Page 81 of Veiled

I brought the stick from around my back crossing both across the rib cage of the punching dummy in a strong hit that echoed. Had it been a real person it would have broken ribs. Not all moves are about showing off. I spun the sticks behind my back because it helped with the dexterity of my wrists and I needed to make sure I was able to fight if I was down one hand. I tossed the sticks in the air, flipped and kicked the dummy before catching the sticks and using them to knock down their opponent. My speed increased since I mated, and sometimes I used to miss the catch completely. I had to drill it into my head, the timing. Testing my speed, I dropped both the sticks and ran at the dummy wrapping my legs around its head flipping the dummy over my head. Those shits were heavy, so I was proud of my hips, thighs and core right about now. I stood up and kicked the closest dummy and knocked it down as well.

I’m not sure at which point I lost myself to the training completely, but I found myself moving to the weapons wall, infusing two blades, and slashing at the air, kicking out while stabbing and cutting into my imaginary opponent. I started to let my mind wander- we have yet to really speak of it, but now knowing that Alvor had been watching my skill set the entire time we were in the school really pissed me off. He was the enemy and was in my grasp, but realistically, knowing he had been planning this, would I have even had a chance against him? I was cocky but he had been working for years with someone who was able to use magic to infiltrate a magic school… I yelled as I did a backflip and stabbed a fake opponent behind me, stepping forward, bending my knee and using an upsweep to cut through someone in front of me. Stupid fucking Alvor.What type of stupid name is Alvor anyways?

Another thing that plagued me was that my magic must have recognized his treachery. I remember, through the haze, calling him a rabbit, a predator recognizing its prey. My magic thought it would have ripped Alvor apart, but, logically, magic isn’t the only way to have combat, so I may have been setting myself up for a quick downfall. I need to be able to hone my new strengths and use them to their full capacity. I wanted to scream- it wasn’t like there was a magic measuring stick; how the hell did I know I was magically ready?

Then there was Nici- how can you beat an opponent you knew nothing about? Sure, there was a history, there is knowledge of what she was then and is now, however, her plans are what is important. She has spent two hundred years preparing for a war; that’s about 180 more than me, so how the fuck do I possibly gain an advantage on that? There had to be a way to gain information. Whispers... and as I spun and threw the blades in quick succession into the nearest dummies, the idea hit me... Scail; The king of whispers. It excited me, but then something else hit me, a mind not clouded by fairy wine or sex. His real name. Oberon. Motherfucker had the prophecy.

My eyes narrowed and my mind whirled a tad. I wasn’t upset, he literally had just met me, found out he was my mate and I expected what? For him to break down into a Shakespearian scene and offer the missing prophecy, in exchange for my hand in marriage? I scoffed. We are going to need to figure out what it said, which meant we needed to have a team powwow. The entire prophecy, and not the cliff notes version, either.

I forced myself to stop, close my eyes and take a deep breath, releasing my magic into the ground, and grounding myself back to nature and into reality. When I opened my eyes and looked around the room, everyone was staring at me, jaws open.

“What?!” I asked, and Remi smirked and pointed behind me, I looked, and I winced at the dummies that resembled pulverized plastic and the punching bags which fell over at some point.

I walked away with my head held high and confidently said, “well they started it.”

Ryder snorted and rolled his eyes, everyone else had a small smile on their faces, “They have been starting it for over an hour, baby girl. Those poor things never stood a chance.” Over an hour? Looking at my phone, my eyes bugged out. Holy shit, I have been going at this for over an hour, and it didn’t feel like it. Well, I guess that’s why it looks like Barbie found all her Ken dolls cheating. I grimaced at the extent of the plastic everywhere.

“Ah well, what is next?” I looked at Kalen, and he rolled his eyes and gestured for me to come closer.

“We need to start laying groundwork and start getting you to learn how to fight as a team, instead of rushing in and doing things without help. Scail has graciously volunteered to help train you all to get a better grasp on it.” I nodded, pushing the thoughts of the prophecy away until lunch, so we can at least focus on the task at hand. Scail stepped up and started talking about the importance of working together seamlessly, while part of my brain took it all in. The other part admired how strong and compelling he looked. It made me wonder if we had that same telepathy powers so I can rattle him a bit.

Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three... Earth to Scaly fucker. I hid my smirk when his eyes shot to mine and he continued to speak to the group.

Scail- I’m going to turn you over my knee, people fear me…and I’m not scaly, my skin is quite soft.

I snorted a laugh, and everyone turned to look at me. I shrugged my shoulders and rocked back on my heels, pretending to be the best student.

Hudson- I highly doubt ‘quite soft’ is remotely correct. You know, swinging from trees and shit. Makes me wonder why they call you Scail and not Tarzan. Or at least Tuscan Sam.

I smirked when he barked my name to come forward.

