EMBER’S POV

We drill it.

The throat, the knee, the eyes, over and over, his hands correcting, his voice merciless, and slowly — I feel it happen — something in my body starts to understand.

The motions stop being separate things I’m remembering and start being one thing I’m doing.

My hits land cleaner. My feet stop betraying me. He stops saying “dead” quite so often, which, from Knox, is basically a standing ovation.

And that’s when I get the idea.

Because he’s still faster than me, still stronger, still winning every exchange, and I am never going to out-muscle this man, not today, not in a year, not ever....