Chapter 8
Apounding on the door scared her awake, Silas jolting himself up next to her with his arm protectively going across her. She looked outside to see the sun barely rising over the city, the orange hues illuminating the room and the bed. Silas let out a calming breath and looked at her.
“It's Kaden.” He sighed before pulling the blankets off and walking to the door to unlock it. Moments later Kaden’s large build entered the room in thin training leathers and only one sword on his back.
“Sorry Kaden, it was a long night.” Silas shrugged, sauntering back to her.
She was still in bed, sitting up with the blanket pulled up on her chest and realized all she had on still was Silas’s shirt.
Kaden glanced at her, seeing she wasn’t ready and parted his lips to speak. “You have 5 minutes of privacy, then I come back whether you are dressed or not.” His tone was still dull like the day before and turned quickly before exiting back out the main door without another glance.
“Well this will be fun.” she muttered.
“He’s a good guy.” Silas shrugged. “He just has a hard outer shell from what I’m told. ”
He tossed her some pants out of her drawer along with undergarments, Raine putting them away for her while she was in the bath last night. She grabbed them and put them on, the brown leather pants feeling soft on her skin.
“Well, he will be a fun one to take a crack at,” she laughed.
“Careful Alyra, can’t have you liking him more than me.” His familiar cocky grin forming on his face.
“Oh don’t worry.” She smirked as she walked towards him, grabbing his chin playfully. “You’re prettier than him.” She winked, even though it was technically a lie, and lightly tapped her hand to the side of his face playfully. She kept the black shirt on and tucked the excess into her pants.
“Damn right I am.” he chuckled, pulling a new shirt over his head.
She had just finished lacing up her boots by the bed when the door opened and Kaden came strolling back in, his eyes going straight to her. She rolled her eyes and stood walking towards him, grabbing her sword and axe propped against the wall.
“Let’s go,” Kaden barked.
“Easy dude,” Silas warned.
“We need to start training right away. If we are to get her magic back then we need to work, not play house.” Kaden glared from her to Silas, eyes narrowing.
“Don’t push her,” Silas growled, his body tensing.
“Don’t coddle her,” Kaden snapped back.
“It’s ok,” she said walking back towards Silas and placing a hand on his arm. “You forget how I grew up training. The Valkyrie training was cruel and unyielding with people dying if they failed. I will be fine, I’m just rusty remember?”
She stared up into his eyes, his jaw tense but relaxed slightly as she smiled at him.
“I’ll see you tonight,” she said and rose on her toes to give him a small peck on the cheek.
She walked out the door without giving Silas another look, Kaden right behind her. Something about him set her body on alert every time he was around, but she couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or bad thing. She figured she would find out as they walked to the training grounds in silence.
- - - - - - - -
Hitting the dirt for the eighth time with her sword in hand left her head spinning and body aching. Kaden had been drilling her for hours now. The sun rested in the middle of the sky making her skin sticky with sweat even in cool spring weather.
They had to walk across the castle grounds, the training area at the far east of the castle making her able to take in the surroundings she had forgotten.
Dirt circles for fighting, stuffed dummies for practice, and archery targets littered the vast area around her.
She could hear others training nearby and felt eyes on her but tried to keep her concentration on Kaden.
Her chest was heaving when he walked next to her, his towering body shading her face for a short moment. “You are lagging on your left side and you keep leaving it open for attack.” His voice still had no emotion when talking to her. “Get up.”
“You know, maybe if you made this more fun I would get better faster.” she panted between breaths as she stood with her hands on her knees trying to defuse the tension..
Her hair was braided again, pinned into a crown on top of her head to keep it out of her face, a few loose strands falling down her cheek.
“Nothing about fighting is fun.” he snapped back.
He had been stoic all morning, his face holding no emotion and ruthless in his training method. He was an excellent swordsman, one of the best she has ever sparred with, but his people skills lacked drastically.
“You’re right, but this is training, not fighting.” She barked back.
“I’m not Silas.” He glared, sword rotating in his hand beside him.
“Well duh.” She stood upright stretching her back out. “That’s why Emris assigned you to work with me instead of him. If you are a better fighter, which from the small amount of time I’ve spent with you seems true, then it was an easy choice.”
“Drop your sword. We are going to go back to basic hand-to-hand drills.” His voice returned to its flat tone.
She paused for a second, the thought of having to touch someone or vice versa, instantly making her tense. It was inevitable with fighting, but she wasn’t sure how she was going to handle it.
“Did you hear me?” he barked, her eyes darting up to him.
“Yes I did.” She snarled. “I don’t do well with people touching me.”
“Better get used to it princess.”
“I’m a queen.”
He walked up to her, stopping with only a few inches between them as he glared down at her.
His body towered over hers, at least a foot taller than her build with nothing but solid muscle.
She would guess his height was in the neighborhood of six-foot seven if not taller.
“Until you officially take the throne you are not the queen, you’re still just a princess. ”
“Doesn't matter to you, either way you still serve me for now. You are a soldier and I am a princess,” she growled.
His eyebrow raised slightly, the maroon in his eyes darkening and then took in a deep breath. “Whatever you say, princess.”
The drop in his tone made her aware she had struck a nerve, and when he stepped back with tense shoulders she knew he wasn’t happy.
Darting away from him, she walked towards the edge of the ring and set her weapons down. If she was going to get her powers back, she was going to have to push through whatever she needed to even if it meant making her physically sick.
She walked back over to the center of the circle without making eye contact with him and waited for instruction.
He struck out first in a surprise attack, her body instantly reacting and dodging it just in time to counter.
He blocked it, his arm pressing against her and she could feel her stomach instantly react.
She could barely get her composure before he swung for another blow lower in the leg.
