also felt the crack of the impact, and then the guardian dropped to the ground, both hands going to his nose.
"Shit," I gasped, hurrying to check on him.
"Ah, that hurts," Harlin groaned. "Good hit, but fuck."
The moment he hit the mat, all of our friends noticed. Jamik and Irila hurried over. The guys stopped to follow. The issue was the blood leaking around his fingers. At best, I'd bloodied his nose. At worst?
"Let me see," Irila told him. "Harlin, is it broken?"
"Pretty sure," he groaned. "Girl's got a wicked jab, but I was pushing her."
"I'm so sorry," I told him.
Jamik moved beside me, clasping my shoulder to ease me back. "It happens," he assured me. "And he volunteered. We'll make sure he's ok."
"Talin," Zeal said. "Wraythe. Hold him. Nari..." The god moved closer to place his hand over Jamik's on my shoulder. "You take his right arm. Make sure he knows this will hurt."
"I got the left side," Talin said.
Wraythe moved beside Harlin's waist. "Body."
Obeying Zeal, I clasped Harlin's right hand. "I was told this is going to hurt."
"What?"
Zeal had already knelt above the man's head, his hands hovering over Harlin's face. I realized he was going to fix the man's nose. "Yeah," I said, grasping Harlin's hand a little tighter. "Seems we're going to get you fixed up. I suggest you close your eyes and take a real deep breath."
