Again, his thoughts went back to Xandrie.
“Back in the day, our races were completely mixed with the rest of the world, thanks to our Riders, and women rarely died in childbirth. As the time has passed, and our blood has dwindled, our children have become weaker. With each generation, things get worse. The rest of the Councilmen and I have talked about bringing up the subject for decades; telling you about Riders. But we were bound by an oath. I’ll admit that a part of me was relieved when I saw you landing in front of the castle with a human on your back. Change was bound to happen. Alexandria was bound to come to us.”
His chest hurt, and the dragon inside him wanted to burst out, because he had a right to feel the cravings, the need to be closer, and to know more about a stranger - something that had driven him mad.
Then, he laughed humorlessly.
“Too fucking bad you had to call for a bloody Claiming, then.”
Nathos smirked.
“Yeah, my bad. That’s still going to be fun to watch, though.”
“Dick.”
“Are you taking a break?”
No, she wasn’t. She was just pretty slow at doing her two hundred and twenty first push-up.
“I think I hate you. In fact, I know I do.”
He just laughed. “Come on, gal. Twenty-nine to go. We haven’t got all day.”
Vincent hadn’t been kidding when he said he was going to push her to her limits. He had her doing squats, thrusts, free weights, and jump-rope five hours a day, at first, then he started to give her various weapon training, and on top of it all, she followed him throughout his day.
The first time, she’d felt shy, inadequate, and exposed. Literally exposed; she wore one of these sets of armor which didn’t make a bit of sense - metal barely covering her skin.
“You know my heart isn’t covered, right? Nor my stomach, nor my neck. It basically is a sex kitten stripper outfit more than armor.”
Vincent just smiled.
“Seriously.”
“Stand there for a minute.”
She obeyed, tapping her foot as her trainer walked a few feet back. Then, and without any warning, he pointed his hand toward her and a long, violent, molten jet of fire rushed at her.
Fear. She knew fear now. This would manage where the weapons of her people had failed - this could kill her, she felt it in her bone. She was confused and hurt that a man she’d seen as a friend would do this to her, but she didn’t exactly have the time to ponder upon it. Instead, Xandrie did the only thing she could do - she turned to run.
Not in time. The dragonfire reached her… and hit a wall, bouncing from it.
She stayed still for an instant, and then, yelled as loud as her lungs would let her as she launched herself as Vincent, kicking and screaming.
The damn idiot was just laughing.
Asshole.
“Alright, alright, calm down. I just wanted to show you my point. This metal you’re wearing? All of us have some when we go to battle. It’s called maille. It’s best to have it in direct contact with our skin, but some are stupid and just have it on a shield. It’s not meant to stop an arrow or a blade - these have never been our issues. They’re made by our mages, and their one function is to stop dragonfire.”
Okay, so maybe, just maybe that part made sense.
She was too pissed to want to speak to him - because he could just have said so rather than frighten her within an inch of her life - however, she couldn’t help but grumble, “That doesn’t explain why it’s basically covering as little as possible.”
She hadn’t heard or seen him coming, but it was the voice of the King who replied, “I can explain that easily enough.”
She turned to find Rhey Vasili walking towards her, smiling in a way that made her stupid little heart bounce in her chest.
“This armor is crafted this way because they were made my men.” His piercing eyes scrutinized her from the tip of her toes to her shoulders, and he looked directly into her damn soul as he told her, “It suits you.”
Then, as though he hadn’t just effortlessly made her swoon, he turned to Vincent. “We’ve delayed the hunt overmuch already. Is she ready?”
“You want to bring her to a hunt? No. No way, no how.”
Well, that was offensive. Her hands on her hips, eyes narrowed, she interjected, “What’s a hunt and why can’t I go? I’m supposed to stay with you.”
“You’re supposed to stay alive - and you remember how you freaked out when I just threw you a tiny fireball? That’s why you can’t come.”
Ouch. That hurt.
“Enough Vincent,” the King said. Then, he took a step towards her, his height topping hers. “A hunt is just a way to say that the King is accompanying his Knights, Guards and Warriors on a patrol mission. We call it such because everything seems to happen when we monarchs show our faces - those we want off our lands take it as a challenge. There will be a lot of violence, a lot of fights, and it will be dangerous, but you’ll also learn more than Vincent can teach you within the safety of those walls. If you’re ready, I’ll have you accompany us.”
Wow. That was a pretty big thing, apparently. But he was asking her, directly, and despite her friend’s disagreement. He was trusting her. She gulped, “I’d like to go.”
“Good,” he replied, giving her a full blown smile. “Demelza will accompany us, and you will stay between she and I - Vincent will be right behind us, along with a dozen Guards, and hundred Knights and two hundred Warriors. It won’t be safe, but you’ll live.”
He said it like there was no other alternative and she found herself trusting his word. She’d live. Good.
“Bring Laria with you.”
“Oh, I meant to give it back to you,” she blushed because she had meant to, but she was also dreading it; she couldn’t explain it, but she loved that damn sword like no other possession she’d ever had, all the while knowing it wasn’t hers to keep.
Probably because she’d never owned very much, except some clothes. She wore her necklace, but it wasn’t expensive, nor precious; she’d found a pretty blue stone one day, and she’d managed to make it a pendant with some metal strings and a bit of leather.
Yet, Demelza’s very fine weapons, her impressive and clearly expensive jewelry, didn’t make her feel anything; the sword was another matter.
It was a great relief when Rhey said, “A King doesn’t take back what has been given, Alexandria.”
She loved her name on this tongue.
He walked away, showing off that pretty ass of his again.
“We leave at dawn. Catch some rest, and get ready - both of you. We may be gone for days.”
She had no clue what made her do it. Could she plead insanity?
“Wait.”
How fucking embarrassing, but it was too late, because he did, in fact, wait.
Her hands were shaking a little when she dropped her cheap necklace in his palm.