Jordan watched as Natalie's two-handed warhammer crashed into a tower shield easily as tall as herself. The oversized block of sto reinforced metal shield with a g remi of a bcksmith's anvil. Despite having braced for the blow, the heavily armored tank—a boy with dirty blond hair, whose name Jordan didn't know—staggered back, his guard broken.

  Though the vicious impact had rattled Natalie too, her follow-up was swift: a sed, then third, then fourth wind-up blow hammered into the tower shield, entirely foing subtlety and teique. She chose io bash her way through with pure determination. It was very Natalie.

  Her sparring partner was, unfortunately, no match for her: the fight was a fone clusion. That was how it went sometimes. The differen strength between the low and high ends of talent, even within the same year, could be insurmountable. And the gap would only grow more pronounced as time passed, as they moved into their sophomore, junior, and senior years. If Jordan had to guess, this boy hadn't even reached level two yet. So against Natalie? It simply wasn't a fair fight.

  "She really is a monster with that thing," she said idly, wing as another ridiculous g cut through the air. It pierced even the din of the dozens of other active fights throughout the training yard. "If … a bit noisy."

  "A bit?" Sofia asked dryly. She watched the dispy, arms crossed as pierg blue eyes scrutihe two fighters. There was a distasteful curl to her lips, and Jordan guessed why even before Sofia voiced the se. "She's being a brute. It's disrespectful. To herself and her oppo. She do better."

  The events earlier that m, in the bedroom, had gone fotten. nored. Sofia was her usual self, if somewhat fidgety, especially when their eyes met. Jordan admitted she had gotten carried away. To be fair, she'd been more than a little promised, with Natalie taking her from behind and a blushing Sofia squirming underh her. In that kind of sario, of course her better senses had vanished.

  Still, sidering what she had said—and the kiss they'd shared—she khey o talk about it. She'd been meaning to chat with Sofia for a while now. About a whole bunch of things. Though, Natalie at the forefront.

  "Well, it's w," Jordan said. "That's all that matters, in the end."

  Sofia grunted her disagreement. "Every fight should be taken seriously. Even easy ones. She's not giving it her best."

  Jordan half agreed with the perspective. But she didn't think Natalie wasn't taking the fight seriously, exactly. More like, she was seeing just how much she could aplish with pure brute strength. Testing her limits.

  Though, admittedly, having an inappropriate amount of fun while doing so. She was wearing that wild grin of hers as she spun around with her t warhammer. Jordan had always found that look equal parts endearing and w. Natalie could get carried away way too easily. Jordan had seen it more than on their youth. She might be the only reason Natalie hadn't gotten herself killed in their reckless early years.

  "She's definitely gettier, though," Sofia said. "Her footwork is er. Giving less openings. Better iion of her illusions, too." She wrinkled her nose. "In her earlier fights, at least. This one is a regression."

  Sofia had always been more willing to aowledge Natalie's skill thaher way around. There was a definite begrudgio the pliment, though. Sofia handled her petitive streak with muaturity, but it was definitely still there.

  Out of the er of her eye, Jordan watched Sofia more than she did the fight. The woman's attention bored into Natalie with an iy that was rather telling—and would probably embarrass Sofia if she realized what she was doing.

  Jordan wasn't pletely certain what Sofia and Natalie's retionship was. Obviously, she could tell the two women were secretly feral for each other, but were they romantically ied? Jordan was actually somewhat undecided.

  That they wao fuck was a given. But hate-fuly, or something more? If Jordan could dig past the hundreds of yers of denial, did they want to date each other? Be girlfriends? While those twoing on a romantic date jured hirious imagery, Jordan thought they might actually want to, if they could work past their ridiculous hang-ups.

  At a minimum, they o get it out of their system. Which was slowly happening, thanks to their silly bet. And the colr. And developments earlier that m.

  Their denial, added to their extreme petitiveness, made things tricky. She thought of Natalie's unceremonious c of Sofia. Natalie hadn't given the girl much ce to protest—she had clipped the colr and leash on without remotely giving the event the discussion it deserved. Not that a discussioween Sofia and Natalie would ever be productive, sidering the two idiots, but Jordan was mildly ed about the dire their retionship was heading. Both the speed and the ck of unication. It seemed like a train wreck waiting to happen.

