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I cocked an eyebrow. “The Unseelie must be very skilled with them…”
The guide swung the scythe a few times, watching the sun rays dance on the shiny blade.
“It’s actually my weapon of choice.”
Now that I knew this detail about him, I thought he was worth a closer look. I’d pretty much ignored him when he’d introduced himself, too tired after the visit to the museum. I hated museums. They were all so damn boring!
His name was Furio, if I remembered well. He had olive skin, wide shoulders, strong limbs, and was almost as tall and scary as Crassus. His black hair was tied up high on his head, in a tight bum that, unfortunately, didn’t exactly compliment his harsh features. When he played with the scythe, however, a smile tugged at his lips, and his face muscles relaxed.
“Would you mind showing me some moves?” I asked bravely, dragging my scythe on the floor and holding it firmly before me. “I’d like to see how the Unseelie fight. We’ve been practicing in PE, but I feel like I could do better.”
“Mila,” Professor Maat hissed at me. She turned to Furio. “I’m so sorry. She didn’t mean to offend.”
“Oh, not at all.” He smiled broadly. “It would be my honor to show a future Grim Reaper some Unseelie tactics. Please, Miss. Let’s take our positions.”
I followed him to the center of the room. The two pairs of young soldiers who’d been practicing stopped and stepped aside. The Violent Death Cabal gathered around me and Furio, with GC, Paz, and Francis in front. Francis had his arms crossed over his chest and his brows furrowed. He knew what I was up to. GC and Paz were both worried and proud of me. I was a decent fighter when it came to it, but we all knew the Unseelie wasn’t going to treat me differently
just because I was a woman or a beginner. It was their way. They took every fight just as seriously as they took their money and their contracts. A fascinating species, for sure.
Furio attacked, and I blocked. He was fast on his feet, while I barely moved. Mrs. Charon hadn’t exactly taught us what to do with our feet in a fight. I’d heard her say countless times that the whole thing was ridiculous, and she had no intention of preparing us for ring fights, or whatever. While she was right when it came to all the other students regardless of their cabals, my situation was different. I was supposed to take out Morningstar one day, so maybe someone should have taught me how to fight a good match from beginning to end.
I gathered my courage and attacked Furio, but he moved out of the way like it was nothing. We danced around each other for a while, neither of us able to score a single hit. Despite the chilly air in the practice room, I was sweating visibly.
“You’re good,” he said. “You didn’t manage much, but at least I didn’t nick you.”
“Did you go easy on me?”
“Not at all. When it comes to self-defense, you’ve got skills. But it’s like defense is all you’re focused on, and when you have to attack, you do it half-heartedly.” He walked up to me. “If I may…”
“Sure.”
He stepped behind me and adjusted my position. What followed was twenty minutes of him showing me how to move my feet, keep my shoulders relaxed, and hold the scythe in a way that gave me more flexibility. He taught me how to maneuver the handle with my fingers, twirl it around, and throw it effortlessly from one hand to another.
“This way, your opponent won’t guess if you’re going right or left.”
Oddly enough, the other VDC students watched the whole thing with interest. It was different from what Mrs. Charon had taught us, and anything that could put them at an advantage was welcome. Even with Headmaster Morningstar fucking up the curriculum, they were still keen on learning.
“Thank you so much, Furio. This was amazing.”
We shook hands, then he returned to his tour guide duties and showed us out of the training facility.
“You looked badass in there,” Paz whispered as he walked past me, pretending he wanted to catch up with some guy.
“Word.” GC pulled off the same move. Nowadays, with Crassus watching me like an eagle, this was the only interaction we got. “Like a warrior goddess.”
I smiled, feeling pretty good about myself. I had Valentine’s notebook, I’d just learned some cool tricks from an Unseelie soldier, and we were heading to the Academy already. The visit had been short, which suited me just fine. All I wanted was to grab dinner, then lock myself in my room and dive into young Morningstar’s secrets.
Who knows… Maybe this notebook will tell me how to retire you. Was it too much to hope for?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It turned out… it was. It was way too much to hope for.
The damn thing was a dream journal. A. Dream. Journal.
“The fuck am I supposed to do with this? Ugh!” I threw the notebook across the room. It opened to a random page. I eyed it for a moment, then got up and decided the page it had opened to must have a clue for me. It didn’t. It was some dream about looking through a window and seeing a bunch of wild horses playing in a field.
“Useless,” I muttered.
