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whoever s ass you and Duse have your heads shoved into is getting one hell of a ride. I
don t need to fight on the Astral Plane. I ve been strong enough to maintain the solid
body for extended periods of time for the past several centuries!
Bale s face went rigid. He slapped Jax s face, hard. Jax paled with fury, highlighting
the reddening handprint that Bale had just made.  Watch your mouth, Jax.
 What? The truth about the noble Fathers hurts a little, is that it? Jax breathed out
with barely leashed rage.  Come on, Bale. I ll take you on, too. I m sick to death of both
of you.
Duse s eyes glittered dangerously as he pointed his finger toward the office door.
 Fine. If you re so damned impressive these days, let s go. But I m going to be the one
to teach you some manners, little brother. It s been too many years since I planted my
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Beth Kery
fist in your sulky face, and personally, I wouldn t want to kick your ass anywhere than
in the physical world.
 No weapons, Bale said threateningly even before Jax had a chance to reach for a
practice quarterstaff or Duse a sword once they d reached the sparring room. He d
recently seen Jax practicing with their cousin Che, who was the greatest master of all
the Watchers with the quarterstaff or spear. Bale didn t think Che had been flattering
Jax when he told him that it was only a matter of years and solid practice before Jax
bested him. And of course, Duse s swordsmanship was as legendary as it was lethal.
Bale would have to be the one to heal them after they d finished, and he knew firsthand
how much damage his brothers could wreak with practice weapons. They d been
practicing on each other for millennia, after all. Bale forced his own anger down and
focused on the situation. How the hell had Jax become so powerful that he could
maintain his physical body for so long? Technically, it wasn t possible. Jax wasn t
mated. Maybe he and Duse had been doing a lame job when it came to their little
brother s development after all, Bale realized with rising discomfort.
Duse and Jax circled each other slowly, their stances misleadingly open and calm.
Since Watchers possessed the ability to read others intentions as well as the ability to
shift their beings from the corporeal to the subtler, fighting became a dynamic interplay
between the purely physical and the mental. A Watcher could only attack while he was
physical, but his opponent could elude the blow by shifting to incorporeality. The
Watcher s best chance for strikes against the other occurred while he was being actively
assaulted. Thus, Duse s and Jax s neutral stances invited the other man to attack,
drawing him in to where damage could be done.
Jax struck first, landing a powerful blow to Duse s rib cage. Duse grunted at the
impact, but efficiently defended his brother s follow-up blow to his temple. When his
fist connected solidly with Jax s jaw, causing Jax s head and then his body to snap
backwards, Duse felt a surge of primal satisfaction. Yes, there was nothing like a good,
physical fight to get rid of some serious frustration that a snot-nosed little brother could
cause.
Bale just shook his head as he watched. His two brothers together began to
resemble a whirlwind of kinetic energy and motion. Some punches landed, and some
were wasted in the loosely spread molecules of incorporeality. Bale had little doubt that
plenty of blows were hitting their mark, though. The resounding thud of bone against
flesh or bone against bone was unmistakable and all too frequently heard. That, and the
sound of Duse s and Jax s sharp grunts of pain and occasional curses must have alerted
Duse s knights. Bale glanced over when Force opened the door to the sparring room
and peered in with excitement. Bale saw Ainge behind him.
 Why didn t you tell us Duse and Jax were sparring? Force asked, wide-eyed with
excitement.
 Are you blind? They re not sparring. They re practically killing each other, Bale
muttered darkly. His hand came up threateningly.  Close that damned door, Force, and
you had better be on the other side of it when you do.
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Subtle Magic
Force closed the door rapidly. Every Watcher in existence knew that you didn t
argue with King Bale when he was in this kind of a mood, rare as it was.
Bale started concentrating his healing powers now. At the rate his brothers were
going, there wouldn t be enough energy left between them when they were done with
each other to light a match. He was right. Before a full ten minutes had elapsed, they
were on the mat. Duse had obviously been the stronger of the two since the very
beginning, but his wrath had faded by this point, and with it, his desire to continue
beating on his brother. Or perhaps his anger hadn t faded, it had been smashed to
smithereens admirably by his little brother s skill. Duse staggered into a standing
position and placed his hands on his knees as he stared down at Jax who was trying his
damnedest to sit up. Both Watchers were so bloody and beaten that Bale honestly
couldn t tell who was worse off when he approached.
 Finished, are we? he asked both of them sarcastically as he bent beside Jax.
 How the fuck did you get so strong? Duse accused Jax, ignoring Bale. There was
genuine surprise and dawning admiration in his voice.
 Shut up, Jax said absentmindedly through a swollen jaw. He winced in pain
when he touched it.  Bale doesn t like it when we say  fuck .
 I don t give a fuck if you say fuck, Jax, and you know it. You shouldn t say it in
association with the Fathers. Bale s face tensed in irritation when Jax fell back to the
mat and he groaned in obvious exasperation. Bale realized he must have sounded
pretty sanctimonious when he saw Jax glance up wearily and make eye contact with
Duse, who responded with a bloody grin.
 Some things about Bale never change. He s still convinced we were created in the
laboratory, Duse muttered to Jax before they joined in pained, abbreviated gasps of
laughter because of their injuries.
 That s right, laugh it up. See how quickly it will get you healed, Bale threatened
in the same tone that had made Force quake in fear just minutes before. His brothers
only reaction was more pained laughter.
 Fucking idiots, Bale murmured, trying to look serious. His grin broke loose
anyway when Jax muttered with exhaustion into the mat.
 It s good to know that you at least realize your brothers don t shun the descriptor,
even if you do feel it s your sacred duty to defend the Fathers against it.
* * * * *
Skylar had managed to keep her anger at a low boil the entire way back to Duse s
penthouse. By the time they d gotten home and she d headed straight back to her suite,
however, her temper was ready to explode. Adding to her foul mood was the fact that
Duse avoided her all evening, presumably talking to Bale and Jax in his office. Skylar
further blamed him for allowing her a rightful target for her irritation. How dare he
humiliate her like that in front of the three other men and then not even have the
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Beth Kery
courtesy to allow her the opportunity to vent her anger at him? Men! Be they human or
Watcher, they were universally jerks.
Skylar heard a firm knock on the door of her suite that evening at around midnight.
Her eyes widened a little in surprise when she opened the door.
 Hi Bale. Don t tell me Duse sent you to plead his case for him.
 He doesn t know that I m here, Bale said honestly.  Can we talk for a minute,
Skylar?
 Sure, come on in, she said politely. Bale sat down in a chair that looked far too
small for him.  You know, I d rather Duse defended himself instead of you having to
do it. But since you re here, let me just say that this isn t the Dark Ages anymore.
Women don t like being treated like possessions.
Bale grinned sardonically.  If I remember correctly, Skylar, you didn t much care
for it back in the Dark Ages, either. I m not here to plead Duse s case. I only wanted to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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