Page 124 of Wicked Heirs

“Hey, get me one too. X as well. We’ll all join in.” He told Alena, “I have to warn you, I’m shit-tastic at it, pretty fucking crap.”

“Then we’ll have that in common,” she said, chuckling. Then she looked to me. “What about you?”

“He’s got some impressive talent,” Orpheus answered for me. “Just not as much as me.”

“Obviously,” Alena jested.

I laughed. “Obviously.” I shook my head at Ore. “Arrogant shit.”

“Uh uh… confidence, brother. Confidence.”

“Sure, we’ll call it that.”

Then he produced two more blades with his magic, handing one each to Tal and me.

“Let’s do this!” Tal cried excitedly. I ducked as he tried to twirl his blade around and it only missed swiping me by a hair.

“Jeez, this is gonna be a nightmare,” I groused.

Orpheus took the sword back from him.

“Hey!” Tal cried.

“You get this back once you’ve had a cool down period as we walk to the Training Hall. Discipline is key to sword fighting, baby bird.”

Alena and I chuckled as we all made our way out of Orpheus’ chambers, with Tal pouting and Orpheus ruffling his hair to take the edge off.

“You need a better grip,”Orpheus told Alena as they stood opposite one another, each brandishing their swords. “Like I showed you, remember?” He proceeded to demonstrate the correct hand positioning with her right hand at the top of the grip and the other at the bottom. “I’ll be able to knock your sword out of your hand with just a slight tap otherwise. It’ll also compromise your accuracy once we start getting into various moves.”

She listened carefully and followed his instructions to a T. “How’s this?”

“Perfect. Now, take his stance,” he told her, settling his left foot ahead of his right and putting his body at a forty-five-degree angle. “We call it theready position.”

She did it, then waited patiently and with excitement gleaming in her eyes, for his next set of instructions.

“We’re going to go over different angles of attack. We’ll start with straight down from the top.”

And so it continued, him teaching her, while Talon and I messed around in the background, him taking on the role of a medieval knight and me apparently Merlin. Kind of mixing up his time periods there, but it was making him happy, so I let it be.

Besides, it was fun. Something we could all do with more of.

They clashed,crossing swords viciously, each pushing against the other to win out.

I saw Orpheus’ eyes flash his telltale purple, about to call on his magic.

But then the glow snuffed out and he stopped himself, surprising me that he wanted to play fair.

Nah, he didn’t. That wasn’t him.

But he was doing it for Alena.

“Damn, you’re strong, baby,” Tal called over, thankfully resting his sword down by his side and giving me a bit of a reprieve as he was taken with watching them battle.

“Half angel,” she answered simply, trying to keep her concentration on Orpheus.

But then he abruptly jumped back and tossed his sword across the room.

In the next moment, he grabbed the wrist of her sword-wielding hand, then used the hold to jerk her into him. “You’re so fucking alluring when you face off with me, little angel.”

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