Lonan briefly met my eyes before looking away again. “I won’t use my powers. It’ll be a fair fight.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, mirroring his pose by crossing my arms. “How can I trust you?”
He shrugged one shoulder.
“I suppose you can’t. But if it means anything, I vow to you I won’t use my power. During the fight,” he tacked on.
I uncrossed my arms to clutch my hips. “So… I guess we physically fight for it?”
“The game is normally a battle of wits and magical skill, but against you… I suppose we will have to physically fight.”
I gritted my teeth. “It’s not my fault I don’t havemagical powers.”
“You do, though.” Lonan finally straightened up from the tree, but his expression was still bored. “You just can’t be bothered to work out how to unlock them.”
“Look, are we doing this or what?” I couldnotbe bothered to go into that again. “Any rules?”
He shot me a flat look. “Like what?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Guess I assumed you’d tell me to not touch your face or something.”
He sneered at me. “Not all of us are so concerned with staying pretty, mortal boy.”
I sneered right back. “Think you’re so pretty, do you?”
His cheeks flushed, nostrils flaring with irritation, and I felt a tiny stab of satisfaction. I probably wasn’t going to win this, but at least I had that tiny victory.
Despite establishing our ground rules—or lack of them—neither of us moved at first. Like we were both hesitant to actually start. If we were physically fighting for it, that meant we’d… have to touch. Get close.
My cheeks got hot, but I stiffened my shoulders and got ready. I’d make a concerted effort. I’d try my best. I wouldn’t win, but at least I’d walk away knowing I’d tried.
I lunged at Lonan.
I saw his eyes flare a split second before his arms came up to fend off the worst of the collision. I had absolutely no strategy, no idea what I was doing. I made a fumbled grab for the chain round his neck, curling my fingers and pulling—hard.
Lonan made a choking sound and got yanked forwards with the chain, stumbling into me and toppling us both back onto the ground. The air wheezed out of me when he landed on top of me, but he was already scrabbling to grab onto my wrists.
“Why did you do that?” His teeth were clenched hard, face flushed.
“I didn’t—” I grunted when he shoved at my chest, trying to get up, but I wasn’t letting go of that chain. “I was trying to get it! I thought the—”
I winced when Lonan yanked on my arm, trying to dislodge me.
“I thought the chain would break!”
“The chain won’t break, you idiot!” Lonan dug his fingers into my wrist and pulled until it felt like my hand was going to pop off. Damn, he was strong. “Let—go!”
Okay, my current strategy of clinging onto the chain wasn’t going to work. I squirmed until my legs were free, then wrapped them tight around Lonan. The move must have surprised him, because I heard his breath catch and he hesitated. That precious split-second of stillness was all I needed. With a grunt, I heaved his body to the side and rolled with him until I was straddling his hips—still clutching that damn chain.
Lonan landed on his back with a grunt, black eyes widening briefly when he realised the tables had turned. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, but when he felt the drag of metal against his neck as I spun the chain so the clasp was at the front, his hands came up to shove at me.
“Ah!” Long fingers palmed my face and shoved at my cheek, pushing my head back.
Gripping the chain with one hand so tight it had to be cutting into the back of Lonan’s neck, I reached blindly with my free hand for his wrists. Managing to snag them both, I forced his arms over his head and pinned him down.
Lonan sputtered, and I barely suppressed a snicker. I would have bet that he’d never been pinned down before in his life. But now that his hands were out of commission, I was able to inspect the clasp on the chain.
Lonan bucked, trying to shake me off, but I dug my knees into his sides and shot him a scowl. “Stop squirming.”