This was not in her head, it was jarringly obvious the error was coming from without. Her arms had moved without her permission, pushing the blade aside to keep him from being injured.

As he reached out to grab her collar, she deliberately sheathed her weapon. She would not fight when he was cheating so dishonourably, not when they had already had discussions about him using her mentally.

Glasses flashing, she deployed the most simple tactic for ending a fight with any man. Her knee came out swiftly and mercilessly between his legs. If he wasn't going to fight fair, then there was no reason for her to. In a fight for your life, you used what you needed to win, regardless of how uncouth it was.