He raised his knee into her belly, and she let out a short oof. He flipped her over, and she thumped down onto her back. Before she could rise, he leaped onto her, pinning her wrists down. She flailed, unable to free herself.

"Calm down!" he said.

She growled up at him. "Release me now, or my knee drives into your crotch." She raised her knee abruptly, and Dorvin—expecting the pain—loosened his grip and pulled back. She seized the opportunity to slam into him, swinging her fists again. They rolled through the grass, flipped over a fallen log, and began sliding down a hillside, wrestling all the while. Stones and fallen branches jabbed Dorvin, and even as she rolled, she kept attacking him, trying to bite, driving her knees into his sides. Finally they rolled to a halt in a grassy valley between trees.

"That demon was mine," Dorvin said. "You stole it from me. Just like you did last time. Just like you always do—stealing the glory from me." His eyes suddenly stung. "Your family loves that. Your father stole my people from me. Now you keep mocking me."

She snorted, flipped onto him, and pinned him down into the grass. "Grow up and stop whining. Are you a warrior or a little boy?"

"A warrior." He growled. "If you'll let me be one, for stars' sake. It's not easy with you, you know."

"Never claimed it would be."

Dorvin spat out grass. "You're too damn strong, too damn proud, too damn fiery, too damn beautiful, and—"

"Too damn beautiful?" She raised an eyebrow.

His cheeks flushed. "I mean—for a mammoth arse." His tongue felt too thick. "Don't pretend you don't know it! All your mocking smiles, your little winks, your swagger when you walk. You know what that does to a man, don't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You really are a dung beetle. I can't control that, no more than you can control your pretty eyes or your own smile."

He blinked. "My eyes aren't pretty! They're warrior eyes. They're—" He blinked again. "You think I'm pretty?"

She groaned, still lying atop him, pinning him down. "This is what I think." She leaned down and kissed his lips. "And that's the last kiss you'll ever get from me, so now stop thinking about me like that, and—"

He wouldn't let her finish her sentence. He kissed her in return, and this kiss was deeper, and her tongue flicked into his mouth, and her body softened against his. After what seemed like ages, she pulled back and glared.

"Stop that!" She grabbed a fistful of his hair. "I didn't say you could kiss me. I'm not that kind of woman. I—" She shuddered. "Oh to the Abyss with it." She pulled his head toward her and kissed him again.