NICOLAI'S POV
I move before the blade can find me...
Instinct takes over, sharp and absolute and my body reacts fast. I don’t think, I just react.
My body moves with a sickening, fluid precision that surprises me. It’s as if a sleeper cell has been activated in my muscle memory... I twist and the dagger slices through the space where my throat was a heartbeat ago, the whisper of steel close enough to kiss skin.
Too close...
Adrenaline surges, hot and electric, flooding my veins as I pivot on my heel and lunge forward. The masked figure doesn’t hesitate. They’re already moving, already recalibrating. The blade flashes again, a precise arc aimed for my ribs.
I catch their wrist mid-strike and the impact jolts up my arm and my grip tightens but they twist with fluid precision, slippin