“Hudson, I know you are more than capable of defending yourself and others, but in the heat of the battle, where there are thousands of enemies and we are going in full force, it will be hard to tell, after a while, who is who. In a matter of minutes everyone will be covered in blood and indiscernible from the other; there isn’t going to be a sign that indicates who is on your team or not. The one thing you must have over your enemies is focus,” his voice is hypnotizing but he makes a valid point.

“Makes sense, so, fine. Who are we taking on first? I’m more of a hands-on learner,” I pointed at the thick crowd of tall, gorgeous, Fae warriors. Goodness gracious, I just registered all of the men around me, but when I’m looking a bit further I notice a few women are geared up and training as well. I don’t know why it shocks me, but I guess with the inability to have children as often as they would like, I thought that the women would have taken a back seat. I guess that is a pretty stupid outlook, now that I think about it. I mean, I’m not backing down because of some bitch ass ovaries, so why should they. Do Fae women call them ovaries? Do they call them like seedlings since they are closer to nature? I startled as Ryder started laughing and Zane groaned. Scail just looked at me with his eyebrow raised, completely confused. Oops, I guess I was projecting my thoughts.

My mind was a bit scattered, but I focused back on the task at hand and we spent the rest of the morning trying to fight like a team. Scail was definitely holding back the day before because he put me on my ass way too many fucking times, which pissed me off. I learned a few more maneuvers, but I hate being taken out so easily.

“Focus, Hudson,” he said for the 45th time that damn morning I was on my back.

“Easy for you to say- you’re over 900 years old, you fucking cradle robbing fucker,” I swore angrily wiping the sweat from my face. He laughed, reaching down to help me to my feet.

We worked well past lunch and it was time to take a break and have a prophecy-sized talk. Teamwork was fine and all but fighting with a crowd of people next to me confused the fuck outta me. When we are all covered in blood, how do I know who is good and who isn’t? It will all just meld into a giant cluster fuck of meat. I growled in frustration. Kalen and Scail kept telling me to center myself and to let the magic and the breeze guide me. I felt like telling both Mr. Myagi’s to fuck off so many times, but I tried to listen to them, I really did. At one point I ended up smacking Zane with a stick and almost stabbing Grayson, confusing him for the other team in my haze.

I stuck my tongue out at him, “It is time for lunch. If I’m going to keep letting a grandpa put me on my ass I’m going to need to fuel up.” He laughed and I rolled my eyes. I started to walk away from the training area, stretching as I walked along. Everyone nodded at me as I walked away, and I realized all these people are going into battle essentially as my people and I knew nothing about them. I sighed and turned back, clapping my hands and let loose magic sparks to get their attention. I’m a savage, classy, flashy…okay not the words but you get the point.

When they all looked my way, I smiled kindly, “I don’t know how things were done in the past, but I made a promise to be different and I plan to be. So, I would like to extend an invite to everyone here, as well as their family and friends, to come over to my cabin later for a little party. It will be a good way for you all to get to know me and I you,” they looked a little surprised at my request. “Don’t go getting soft on me, besides, it’s a good chance to see me fall into the pool after my mates give me too much Fae wine,” I tease, and they chuckle. I tell them to be there around five, giving everyone a chance to have lunch and get ready to come over, and more importantly giving me time to talk to the guys because we all needed to be on the same page.

We made our way out into the forest path that leads to the cabins. I paused to look into the heavy foliage and smile, it truly is beautiful out here. Just walking around filled me with an energy that made me feel like I was vibrating with power. The guys are joking around with Remi and I rolled my eyes when Scail, Oberon, Obscailian?Whatever!The scaily fucker, grabbed my elbow softly, “that was a very kind thing to do.”

I shrugged, “I mean, I don’t know how else I’m going to get to know the people I’m supposed to protect and simultaneously lead into battle to die. How did other Queens do it? How does the Council do it?” I put quotations around council and sighed.

“They don’t,” he shrugged and paused for a bit, “They typically hold court where there are parties, but only the notable warriors get any notice, and that is after a battle or if they have proven themselves in other ways. You would be the first to actually actively want to get to know anyone.” I stopped walking and my eyebrows shot up.

“How is that possible? No, wrong question. How is that remotely okay? We are expected to sit on a throne and hang back? That doesn’t seem okay,” I frowned and started walking a bit more slowly, pensive. I’ll have to make this a lot more special then. These people didn’t deserve that; everyone needs to be taken care of, sure, but they deserve to know that they matter beyond what they can bring to table.

“In that case, we need to make this a monthly thing.” Oberon’s eyes popped open, but a smile was fixed on his face that took my breath away and made my stomach do back flips. I pushed that thought away and smiled back, “Don’t look so surprised. I came in with fresh ideas and I damn sure plan to live up to my promise.” We got to the cabin and paused outside the front door.

“I don’t think anyone is really ready for the Reign of Hudson,” teased Zane, planting a kiss on my lips on his way inside. I laughed and stuck my tongue out at him.

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