Page 51 of A Legacy of the Light

“I really hope you’re not going to kick my ass like that?” I ask, half impressed and half terrified. I’m suddenly very glad I asked her to help me with this.

“Nah, lass, I’ll ease you in, don’t worry,” she tells me, while putting her sword back onto the rack nearest to us and grabbing an armored vest similar to hers.

“We’ll start with assessing your basic fitness,” she says as she hands me the leather.

“I’ll save you the time, it’s zero,” I state bluntly and slip it over my head.

“Okay, good to know. We’ll start with the basics then.”

Reyne helps lace me into the training armor, and then starts me with some basic stretches to get me warmed up before her torture—I mean training—begins. The leather feels heavy against my muscles.

“How do you know where to start?” I ask. It makes sense she knows how to fight given her father is a general, but I don’t understand how she knows where to start with me.

“When I was young, Dad moved around a lot. Mammy hated it, but we went with him. I saw how he trained his men—even helped on occasion.”

I nod while continuing to stretch out my muscles. Embarrassingly, I’m already feeling sweat gather on the back of my neck. I am incredibly unfit as Reyne is about to discover.

“I help with the guards’ training most afternoons if I’m not doing something else. It keeps things fresh for me.”

“I love that you’re a secret badass, Reyne,” I say, pulling my foot behind my ass to stretch out my quads.

She laughs. “It’s only secret to you, everyone else knows.”

Reyne joins me in stretching, telling me how important it is when I’m sore in the morning. She asks me how often I want to train, and I tell her as often as she can spare the time. We agree that we’ll do an hour or two each afternoon, depending on how hard I want to go.

“Tell me what your goal is with training,” Reyne asks kindly.

“After yesterday, I just want to be able to get myself out of a situation if I get into one. Seelie are strong and fast. I’m neither. I know I will never win in a fight but I would at least like a chance.”

She nods in confirmation and talks me through what I can expect from today’s session. I fight a grimace with every exercise she lists.

For the next hour, Reyne makes me do circuit training that has me blowing out my ass. I’m so out of breath that I’m actually wheezing.

“So you weren’t kidding when you said zero,” she comments.

“I,” gasp, “did,” gasp, “warn,” gasp, “you.”

Reyne tips her head back and laughs. A little harder than I would have liked, but who could blame her?

“Go get some water,” she instructs, pointing to a table in the far corner opposite to where we are training. I drag my sweaty body over and down three cups before turning round and observing the others. I’m glad I’ve only just noticed the number of occupied rings has increased. All of the training spaces are now full of Seelie.

I drain another cup and observe the guards around me. Some of them are moving so fast that I cannot hope to track their movements with my simple mortal eyesight. Others are working through drills at the command of their superior, arcing their weapons in perfect unison.

There’s a guard in the far ring moving faster than the others, the blur of his dark hair and the glint of his sword the only things visible in the afternoon sun. A crowd has gathered and Seelie take it in turn dipping in and out of the fight.

The movement slows enough that I can make out a Seelie in the center fighting off six guards at once. Someone swings a sword at his head and he deflects the blow with expert precision, while kicking his leg out at the guard coming up behind him. He disarms the guard in front of him and uses his sword, and the new sword, to block a swing from his left. He moves with such accuracy and power, it’s frightening. I’m watching so intently I don’t realize Reyne has joined me.

“Impressive, isn’t he,” she comments.

“Who is it?” I ask.

Before she can reply, the fighting stops. The six guards limp out of the ring and only one person remains.

“Shit me, that was Tavish?”

“Aye, it was,” Reyne confirms.

The crowd starts to disperse and I’m given a clear view of the prince.