Chapter 9
In the morning, I found a glass of water and two small capsules filled with white powder on my bedside table and a note. These will stop your monthly cycle. Two a day, every day.
I blinked at the note in confusion. I’d never known a man to speak of a woman’s monthly cycle and didn’t know there was a way to stop it. I think most men would rather take a hot poker to their own foot than have a conversation about monthly bleeds. As if it wasn’t completely normal.
I stepped around the curtain and Vander was lying back with a book in hand.
The cover didn’t have a title but was black with a white symbol that reminded me of a circular maze.
I waited for him to lower the book and acknowledge me.
“What’s in those capsules? I’m not in the habit of taking things when I don’t know what they are.
” I knew enough about tinctures from my mother and grandmothers to understand what might be in it.
He sat up taller and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Uh...” His cheeks flushed the lightest pink.
“I’m not sure exactly what the ingredients are, but I know they work.
All the female assassins take them. Most women start while at academy.
I was reminded last night that I needed to get them to you.
The bottle is in the bathroom in the cupboard. ”
“Is it to prevent pregnancy? I mean, I’ve never been with a man, well, in that way obviously, and I’m always with you.
” His eyes widened ever so slightly. Ugh, he was taking this the wrong way.
“What I mean to say is you and I are always together,” the corner of his mouth turned upward, “but not that way,” I rushed out.
He was all but laughing now. “Never mind.” I was only embarrassing myself trying to explain something that wasn’t his business, anyway. I’d just take the damn capsules.
He put an arm behind his head and settled in more comfortably. One leg curled partially, thighs open. “I’m not sure what you’re trying to get at, but although I am your trainer, I wasn’t planning on giving you lessons in the art of the bedroom.”
I scoffed, glaring daggers at him. “I wasn’t insinuating that you were going to! That’s the last thing I’m interested in.”
“Really?” He was teasing, and I knew it, but I half expected him to prowl across his bed on all fours with those smoldering eyes... Or was it me who would be crawling to him? The image flashed across my mind unbidden, and I scrubbed at my forehead.
I folded my arms and popped out a hip. “All this to say I’m planning on staying abstinent. I’m not interested in anyone here, so must I take the capsules?”
He chuckled and tousled his dark auburn hair. His expectant stare made me shift my weight foot to foot. “Vampires are attracted to blood, Aesira.”
“I know.” As if that wasn’t obvious. Blood. My cycle. My eyes widened as it clicked. “Oh... oh.”
“Yeah.” He was full-on grinning now. Why did he have to be so damn attractive? It was frustrating for this conversation. “We can’t have a vampire smell you from a half-mile away if we’re going to sneak up on one.”
I blinked, all the awkwardness vanished in my surprise. “Can they truly smell blood from that far?”
He shrugged. “If you’re bleeding externally, yes. And I think it depends on the weather. Wind and rain would make a difference, but you get the idea.”
“Right.” I turned on my heel and quickly swallowed down the pills.
I already had some mild cramping and was likely a day or so away from my bleed.
“Will this stop me from ever having children? Are assassins allowed to have them?” There were no children running around Drakthar and most of the assassins, at least young ones, appeared to live here.
I hadn’t thought much about it myself at this point in life, but one day I might want a couple of my own.
“From what I’ve been told, if you stop taking them your cycle returns as normal.
And some do after they retire. You have to put in at least twenty-five years to retire from LOA and can be called back at any time if needed.
It’s a dangerous life, and even if men marry a woman outside of LOA, they wait. ”
I nodded. I supposed it was a good thing ducai lived longer or that would be past most human women’s prime childbearing years.
“Get dressed, we’re going down to the sparring grounds today.”
I smiled. Finally, I was going to get a lesson on fighting.
The sparring grounds were at the south end of Drakthar surrounded by moss-covered oaks and silver-trunked aspens.
Morrow and his trainer were in one of the white circles painted on the shorn grass, throwing fists and blocking them.
Watching them made my right ribs throb even if they were all but healed now.
A handful of others I didn’t know worked with weapons.
Celine and Taewyn were here with their trainers too, though they were not sparring yet.
The pretty brunette Vander had spoken to for so long at dinner last night made her way over to us, apprentice in tow.