She was able to block it just before he maneuvered again and knocked her feet out from under her slamming her into the dirt once more.
“Fuck.” she coughed out.
Her body trembled, still reeling from contact with his body and she tried to take in a deep breath to steady herself. She would be useless in war if she couldn’t fight.
“I thought you used to be a great warrior, one of the best?” his condescending tone pouring from his lips.
“That was a century ago,” she spat back rising on her feet while still calming herself. “I’m a little out of practice.”
“Maybe you should have been keeping up on your training princess, instead of playing house.”
She clenched her fist at his words, but she couldn’t respond because he was partially right. She could feel it coming back to her slowly, but this was just the first day of many she would have to endure to return to her former self.
“Mavros could attack at any time, we need you to learn quickly and break that wall down so you can use your powers,” Kaden muttered.
He swung at her again, this time she dodged it easier, one arm blocking while the other landing a blow to his ribs.
He took one step back in movement before swinging his leg at her again, but she blocked it and this time she knocked him to the ground.
He landed hard but surprised her with a quick attack and she went to the ground next to him.
He kept the attack up, pulling her leg to him as she moved to maneuver away. She tried to kick him away, his fast reflexes dodging it and continued to wrestle with her. She found herself under him, his hands pinning her arms next to her head.
His dark hair fell down the side of his face and panic instantly rose in her chest. She tried to fight it, her skin prickling and ghostly feelings of Mavros’s knife slicing through her caused her breath to suck in.
“Get off me,” she tried to bark at him, her tone faltering and she tried to pull at her hands.
“Make me,” he snapped back. “Fight.”
Fear overtook her and she could feel stomach bile rising in her throat as she struggled against his hold. It was too much too fast and her body started to shake under him.
“Get. Off.” Her voice broke as a sob erupted from her chest.
Their eyes met and she could see a faint flash of shock form in his eyes before he released her. She instantly jumped up and scrambled to her feet, making it to the edge of the ring before she threw up what little vial was in her stomach over the side of the bench.
She could hear the people around her go silent but she just tried to focus on her breathing.
‘1, 2, 3….’
Counting to herself helped calm her down, the only thing that made her focus on something other than the nightmares of the dungeon. It had been a while since she needed to, but she knew this wasn’t going to be the last now that she was out of hiding.
She could sense Kaden walking up behind her but she stayed kneeling over the bench, willing herself to stop shaking and get herself put back together.
“What was that?” he asked behind her, his tone laced with frustration.
“I told you I don’t do well with people touching me.” she snarled, her body finally calm enough for her to stand.
“What are you not telling me?” he barked again.
“Nothing that concerns you.”
Their eyes met again when she turned to face him, schooling her face into a blank expression to hide her anxiety still smoldering inside her. His nostrils flared again, his stare going to the scar on the side of her face and saw a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.
“Well, this is going to be almost impossible now,” he growled and walked back towards the middle of the ring. “Pull yourself together and get back out here, we have work to do.”
She closed her eyes and took in a few deep breaths before following him, her footsteps stopping inches from him.
“Again,” he said as if nothing had happened and they continued sparing for a few more hours.
He never tackled her again and she could tell he was being careful how he touched her, a surprise to her considering how much of an ass he was being.
- - - - - - - -
Her body ached worse than she could remember in recent history several hours later, ending her first day of training and Kaden giving her a disapproving look.
Kaden walked her back to her room and was currently sitting on the couch staring at the fire warming the cold spring chill. He had said nothing to her since his last instruction at the training ring and she was too exhausted to care.
She was trying to undress herself, the sweat and dirt mixture making it hard to peel her leather pants off her legs. She heard the door open and peaked around the corner of her tall armoire figuring she knew who it was. Silas came strutting in, hair a mess and clothes just as dirty as hers.
“How did it go?” he asked Kaden as he got closer to the couch, not seeing her peeking out at them.
“She needs a lot of work,” Kaden muttered back. “It’s gonna take a miracle at this rate to get her in shape.”
“It was her first day, got to give her some slack,” Silas responded, setting his sword against the couch.
“You need to quit babying her,” Kaden snapped. “It won’t do us or her any good.”
“I’m not babying her.” Silas’s voice was riddled with irritation.
“She is a warrior, not a housewife.” He pointed in her direction but still didn’t see her.
“That female used to be feared by the best of us, and now is the laughingstock of the training yard because you let her hide away. I know she has been through some shit, but all of us have. Talk some sense into her or we are all doomed.”
She let out a shaky breath to keep her tears at bay and both males snapped their heads to her. She did not look to see their faces before returning around the corner to try and peel her shirt off, now only standing in her underwear.
The sound of the door shutting made her jump, but she kept her back to the doorway. Soft warm hands grabbed her bare shoulders a few moments later and she jumped at his touch. Her nerves were already shot from the day and she couldn't handle the surprise touch.
“I’m sorry.” He breathed, his hands pulling away from her as she turned to face him. She knew he was confused from the expression on his face and she just sighed while holding her shirt to her chest.
“We practiced sparring and he pinned me to the ground..” her voice trailed off.
“You panicked?” he asked calmly.
She only nodded and walked into his chest with tears rolling down her cheek. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and held for a few minutes while she gained her composure.
“Don’t let him get to you,” Silas’s soft voice whispered in her ear. “Take a bath and I’ll help make you feel better after, ok?”
The side of her face rested against his chest, his warmth seeping into and she took a deep breath.
“He’s right,” she whispered. “I was a wreck in the training ring today. I spent so much time hiding that I’ve lost everything I used to be. People’s lives depend on me and I’m failing miserably.”
“You’re not failing,” he whispered, his lips next to her ear. “It was your first day, give yourself a little time.”
“We don’t have time.” Her own words echoed in her mind, making the weight of the situation settle even heavier on her shoulders.