He let out a low chuckle, and his breath was hot on my face. I inhaled sharply at the intensity in his gaze, immediately regretting it. The scent of him overwhelmed me, and I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes so I could picture myself alone on a pier at night, waves crashing angrily against the rocks as they fed on the might of a rising storm. If I couldn’t see him, then I could imagine literally anybody else in front of me, their hard body pressed so close to mine without actually touching.
I wouldn’t give in, though. I kept my eyes open, unblinking. He would not break me.
“I know exactly who you are, Rain,” he hissed, and I hated the way he said my name with a sharp bite at the end. “The important question is… do you?” The hand near my face curled into a tight fist. I could feel it shaking as if it cost him a tremendous effort not to strike me.
“What the hell did I ever do to you?” I demanded, wondering how someone I just met could hate me so much.
His teeth ground together, and I could see every tension line on his face. There was a war going on inside him, and I had noidea what I had done to cause it. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. A painful grimace crossed his face, like my scent was the most repulsive thing imaginable.
Just as I opened my mouth to say something, he pushed himself away from the wall and stalked off down the hallway. “Let’s go,” he barked over his shoulder. “Your training awaits, Fea Remia.”
I waited for my heart rate to ease before sprinting after him. God, this was going to be a disaster. There was no way we could get through weeks of training. One of us would definitely kill the other one first.
I followed Sin through the castle and out into the front courtyard. Each guard we passed snapped to attention in his presence, and I wondered if they were all as terrified of him as I was.
Once outside the castle, he veered to the left, and I followed him toward the arena. My steps faltered when we stepped through the arched entryway. I had seen from above that the space was big, but being inside was a whole different perspective. There had to be over a hundred circular rows of pale stone seats, bisected by a massive set of stairs that descended into a pit the size of a football field.
“Move it!” Sin shouted from halfway down the steps, glaring up at me.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” I huffed, following after him as he headed into the pit. Each stone step was polished from probably centuries of use, and I nearly ended up on my ass a handful of times since my chucks weren’t exactly slip resistant.
I made it to the bottom in one piece and looked around, taking in the sand covered arena with boulders larger than dumpstersscattered throughout. A handful of scorch marks along the walls had me curious as to exactly what kind of battles happened in this place.
“Over here,” Sin called from off to my left.
Set a few steps lower than the level of the pit, a covered walkway ran along the entirety of the outer rim with entrances every ten yards or so and several doorways leading back into what I guessed were training rooms. Or maybe preparation rooms for whatever kind of fighting they did here. This place was giving off some serious Gladiator vibes.
I followed the sound of Sin’s voice through the open hall until I came to a door on my right. Racks and racks of swords, maces, flails, and other strange weapons I didn’t recognize filled the room.
I put my hands on my hips and looked at Sin. “Now what?”
“Now you learn how to fight.” He gestured to the arsenal around me as if I should pick one. Surely he didn’t mean for me to take up sword fighting on day one…
When I didn’t move, he selected an impressively ornate broadsword that was mounted above a rack of more basic silver swords. He swung it around in his hands a few times, and I hated to admit how good he looked doing it. Something about a guy with a sword was undeniably hot.
He handed me the weapon. ”Here. I’ll even let you use my personal sword. It’s perfectly balanced. Excellent for a novice.”
As my hand took hold of the hilt, my arm sank under its immense weight, the point of the sword slamming a few inches into the hard-packed dirt.
Well, shit. These things were heavier than they looked.
I glared at Sin who didn’t even bother to hide the satisfied smirk on his face.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” I heaved the sword up, using all my strength just to lift it, yet my arms gave out withinseconds. No way would I be able to swing it with any kind of accuracy. It had to be at least twenty-five pounds, too much for my scrawny arms to wield, and the asshole had to know that.
“It’s too heavy,” I huffed out.
Stalking over to me, he snapped, “Then come find me when it isn’t.” In one fluid motion, he grabbed the sword from my hand and spun it with a little flourish to effortlessly sheath it behind his back.
Without a word, he strode off, leaving me surrounded by weapons that I couldn’t even use and wondering why the hell I ever agreed to any of this to begin with.
Chapter sixteen
I probably stood in the weapons room looking dumbfounded for a solid minute before I charged after Sin.
“Hey, jackass!” I shouted to his retreating back as I popped out from under the covered walkway. “Are you freaking kidding me right now? What kind of bullshit was that?”
Sin whipped around and stomped over to where I stood at the edge of the pit. “It was every kind of bullshit, Fea Remia. It’s like you said earlier, a handful of weeks is not enough time to learn anything. It’s fucking pointless for me to waste my time on you when I have more important things to do than babysit a child.”
