Page 61 of The Blackened Blade

He couldn’t be serious.

I know Mr. Valor was strict about lessons and all, but shouldn’t he at least listen to my side?

Or was he just like everyone else in this academy?

“Unless it's during Defence class,” Mr. Valor looks at his watch, “Which started five minutes ago.”

A small smile pulls at my lips as I meet his green eyes again.

“And since it was supposed to be a sparring class, I see no fault in Ms. Bane practising with her fellow classmates while I ran late.”

Jakes eyes go wide, “That's not fair, she–”

“Fair?” Mr. Valor’s tone darkens, his eyes narrowing as the boy swallows the rest of his words. He takes a step past me, closing the space between them.

“Is three against onefair, Mr. Andrews?” Jake begins to tremble with whatever he sees in Mr. Valors face.“Your lack of awareness and ability is baffling. Or was it that you realised just one or two of you weren’t capable of being her opponent?” He takes a step toward the two boys still lying on the ground and prods them with the tip of his foot.

One of them groans, and I have to school the grin trying to stretch my cheeks as he continues.

“It seems I also haven't taught you three well enough. But don't worry, I’ll be giving you allextraattention from now on.”

Jake's eyes tremble as his mouth slowly opens and closes.

Mr. Valor turns toward the rest of the class that have gathered around us. He narrows his eyes at each boy in the crowd, a darker look growing in them as each of them turns away from his gaze.

“You two,” His tone is curt as he points to a couple of the boys nearest him. The ones with small injuries from coming too close to me. “Bring the dead weight to the infirmary and get yourselves patched up.” The boys slowly make their way toward Jeremy and Kayden.“And when you come back, you both can join Mr. Andrews, who will be enjoying the scenery and fresh air as he runs ten laps around the training grounds.”

Both boys go pale, but give him a shaky nod before taking thedeadweightsand leaving.

“Ten, but that's impossible--”

“You want more?” Mr. Valor cuts Jake a glare and he quickly shuts his mouth.

Jake grits his teeth, glancing my way as he clenches his fist, his lips curling up before Mr. Valor steps in front of me, blocking Jake’s view. He points to the huge open field.“Begin.”

Jake gives him a shaky nod before taking off in a slow jog. He’s still clutching his waist, when Mr. Valor shouts ‘Run’and he drops his hand, grunts and picks up his pace.

Ten laps.

I bite my lip and try to conceal my smile. Most of the class would be bent over and out of breath after three or four, even the shifters finding it a hard task.

I watch as he stumbles while trying to run and clutch his waist. It was a fair punishment from Mr. Valor.But this was far from over between us.

“We’ll continue our lesson at obstacle course number three instead today.” Mr. Valor calls, pulling me from my thoughts.

A few gripes and groans are heard from the group as we make our way over and toward the hardest obstacle course on the training grounds.

It's off to the side of the grounds and nearer the forest, needing its own space as it would span the length of one football field all by itself. It would give even the human military courses a run for their money.

It looks hellish with poles reaching as high as the forest's pine trees, a mud crawl with metal wiring and a man-made ditch with icy water, to name but a few things in it.

So why do I feel so excited?

Mr. Valor brings us to the starting point and whips out a small metal stopwatch, he gazes at each one of us before clicking it. And we begin.

The rest of the class passes by quickly as I run through the obstacle course a total of three times, others barely completing it twice. We’re all sweaty and out of breath–none more than Jake though–by the time the last bell rings in the distance.

Just as I’m leaving, Mr. