| |
AURELIA
“Again,” the mammoth of a man training me roared from the other side of the makeshift ring.
“Water,” I gasped.
He’d been working me in this magic canceling room for hours.
“When you’re fighting for your life do you think your opponent will let you stop for a water break?” Max asked with a raised brow. “Again.”
I crouched back into a fighting stance and waited for Max to come at me again. After being at this for hours I was one giant bruise. I had muscle aches in places I didn’t even know I had muscles, but I kept going. I had a fight with Karma soon and I was damned if I was going to lose.
I slammed one fist into the pad on his hand and spun in a circle kicking out in a roundhouse kick.
Max’s other hand blocked my foot and pushed it away. “You’re slow.”
“I’m not used to this much exercise,” I growled.
I had never had much exercise but over the last week since my mother’s death it had been increasing by the day and Max wasn’t about to let up on it either.
“You need to get used to it. You are a sitting duck in a fight. Try harder, be faster.” Max shook his head.
“In a fight I will have my magic,” I huffed.
“Will you have your magic in the ring?” Max glared at me. “Again.”
I kicked out at him again and spun, bringing my elbow down on his side, but he blocked it easily. I jumped back as he swiped at me with the pad.
“You need to start a daily run,” Max said with a shake of his head. “In this room. Five miles before I get here every morning.”
“Are you kidding me? You want me to run five miles before the ass crack of dawn?” I asked with a scowl and moved to my water bottle.
“I’ll make sure Grey knows my training program for you and you won’t have a choice. I heard the sprites can be very convincing.” Max said.
“You wouldn’t,” I spun on him. “You play dirty.”
“One day, you will thank me for it. You are supposed to be fast. Karma will use everything she has at her disposal. Now grab a weapon.” Max pointed to the weapons wall.
I bounced excitedly on the balls of my feet. I had been waiting for a chance to learn a weapon. I eyed the beautiful bow and took a step toward it, but Max stopped me.
“Not the bow, at least not yet. You need to learn close combat first,” he said.
My shoulders slumped as I ran my fingers over the small knives. “What about this?”
“That’s a throwing knife. You never want to throw away your only weapon.” Max snarled and stomped over to the rack and pulled a dagger from it.
He placed the perfectly balanced blade in my hand, and I gripped it. The dagger felt good in my hand, and I slashed out with it experimentally.
“It’s perfect,” I said mostly to myself. The metal glinted under the fluorescent lighting.
“Come at me with it.” Max ordered.
I raised an eyebrow at his empty hands and twirled the blade in my hand. I’d never really worked with a blade before but it just felt natural.
I widened my stance and slashed out quickly, but Max twirled away from me, too quick for me to strike him.
“You should be faster than this. Karma will not go easy on you. Again,” Max barked.
I crouched in the fighting stance that Max had spent two hours perfecting. He knocked me on my ass so many times that he finally drilled it into my head.
I faked left and then adjusted and slashed at him from the right but Max was smarter than that.
“You put your weight on the right foot before you feint to the left. It’s a tell and any opponent worth anything will pick up on that immediately.” Max said as he spun behind me and elbowed me in the kidney.
I dropped to the mat with a cry of both frustration and pain.
Fucker isn’t pulling his punches. That fucking hurt.
The blade pressed into the mat as I caught my breath on my hands and knees. A towel dropped down next to me. I picked it up and swiped at my forehead and neck as I sat back on my heels.
“Time for a cool down. One mile jog on the treadmill,” Max said and his stomping feet left the room.
The door slammed shut behind him, and I fell back on the mat. The only sound in the room was my heaving breaths.
“Why the fuck did Grey hire a sadist to train me?” I mumbled.
“Now, Aurelia,” Max’s order was barked from the other side of the iron door.
“Fucker has super hearing too.” I shook my head and peeled myself off the mat.
I ran the towel over the back of my neck and trudged to the treadmill. This fucking sucked.
I pushed the buttons for a slow jog and my muscles screamed in protest as I started my one mile cool down. Grey really was going to pay for this. What did he expect me to do?
I gulped down water as I did as I was told. My muscles slowly worked themselves out of their stiffness as I jogged for about ten minutes and sighed in relief when it was done.
Grey had been even more adamant about starting my training strong after the revelations the night before.
I still couldn’t remember much from before the alley, and I had no idea what language I was speaking in that memory. The only thing that made any sense was that I was speaking fae.
I turned the treadmill off and stretched my arms over my head before trudging out into the hall.
I really needed a shower, but it didn’t make sense to do that until after my magic session.
I flopped into a chair at the kitchen island. The sprites were flitting around.
How do they cook when they are so tiny?
They flitted around the kitchen glowing a bright green. Fiona turned to me with a tiny grin.
“Miss Aurelia, how was your training?” Fiona asked making Freya gasp and turn to me.
“Terrible,” I said shaking my head.
A glass appeared in front of me with something thick and green inside of it and I grimaced.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Freya wagged a finger at me. “It will help heal your sore muscles.”
“What is it?” I asked picking up the glass and sniffing it.
I didn’t completely trust the mischievous sprites. They could have very well given me something that tasted like ass and titter and joke about the prank they played.
It didn’t smell terrible though. It smelled like berries and something floral. Both sprites stared at me as I took a tentative sip and warmth washed through me. I groaned and gulped it down.
My muscles relaxed instantly and the pain from my bruises ebbed away.
“Thank you,” I grinned at them.
“That will teach you to trust us. We wouldn’t give you anything to harm you,” Freya whispered.
“I’m sorry. I just had a really tough first training session with Max.” I pushed the empty glass toward them feeling a hundred times better already.
“Here, you need to refuel for your magic training after being in that gods-awful box for hours,” Freya said and a plate full of sandwiches appeared on the counter in front of me.
“How do you do that?” I asked picking up a sandwich and my stomach let out an unholy growl.
“Magic,” Freya giggled and flitted away without another word.
I shrugged and bit into the sandwich as Grey came walking into the kitche,n he bent and kissed my sweaty cheek.
“Eww, don’t touch me right now, I’m all gross,” I leaned away from him.
“Did you have a good training session?” Grey asked chuckling.
“No, you hired a sadist.” I scowled at him.
“He’s the best trainer out there.” He took the seat next to me and reached for a sandwich.
Fiona smacked his hand away and Grey scowled at her.
“Those are for Miss Aurelia, she needs to refuel.” The sprite wagged her finger at Grey.
“I can’t eat all of these, Fiona.” My eyes widened.
They really expect me to eat all of that? They aren’t serious?
My stomach growled again at the thought.
Well, shit. Maybe I can eat it all.
A plate appears in front of Grey and he nodded, the glare turning to something like affection for the sprite.
“Yes, Miss Aurelia. You must eat to refuel. Fae eat a lot especially after having their magic drained the way that bloody box does.” Fiona glared at Grey.
“Hey, don’t glare at me. She agreed to the fight with Karma. This just helping her learn to fight without magic.” Grey threw his hands up.
I giggled at the stern glare the sprite shot him. She didn’t like the training sessions any more than I did.
“Eat, Miss Aurelia. You need your strength.” Fiona nodded to the plate of sandwiches.
She’s not gonna let me leave until I have cleared my plate, is she? Bossy little sprite.
I finished the sandwich and picked up another, realizing I was hungrier than I thought.
“Is Magna coming by today?” I asked after swallowing. “I wanted to talk to her about the block on my memories.”
“No,” Grey said and didn’t elaborate.
“Do you know when she will be back?” I asked. I needed answers and Magna seemed like the one most likely to get them for me.
“She’s working on finding the cloaked person you met as a child,” he said cryptically.
My shoulders stiffened at his words. Why did I not like that idea? The person had felt familiar in my memory. They had felt almost like family.
It feels like a bad idea to let Grey anywhere near that person, but why? Who am I trying to protect, Grey or the hooded figure?
“What’s wrong?” Grey asked, not missing my reaction for a second.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to look for them? They could be dangerous,” I said but when Grey sniffed the air he glared at me.
“You don’t believe that. Why don’t you want me to find them, really?” He turned me to face him in the chair.
I shoved the last piece of sandwich in my mouth and grabbed the last one in an attempt to buy myself time.
“Aurelia?” Grey asked turning my eyes to his.
“I’m not sure. They felt familiar but I have a horrible feeling that if the two of you were in the same room, it would be bad for everyone.” I shrugged and glanced away.
“We need to find them,” Grey said on a sigh. “I have reason to believe they killed the witch who raised you.”
I gasped at his words and turned my gaze back to his. He wasn’t lying and I didn’t miss the way he didn’t call her my mother. Could he know how I lived before?
That wasn’t possible, right? He would have had to go to my old apartment.
“What do you mean?” I asked slowly.
“I had a witch perform a mimic spell to help clear your name from the murder, but the figure that was in the apartment was cloaked with a hood over their head. They stole a book from the safe that was meant for you.”
What book could he be talking about? I don’t remember any book.
“What was so special about this book?” I asked.
“There was a note that the book was with you when you were found. Whoever the hooded figure was, I think it’s the same person.” Grey steepled his hands on the counter in front of him.
Something about that explanation didn’t sit right with me and I closed my eyes.
Could I be terribly wrong about the hooded figure? Could they be out to hurt me? I don’t want to think so, but what if it’s true and I trust the wrong person? Everything would be destroyed.