Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
Thyra
Inever imagined Stellen could put me in so much danger, not when he’s gone to great lengths to keep me alive.
He has to have a reason. Something I’m not seeing yet…
Even so, my mind runs through all the possible outcomes of Lilis training me, all the ‘accidental’ injuries that could befall me.
Especially when her smirk returns. “With pleasure, Lord.”
Before she can move toward me, Stellen’s hand shoots out. “Lilis.”
She freezes before she runs into him and I’m reminded of his warning to me that his touch indicates an intention to kill.
“Yes, Lord?”
Still softly, he says, “I will inspect Thyra’s body at the end of every day, and if a single bruise or cut interrupts the perfection of her form, I will ensure that same harm is rendered on you tenfold.”
“But…” Lilis’s mouth works around words she’s clearly having trouble choosing. “But training her requires—”
“Tenfold.”
Lilis gives me a glare so scorching, it could melt ice.
Stellen told me my training started now. And so it has.
With a single cleverly-worded command, he’s backed Lilis into a corner.
Not only has he made my complete safety her responsibility, but it will be obvious to anyone listening—and listening, they are—that Stellen didn’t threaten to deliver the harm himself.
He will have one of Lilis’s subordinates do it.
A diminishing of her stature that would threaten her entire existence.
Her response isn’t what I expected.
Her glare fades. Her forehead puckers. She glances at Stellen, then at the watching soldiers.
Ignoring me for a moment, she points to different groups of men and women. “You four, prepare for your tower rotation. And you four, prepare to travel northwest with your legions. I want reinforcements holding the line against the Northerners. The rest of you, get back to training!”
While the soldiers hurry to obey, Lilis pins me with her luminously sharp gaze. “Oracle, you will—”
She takes another glance at Stellen’s arm, which he hasn’t lowered, then clears her throat and softens her voice. “Oracle, will you come with me?”
Stellen finally steps back, his focus moving to me. He doesn’t give me any indication about whether or not I should do as Lilis asks.
Her politeness is extremely unnerving.
But now that Stellen has turned the tables on her, I’m seeing what I couldn’t see before: her lackeys are no longer looking at me like I’m their prey.
At my nod, Lilis turns and calls for her wolf, but she remains on foot, the white beast padding along beside her.
I follow Lilis back toward the palace gate. Nara walks on my right and Stellen on my left.
There’s enough distance between us and Lilis that I murmur to Stellen, “You could have trained me yourself, but by having Lilis teach me and making it publicly known, you’ve ensured my safety. Yes?”
He inclines his head. “My soldiers saw you as a target. Not only the two who spoke back there. They were just the ones brazen enough to speak their thoughts aloud. But now, you’re under Lilis’s protection as well as mine.” He gives me an icy stare. “The soldiers won’t cross Lilis.”
I consider Stellen carefully, knowing the truth of it. Lilis single-handedly killed six of Iker’s warriors. So why do I get the feeling… “There’s more,” I say. “Isn’t there?”
Stellen takes a breath. “An additional necessity. By training with Lilis, you’ll learn her fighting style.”
That’s all he needs to say. I can figure out the unspoken parts for myself. At a basic level, I need every skill she has; how to use my body’s natural abilities to the fullest, my flexibility and agility and greater lightness than a male fae.
I need to know how to fight like a woman.
It’s the same reasoning Antony would have used when he wanted his sister to train me.
At a more complex level, I need to know how to fight like Lilis, who has survived the cruelties that the Frost Kingdom has thrown at her.
Stellen has given me this opportunity. Without endangering me.
We’ve passed the palace gate now and soon reach a complex of barracks. Passing along the left side of that, we stop only when we reach a separate walled compound. A small one, similar to the Rose Room.
Immediately inside the wall is an open area, again like the Rose Room, except this one is bare of statues. The path has nothing more than two patches of shallow snow on either side of it.
The two wolves separate from us, taking up positions near the door into the building.
Lilis gestures me forward, her jaw tight and expression unreadable. “Come.”
I follow her inside.
Stellen pauses at the door, his tall frame taking up most of the space within it.
Is he coming with me?
The question rises to my lips, but his whisper cuts across the air. “I’ll wait outside.”
I’m not sure that’s wise. His threat to Lilis carries weight, but I don’t think it will stop her trying to hurt me if she really wants to.
