I tried to not get distracted by his wandering gaze. The man knew exactly what he was doing when he looked at me like that. In fact, the vampyre Lord seemed toalwaysknow what he was doing. I tried to keep my mind from straying to thoughts of lunch, not only the romantic gesture of bringing me to a beautiful rooftop garden, which had been beyond sweet, but the way his mouth felt against my center.
I hadn’t realized it could feel that amazing. Thankfully I hadn’t blurted out my inexperience—I worried he’d view that as a bad thing and would call a halt to further…action. I wanted to explore Dakath even more. I wanted to know how I could make him feel similar, and I didn’t want him to be hesitant or nervous if he knew exactly how innocent I was.
Not only him, though—I wanted that with Kolvar as well.
I’d been watching the sweat roll down their large, muscular bodies throughout the training session, and I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t make my skin heat.
My eyes snuck over to Elijah, his gaze darting away from where he’d been staring at my body. I couldn’t help but smile at that, considering it a win. I had no idea on what to do with the situation between us, but I would give the man this—I found it so attractive the way he could command the space. I didn’t even realize that would be something I’d find appealing, but when he dropped commands at me while in training, my body reacted a lot differently than I would’ve thought.
“Alright, what’s next?” I asked curiously. Judging by the way Elijah was standing with his arms crossed over his chest and the challenge in his eyes, we were far from done.
“Testing out weapons,” he answered as Kolvar came out of a small shed to the left of the yard, carrying a large pile of canvas material that made a scraping noise with every step he took.
“Eventually,” Dakath said as he gently ran his fingers up my back, causing me to shiver and Elijah to narrow his eyes, “you will have your own weapons made to fit your frame and fighting style, but first you need to decide what type fits you best.”
“What are my options?” I asked, examining the pile Kolvar brought over. I had no experience with weapons, but the idea of yielding such an impressive and dangerous piece of metal made me both nervous and excited.
Elijah motioned to the pile. “A lot, but with your small frame, you won’t want something too large. It would be too heavy to properly work, even with your newly enhanced strength. We want it to feel like an extension of your body when you fight.”
I nodded in understanding as Kolvar sorted through the weapons, hyper-focused on the task. I had no idea what it was about training, but the man hovered far more than usual, examining every piece of equipment as if it was going to hurt me.
“I bet you will like a sword,” Dakath mused, his eyes flashing with interest. I offered him a curious look, prompting him to add, “It’s what I use.”
“I have a small single handed battle ax I found for her,” Kolvar said, looking proud as he stood with the weapon.
“How about whichever of our personal weapons she likes best is who she goes on a date with next?” Dakath suggested, flashing a small smirk that changed his expression completely. He was clearly feeling very confident I’d choose a sword.
Before I could say I liked the idea of the challenge, Elijah appeared behind me, electricity moving between us as I turned into him. I didn’t know what I expected, so I stood there silently while he picked up one of my hands and examined it, measuring it against his own. Then, without a word, he disappeared.
“Where is he going?”
“Who knows.” Kolvar shook his head, seemingly amused, before handing a long, thin sword to Dakath. When he turned it, offering me the hilt, I took it hesitantly. I felt nervous with a weapon in my hand, but there was a part of me that also felt secure in holding it. It felt like an immediate shield between myself and anyone who wanted to hurt me. I hadn’t realized how desperately I needed that control until now. I’d only had a small idea of the notion prior to holding the metal in my palm.
“Looking good, Kyella!” Myrin called out, causing me to look over and smile.
“Yay, Ky!” Rina clapped her hands as Bailey offered me a big thumbs up.
“Come over here,” Dakath commanded, leading me to the center of the training yard. He positioned me so I was holding the sword comfortably before taking out his own. My eyes widened as I realized his weapon was far larger and more intimidating, but I didn’t back down. I tightened my grip and listened to the instruction he began to give.
For the next five minutes, he walked me through different fighting forms before turning to sparring, and I found myself using the sword like it was second nature.
Okay,maybethat was an exaggeration. I still felt a bit clumsy, trying to acclimate to my newfound speed and rapid reactions, but I could hold my own to a small extent. It helped that I had a cheering section encouraging me every time I managed to get past Dakath’s guard. They had me smiling ear to ear and actually enjoying the sparring and training.
“You did fantastic,” Dakath assured me as we finally walked back towards Kolvar, who was watching us with amusement.
“I actually felt pretty comfortable with it once I got used to my grip and how I had to move my hands and wrists to accommodate certain moves,” I admitted, smiling up at him.
“See? I told you the sword would be her favorite.” Dakath pointed out to Kolvar.
“Don’t celebrate yet. She hasn’t tried an ax, and there’s still whatever the hell Elijah is doing,” Kolvar pointed out, taking the sword from me and gently placing it down. When he procured the ax, I eyed it with curiosity.
“This is a single-handed battle ax,” Kolvar explained as we walked back to the center. “Swords like Dakath’s allow more space between your opponent and yourself, but axes are different. You can throw them from afar, but you’d be left weaponless, so you want to avoid that. In battle you would have a shield as well, but the main strategy with an ax is to focus on speed and power.”
“I hate to tell you, but I don’t think I’ll bethatstrong, even with vampyre strength,” I teased, though I was itching to try it out.
His eyes flashed with a knowing light. “Maybe, but don’t say that too loud—I already had a date planned, and Dakath was selfish with you earlier.”
I mimicked zipping my lips, loving that he wanted this one-on-one time so badly. As Kolvar began instructing me on the ax, I found that the process was drastically different than the sword, just as he said. Instead of sparring with each other, we used a straw-filled dummy as he explained the mechanics of cutting down your opponent in key spots before they could retaliate.