The name on the brunette’s collar read: GHOST.
Vander had mentioned her before when talking to Commander Locke.
“You decided to grace us with your presence after all.” Ghost smiled at Vander.
He rolled his eyes. “I said I was bringing my apprentice here today, did I not?”
“You did. You’ve just been scarce for the last two weeks.” She gestured toward a short girl with a slightly crooked nose that made me wonder if she’d broken it before, and curly brunette hair tied back into a bun. “This is Pyro. She has a small obsession with fire.”
“Hello,” I said. And when Ghost gave me a placating, fake smile, I realized she was introducing her apprentice to Vander and not to me. I should just stop trying to be friendly, no one appreciated it here anyway. Was it because I wasn’t one of them?
“Ghost and Pyro, this is Aesira, I’m still deciding her codename. Aesira, this is Ghost. She’s an assassin level three.”
I recalled from the book and one of Vander’s talks on LOA that there were six levels, six being the highest rank. I expected more of an introduction than a name and rank to the woman he was seeing... unless he wasn’t.
“Four now.” She lightly punched his shoulder and bit her lower lip. Oh, there was certainly something going on between them, and I found myself a little too eager for any details. Purely to know more about my trainer, of course.
His brows shot up. “Congratulations. When did that happen?”
“This morning. Commander Locke promoted me.”
I lifted my chin to Vander. “What level are you?” Although I could guess.
“Six.” He didn’t say it with the bravado I expected, rather matter-of-factly.
“Should we have our apprentices spar together?” Ghost asked. “I’m interested to see what you’ve taught her.”
Pyro gave me a half-smirk, and although she was more petite than I was, something about her countenance reminded me of a cat ready to pounce on an unsuspecting bird.
I had a feeling she had been training for years already.
It would be like fighting Morrow again, although she probably didn’t hit as hard.
My once fat lip throbbed at the thought of it.
Climbing trees, tying knots, throwing weapons, and scaling ropes hadn’t prepared me to fight anyone.
Vander shook his head. “No, I’ll be working with Aesira today. Pyro has more experience.”
“Right, and Aesira doesn’t. You’d think they’d be good at killing, what with where they live and everything. And tougher, she looks a bit soft considering. I heard about her fight with Beast.” She clicked her tongue. “Poor thing.”
I couldn’t believe she was talking about me like that when I stood right next to her.
Poor thing? Like I was some wounded animal.
I flushed with anger and embarrassment, clenching my hands at my sides.
I bit back a retort. She could talk about me but to say they like we were other and bring everyone from outside Nighthaven into this?
I’d bet on my father and our fighters against any one of them here.
We were strong, just in a different way.
Vander shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “She is inexperienced but lasted longer in the fight with Morrow than most from Lothleton would have.”
Ghost’s green eyes slowly traveled down my form to my boots. “How sweet of you to say so, Viper. You’re a good trainer. It must be frustrating to get someone like her again. Hard labor doesn’t equate to the fitness of an assassin.”
His jaw tightened, and he glanced away as if this conversation bored him.
Someone like me? I was hoping he would defend me, but he didn’t speak again. My stomach slowly sank. Obviously he wouldn’t, he was from here and nobility to top it off.
“I hate to say it, but she’s going to need all the help she can get for the upcoming game. You two better get to work. Have fun.”
A sense of relief washed over me as they left, but what game? I tucked my hands behind my back and took the standard stance as the two of them left. In the few weeks I had been here, Vander hadn’t told me about any games. “What was she talking about?”
He gestured for me to follow him to the farthest circle away from Dred and Morrow. Celine and Taewyn waved at me as we passed. They seemed to be the only two who didn’t care where I was from. I wondered if it was only because I was something new and shiny. That would wear off.
A pit in my stomach knotted at his lack of an answer. Was it dangerous?
Vander directed me to the center of a sparring circle. “Put your fists up.”
I widened my stance, bending my knees slightly and put my fists in front of my chin. “Are you going to tell me about this game?”
He shoved my shoulder, and I stumbled over my own feet and fell, landing on my hip and elbow. “If I can push you over so easily, your balance needs work. Tighten up your torso. Your feet need to move with you.”