Chapter Ten #2
I run through arm exercises that I used to do at the gym at home. After I finish arms, I move on to legs working through various squats, lunges, and lifts. The weights are heavy, but the burn in my muscles feels good.
As I finish my last set, I hear the door open and shut. I turn around and see Draven walk into the room. He walks lazily with a hint of arrogance, but just the right amount. Confidence radiates from his every move.
He is wearing his training attire today.
Soft leather pants, that are thankfully not as tight as mine, tucked into knee-high riding boots.
He wears a simple black T-shirt that hugs his chest and arms, but is loose around his torso and stops right at the start of his pants.
His hair is messy today, like he has been running his hands through it multiple times as if he has been stressed.
I stop my staring and look up at the clock. He is an hour early.
He reaches me exceedingly quick, wind brushing against my face as he stops in front of me.
“How come you never use your speed that much,” I ask.
“Because you do not have yours yet.”
My features soften as his answer takes me by surprise.
“Looks like you and I had the same idea then,” he says.
I look around and realize he means lifting the weights.
“Oh yeah, I wanted to come and try to build some more muscle within the hour before we started so I do not look stupid again.” I look down at myself. “Do you think it worked? I feel stronger,” I tease.
Draven looks me up and down and nods. “Yes, your muscle mass has multiplied greatly from the one hour.”
I laugh. Seconds pass and neither of us say anything.
“Are you mad at me?” I ask.
He gives me a confused look. “Mad at you for what, little sun?”
“For how I acted toward you last night. You were trying to help me, and I was not very nice to you. You did not deserve that,” I admit.
“You had every right to act and feel the way you did. Do not ever worry about whether I am angry with you or not.”
I nod my head. “Well, I am sorry.”
He continues, “There is nothing to be sorry for. I am not upset with you. If the day ever comes where I do become upset with you, which it probably won’t, I promise the feeling will not stay very long.”
“Alright then, it is settled.”
Draven laughs. “Well, since it seems you have made an early start to our training today, how about we pick up a sword.”
“Uh I don’t think that just because I willingly worked out once, I am ready to pick up a sword.”
“I think that is exactly what that means,” he says with a wink.
He walks over to the rack of very intense looking weapons and pulls out a smaller sword than the one he grabs for himself. We walk over to the mat in the middle of the room and he hands it to me.
I grab it from him, surprised that the sword is not as heavy as I thought it would be. Its ivory engraved handle molds perfectly to my hand.
“It is lovely,” I say.
Draven hums in agreement. “It is. Now hold it up and try to keep it steady in front of you.”
I do as he says, being able to keep it from wobbling side to side.
“Very good. Now let’s go through the foot work we have been learning and this time, we are going to add different motions to it with the sword.”
I nod my head for him to start. He begins to move and I follow suit. The footwork has become almost like second nature to me so that allows me to just focus on the sword work.
Draven gives praises throughout each movement, building my confidence up even more. Then, he brings his sword down on mine.
I almost drop it.
“Um, rude.”
“Always keep strength in your wrist when you are holding a sword,” he says.
“Okay, that could have been delivered in words. It is also hard because you are a lot stronger than me, so you hit way harder.”
He ignores me and continues moving. “You will be just as strong, so you have to keep strength in your wrist. Hit me back, I will hit your sword easier next time.”
We move back and forth going through the motions, but this time adding the contact of the swords.
After a while, we start to get in a comfortable flow of movement until it almost feels like we are in a dance. I smile wide at our movements.
Draven looks at me and his eyes stop at my mouth. He keeps them on my mouth for a moment then glances up to meet my eyes, his own eyes soft.
He trips over his own foot.
He steadies himself with a frown on his face. “Well, make sure you do not do that.”
I laugh trying to cover my mouth with my hand, making him frown even more.
“I think that is enough for today. You did very good,” he says.
“Oh, come on Draven, do not be a sore sport because you tripped. We all do it you know.”
I swear I see him slightly roll his eyes at me.
As we sit down on the edge of the mat in our usual spot, I glance over at him.
His cheeks are flushed and his hairline is slightly wet from sweat.
I watch as a bead of sweat begins to slowly trail down his face.
He pulls his shirt up to wipe it off, showing the bottom half of his abdomen. My eyes immediately look down.
His abdomen is also slicked with sweat, defining his muscles even more. His porcelain skin has a flush to it like his cheeks. I trail my eyes downward then immediately snap them back up.
What in the hell am I doing.
I shake the image from my head as soon as he turns back to look at me.
“I have a proposition for you,” he says.
“What is it?”
“What if tonight instead of going through files, we go to the Whispering Woods to search for and question its incantors?”
“Yes,” I say immediately.
Draven jerks his head back and raises his eyebrows. “Well, that did not take much convincing from you. You are truly willing to go into dark unknown woods you have never been in before, with a strange vampire.”
“One, I am also a vampire so that is irrelevant. Two, yes, I will do almost anything to get out of this castle. I am so greatly bored that I will go freely into somewhere called the Whispering Woods.”
I think.
“The only part of your statement I agree with is that you are strange,” I tease, giving him a shove on the arm.
He clutches his chest like I have gravely offended him. “You wound me with your words.” He chuckles. “Very well then. We will leave around six this evening.”
Draven stands up and reaches down to help me up. I grab his hand, and push up off the ground, brushing my pants off as we start to walk toward the door.
“I will walk you to your room and then meet you back there to get you before we leave,” he says.
I nod in return.
As confident as I tried to come across, uneasiness still starts to creep into my head. I am not scared to actually go into the Whispering Woods. But that is only because I will have Draven with me.
I am more scared of why they call it the Whispering Woods.