Astraea's POV
I wasn't sure why I did it.
One minute I was standing in the crowd, watching Zephyra bleed all over the floor like a wounded animal, her face so bashed in I could barely recognize it, and the next, I was in her head.
"Get up, Zephyra."
I didn't even think. The words left my mind and entered hers before I could weigh the consequences. I felt the bond between us pulse faintly, like a string pulling taut, reminding me again that there was something about this girl I still didn't understand.
She looked up, her good eye squinting through the mess of bruises and blood, and for a split second, our gazes met. Even from this distance, even through the noise of the crowd, I knew she heard me. She heard me.
Fuck, what am I doing?
The crowd was booing. Rina, the psycho she was fighting, was bouncing on her heels like she was ready to end her, and Zephyra, of all people, the girl who could barely stand five minutes ago, was getting back up on her feet.
I didn't plan this. I didn't want this, but something inside me refused to watch her go down like that.
So I stayed in her head.
"She's coming. Duck."
Zephyra flinched, clearly hesitant, but then she moved, right on cue, just as Rina came in like a wrecking ball. The girl ducked low, and I swear time slowed for a second. I could almost see the recognition hit Rina's face, the confusion that her prey had moved.
"Now, sweep her legs, and don't overthink it, just do it."
Zephyra didn't hesitate this time. She dropped her weight, spun with what little strength she had left, and her leg crashed into Rina's calves.
Rina hit the mat with a satisfying thud.
The entire gym fell into a hush, as if the crowd itself was holding its breath. I watched Rina scramble to get up, her face red with rage, and Zephyra, my human mess of a student, staggered upright, barely holding herself together.
And yet, she stood.
"Keep moving, Zephyra," I told her. "Don't let her settle, make her come to you. She's predictable, brute force and no brain, so let her get cocky."
I felt the strain in my head from maintaining the link. Demonic telepathy wasn't exactly made for giving pep talks to humans in real-time fight choreography, and it was like the air in this human world was making me slightly weaker than usual, but I was in it now.
Zephyra took one step back, and then another. She wasn't fast, hell, she could barely move in a straight line without stumbling, but her eyes were different now. Alert and listening.
"When she throws with her right again, dodge left. Not back, left."
Rina came charging in again, this time throwing wild punches in fury. Zephyra sidestepped left, just like I told her, and Rina stumbled forward with the momentum of her own punch.
Good.
"Now her back is open, use your elbow and strike hard."
Zephyra turned and landed the elbow, not perfectly, but enough. It caught Rina square in the shoulder. It wasn't a knockout hit, but it was something. Something enough to piss Rina off and make her sloppier.
I could practically feel the crowd shifting. The booing stopped, and some even started to cheer. They were shocked, entertained, and curious, but none of that mattered to me.
All I cared about was that Zephyra wasn't on the floor anymore.
She was fighting.
"Stay low, and stay fast. She's going to go for your face again."
Rina lunged, her fist already moving toward Zephyra's jaw, but Zephyra ducked again, too fast for someone who had been a bloody pulp just minutes ago.
She got behind Rina and hit her again, this time in the back of the knee, and Rina went down hard.
The bell rang. End of the round.
I let go of the connection between our minds before the headache could get worse. My temple throbbed from the effort, and I could feel Draven's eyes on me from across the room, no doubt realizing exactly what I had just done.
He'd scold me for it later. That, I was sure of, but right now, I couldn't look away from Zephyra. She stood there, panting, broken, and bruised.
I didn't understand it. I didn't want to understand it, but I had never felt this before, not for a human, not for anyone.
Pride.
***
I wasn't disappointed, because I never expected her to win.
Zephyra lost the second and third rounds. Despite all my effort, despite the voice I kept whispering in her head, she still went down, but she didn't go down like a joke.
She didn't go down the same girl who walked into the ring unsure of herself and already halfway defeated. She'd landed a few decent hits, one even split Rina's lip, and though it didn't tip the fight in her favor, it gave the crowd something to remember.
Rina had limped out of the ring, not badly, but just enough, and Zephyra? Zephyra left the ring on her own two feet, with her face bloodied and her arms trembling, but with her head held high.
That was all I wanted.
I stayed where I was, near the edge of the crowd, arms crossed, expression unreadable. A few people turned to look at me, likely wondering who I was and why the battered girl in the ring kept glancing in my direction like I was her beacon.
As she stumbled her way out of the ropes and dropped down to the floor, the noise in the arena dipped just slightly. People moved aside for her, not out of pity, but likely out of respect or newfound fascination, and then she started walking toward me.
Her left eye was already swelling shut. Her right cheek was bruised so deep it'd probably be green by morning. Her lip was split, and her shirt clung to her with a mix of sweat and blood, but her steps didn't waver.
She kept her gaze locked on mine like she couldn't see anything else in the room, and when she finally stood in front of me, I let my eyes flick over her, not hiding the judgment.
"You look like hell," I said simply, lifting one brow. Then, after a short pause, I added with a small nod, "But you did well."
She gave a dry little scoff. "Coming from you, that almost sounds like a compliment."
"It was." I shifted my weight slightly. "A rare one, so don't get used to it."
She took another step closer, and there was something unreadable in her eyes now, not just adrenaline or pain, more like curiosity.
Then she asked it.
"Are you finally going to tell me what you really are?"