Page 32 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

“Sorry, I was lost in a thought.”

“It’s okay. I said I’m going to raise the beam a few more feet in the air, then I want you to stay on as long as possible.”

“Okay, that sounds easy.”

“Doesn’t it though?” Darrius had the same smirk as his son. The one that made you realize he was up to something, and it was too late to stop it.

The beam rose another four feet in the air. I was high enough that if I fell, it wouldn’t feel good, but the blue mats below should absorb most of my fall.

I took a few careful steps to the center of the beam and waited. The remote beeped, and the board quaked, softly at first, then a little more. This must’ve been what it felt like to walk on a suspended rope bridge.

It wasn’t too bad at first. Then, after a few more beeps from below, the quaking turned to a back-and-forth rocking. I crouched to lower my center of gravity and held on to the board with my hands. My fingers dug into the wood.

The beam gave its first violent jolt. One of my feet slipped, my inner thigh hitting the corner of the beam hard.

Fuck, that hurt.

I wrapped my arms around the beam to steady myself, then pushed myself back to a sitting position. I needed to get back to my feet.

Slowly, trying to expect the movements of the beam, I rose to a kneeling position. I let go of the beam to push myself to a standing position, carefully shifting my weight with the rocking of the wood underneath me. The second after I let go of the beam, it gave another heavy jolt, and I went tumbling to the ground. I slammed into the mat, the impact reminding me I still had some impressive bruises on my ribs.

Ow.

“Are you okay?” Rune was in front of me, offering to help me up.

“Just peachy,” I said, sitting up, trying to suck air back into my lungs. Nothing burned your lungs quite like having the wind knocked out of you.

“How about strength next?” Ulric asked. “There’s no falling in that test.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said, standing up.

Ulric pointed for Rune to go back to the wall before he took me to the weights. “Have you ever lifted before?” he asked me.

“A few times in gym class,” I answered honestly.

“Okay, we are going to start you with a basic dead lift. I want your feet shoulder-width apart, and lift the bar with your legs,” he instructed.

He had me pick it up a few times before he put any weight on it, just to make sure I was doing it right and I wouldn’t hurt myself.

When Ulric put his hand on my back, it reminded me of the way Rune’s hands felt when he held me. I couldn’t stop myself from looking towards him. Murmur was sitting next to him talking about something, staring at his phone. I had the distinct feeling that Rune wasn’t listening to a word he said. His eyes were focused on me, starting so hard heat rose to my cheeks before I focused on the task at hand.

Ulric loaded forty pounds on the dead lift. I could lift it with no issues. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“Good. Just testing your form.” He loaded on several big black plates to the end of each bar. “Try that.”

I bent down the same way, pushing through my legs to try to lift the barbell. I got it about three inches off the ground. That was as far as it was going to budge.

“How much weight did you load?” Kylie asked when I gave up and stepped back from the weight.

“One twenty,” Ulric answered.

I turned just in time to see a flash of disappointment in Kylie’s eyes.

Fuck.

I was not strong, and I had shit balance.

“You are a runner, right?” Ulric asked. “Rune mentioned something about you running in a park?”

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