Once her opponents were down, Selene sprinted toward the obstacle course. It changed every day.
“Every city is different. Every street changes from one to the next,”Oskar had once explained.“You must be able to escape at a moment’s notice, and do it on nothing but your natural instinct.”
Selene leapt over the first crate and hip-slid off the other side to enter the rearranged labyrinth. She crossed dummy enemies between things like an over-under series of poles and leaps over traps that would drop her into shallow holes. She put her fictitious enemies down with the throwing knives sheathed in a variety of holsters all over her body. Sometimes, a real Blade would appear to give her a good fight.
Muscles screamed. Joints popped. Her breath tore out in ragged shots. She crawled, climbed, and flipped off high bars. She ran across the tops of poles that stood several feet off the ground. The wall loomed closer, and she bled momentum with every desperate step.
Then it was there. The one obstacle she had yet to defeat. The wall waited like it knew her by name. Like it enjoyed denying her an earned victory.
Selene sprinted toward her nemesis with teeth gritted. The Blades watched from certain vantage points and held their breath. Silently giving her strength.
She couldn’t think about them now. Not with the end in sight.
Three steps. That was all it would take. Maybe four.
Gods, don’t let it be four.
She jumped at the vertical wall, planted her first step…her second…
Selene strained skyward for that ledge high above and brought her foot up one more time?—
Her boot gripped, and her fingertips scraped the edge. Nowhere near enough to get a good hold. Gravity refused her a fourth step, and she plummeted.
She hit the ground like a busted bag of sand. Air punched from her lungs. On her back, dragging breath in that felt like blades, Selene foughtback a scream. She wanted to cry. To dissolve into the dirt. What if this was all she’d ever be? A survivor. Not a warrior. Not enough.
She slammed her fists on the ground. “Damn it!”
Oskar appeared overhead, hands on his hips. “Like I said. Four. Plan forfour.”
He offered her a hand up, and she took it.
“The others do it in three,” she groused.
“The others have a height advantage that you do not.”
“Then I want a wall height advantage. Shorten it. Four inches. That’s all I’m asking.”
He pointed at the wall, eyes twinkling. “It’s the height of the average single-story building. Do you expect walls to start bending to your will now?”
Frustrated tears pricked her eyes. This was impossible. “I can’t do it, Oskar.” She kept her voice low so that the others wouldn’t hear her defeat.
Oskar signaled for everyone to leave. “We’re done for the day.”
The men left, some with encouraging words. “Good job today, Selene.”
“You’ll get it tomorrow. Keep your head up.”
They knew how badly she wanted this. She worked too hard to let this one thing stop her progress.
Oskar stared at her for several breaths, taking her in in fragments. From her balled fists to the line of hot tears in her eyes. “Selene?—”
“It’s all right. I have limitations. It’s time we accept them.”
He laughed. “Limitations? You?” With a sigh, he gripped her shoulder with a hand hardened by battle. His touch, however, was unbearably gentle. “You were once a girl who flinched at her own shadow. You barely spoke above a whisper. And now?” He gestured at the course. “The only thing standing between you and…well,you, is one damn wall.”
Weight filled her chin, and she let it fall to her chest.
Oskar spun her to a crate and had her sit. “What’s with the frustration? You’ve never let a training session get to you like this before.”