  Jordan was guilty of adding fuel to that fire, too, with everything she'd said that m.

  Sofia gnced over, catg her staring. She rolled her eyes.

  "Oh, stop biting your lip and just ask," Sofia said. "You clearly have something to say."

  It was as good a segue as any. It was Jordan's duty, as Natalie's friend—and Sofia's friend—to smooth things over in whatever way she could.

  Plus, Sofia wasn't as likely to be obstinate when trying to have an ho discussion as Natalie would. Though 'as obstinate as Natalie' was a low bar to clear. It still wouldn't be easy.

  A part of Jordan wondered whether she was even qualified to be a mediator in their retionship. sidering her own mess of tangled emotions when it came to Natalie, she didn't have too much of a leg to stand on.

  But someone had to. And it sure as hell wouldn't be either of them.

  "So," Jordan started casually. "How are things going with you and Nat?"

  Sofia stiffehough imperceptibly, as if she'd been ready for the question and had tried to stop herself from reag—but couldn't, irely. She turned back forward. "That's what you're stewing over?"

  "Just asking as a friend. I know Nat be a handful. Maybe we talk about it? Holy, we're in kind of the same situation."

  "Us?" Sofia asked. "You think we're in the same situation? Natalie actually likes you, if you haven't noticed."

  The response caught Jordan off guard. Both what she'd said, and how she'd said it. The almnation hidden behind the sarcasm. Sofia didn't believe that, did she? That Natalie didn't like her?

  Well. It was admittedly a bit of a mess. But while Natalie might s and down that Sofia was the devil, Jordan was fident she didn't actually dislike her.

  Or—it was a hot-and-cold thing.

  Clearly, Jordan did o have this talk. Except, she wasly sure how to ha. How did she go about reassuring her?

  "Sofia," Jordan said slowly, pig her words carefully. "There's not a person on the p who gets Natalie going like you do." Yes, she phrased it that way on purpose. "Don't be stupid. Of course Natalie likes you. I don't care what she says. You know her. She's an idiot." She raised a fio interrupt Sofia's response. "At a very minimum, you're special to her. In a way no one else is."

  Sofia huffed and faced away. It was clear she was trying to brush the cims off. But the panic the statements created was clear as day. Jordan was equally amused and ed by the rea.

  She sidered pressing harder. Making sure Sofia khat, whatever was going on with Natalie, she was important to her. But her goal with this versation wasn't to try to bash through Sofia's denial—like she had tried that m, if in a sexual text instead of a romantie. Because Jordan doubted it would end well. Certainly, Jordan was fident that it wouldn't end well with Natalie herself, hence why Jordan still hadn't frohe woman with her own gigantic crush. And Sofia and Natalie were far more alike than their surface-level behaviors would suggest; being too blunt could be disastrous with either.

  So, instead to fix everything all at once, Jordan had a simpler goal: she simply wao make sure the two girls weren't on a collision course.

  Jordan waved her hand dismissively. "Well, like I said, I do know she be a handful. And there's some stuff we should talk about." She gave Sofia a signifit look. "You know. Especially with …" Jordan poi her own neck, indig the colr, which she knew Sofia had hidden under her uniform. "And your bet with her, too. How it's going. How you feel about it. I know she won't ask, so I have to. Because you're my friend."

  Sofia flushed and looked forward. "There's nothing to say. It's between me and her."

  So. She was choosing to be stubborn about it. Jordan couldn't say she was surprised. And she had a point: it wasn't Jordan's business. But Natalie and Sofia weren't going to talk it out themselves, it was better to stick her nose where it teically didn't belong than to let the two idiots crash and burn.

  Seeing how ventional mature discussion had no ce of succeeding here, Jordan would have to employ unventional teiques.

  Step one of a successful surprise e was this: catch your oppo off guard. Once she had an opening, she would have room to work with. She'd sneak iionally siderate discussions uhe guise of teasing.

  So, she went on the offensive.

  "I said it this m," Jordan said seriously, "and I'll say it again, Sofia. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be Natalie's sex pet." She squeezed Sofia's elbow encingly. "If we work as a team, I'm sure we figure out how to get her coside you."