Dance (midway Hunter series snippet)

“Ready then?” he whispered, bowing slightly to their ear, some of his old mischief filling him up and slipping out. “Because ready or not, you‘re gonna learn one way or another.”

(Snippet of a far later book, probably around... book 6, maybe? hard to judge atm)

“Don’t look at your feet,” he softly corrected, taking their hand in his once more.

“Here.” He tightened his grip the slightest bit. Drew his hand a tiny bit back. “Don’t look for my feet, either. You go where my hand goes. I pull — you move forward. I push,” he softly pressed against their palm, “you move backward. Simple as that.”

Their eyes locked with his, protest already bright in them. “But—”

“No,” he said. “Don’t think about that either. You just concentrate on my touch, nothing else. And move with that.” He stepped a bit closer, gently rested his other hand on their shoulder’s wing, at seeing their old gesture of doubt — left corner of their lower lip softly drawn in by a tooth. Still the same tell. Should train it out of them.

“Stop worrying. Just follow my lead. You’ll be fine.”

Their eyes suddenly lit up into an amused blaze of gold, the curve of their lips turning up at him. “Well. It’s your feet that will suffer, if this goes even worse, not mine.”

Their low chuckle filled a hollow inside him that he hadn’t even known he carried. He could feel his own mouth curving in response and his grip tightened. His arm drew them in close.

“Ready then?” he whispered, bowing slightly to their ear, some of his old mischief filling him up and slipping out. “Because ready or not, you‘re gonna learn one way or another.”

Shouldn’t have asked me of all people otherwise.