I’d love to believe I won’t need Stellen’s help, but the entire reason I’m undertaking training is because my defensive skills are basic. My best strength is my speed, which this confined space will hinder, just as I got stuck when Lilis assailed me on that first day.
I may not be able to ask Stellen for help as such, but I’m not too proud to admit to myself I might need it.
Before I can formulate a way to tell him that, he anticipates me.
“Nothing will stop me getting to you if you need me.”
His promise delivers the comfort I need. Whatever cruel devices Lilis will surely have up her sleeve, Stellen isn’t abandoning me to them.
Lilis observes me, surprisingly without any hint of scorn, before she gestures me forward through the main area and into the hallway. There are only two rooms along the corridor, both with doors closed before the hallway opens up into a small arena.
“This is my personal training space,” Lilis says, her back straight and head held high.
“To begin with, we’ll focus on your strength and agility.
When you’re strong enough, we’ll progress to defensive maneuvers, ensuring you can evade any and all strikes.
” She gives a soft huff. “That way, you’ll avoid cuts and bruises. ”
I’ve paused in the doorway, my attention arrested by the little alcove in the narrow strip of wall beside the arena’s entrance.
A wooden carving of a wolf rests within the alcove, the fine detail in its face and fur clearly hewn by a skilled hand. Strips of white indicate it was once fully painted, but now much of the blond-colored wood shows through.
“Did you carve this?”
She stiffens. “No.”
I wait another moment, but if that’s all she wants to give me, I won’t push for more.
Stepping into the arena, I consider the training apparatus: beams and wooden poles of varying heights, some that appear to contain metallic mechanisms, but it’s not clear what they do.
The floor is wooden but has some spring in it. The air is warmer in here than outside, although the only heating element I saw was in the main room.
Looking me up and down, Lilis gives an exasperated sigh. “We can’t start until you’re appropriately dressed. Wait here.”
She sweeps past me, back into the corridor and to one of the rooms. The door opens and closes.
A minute later, she reappears holding a black garment that looks like it will be skintight.
“This is a training suit. It will fit snugly over your entire body. Get changed.” Then, with a furtive glance toward the front of the building, she seems to remember that Stellen can hear everything. “Please change into this training suit.”
My hesitation now isn’t an effort to tame her. “Is there a bathing room?”
“Not one you can use.”
I arch my eyebrows at her.
She huffs again. “If you’re prudish, I can turn around.”
I shake my head. “Just curious why I can’t use your bathing room. At some point, I’ll need to.”
Her jaw clenches and she takes a step toward me. “This is my space, Oracle. You’re invading it. Now, unless you need the bathing room right away, you can either change here or stay in those impractical garments. It’s your choice.”
I stand firm in the face of her aggression, even if my instinct is to put space between us.
Carefully, I reach for the training suit.
She pushes it at me before she turns to face the other direction.
I’m not sorry to remove the ill-fitting clothes and put on the black suit. It has a built-in corset, extra lining around the crotch and pelvis, and clings to my body as nicely as the Lethian armor did, giving me just as much flexibility when I move.
Folding the other clothing and placing it on the floor at the side of the room, I say, “I’m ready.”
Appraising me, Lilis gives a grunt of approval. “Let’s test your endurance and flexibility.”
For the next three hours, she has me balancing on beams and hanging from bars, performing what she calls planks and pull-ups, and attempting all sorts of handstands, some with only one hand.
Every one of her exercises strains the muscles in my stomach, back, arms, and thighs—actually, every part of my body, but a lifetime of hard work has given me enough strength to hold my own. Even if I’m not especially elegant about it.
Lowering myself to the floor after a one-handed plank, I find her glaring at me, her arms folded across her chest. “You’re stronger than you look.”
I calmly return her sharp gaze. “You’re unhappy about it.”
Once again, she gives a huff, a sound with which I’m becoming very familiar.
“It’s a problem,” she says.
“Why?”
“Because those exercises are safe. The faster you advance, the closer you get to situations that can’t always be made safe.”
“You were hoping I’d be stuck on the basics for weeks.”
“Frankly, yes.”
“Well, then, what’s next?”
“Evasion.”
Without warning, she steps toward me and her fist flashes at my face.
I dart left, easily avoiding the punch.
Her glittering, purple eyes narrow at me. But she can’t be unhappy this time. By evading her, I saved her from ten strikes.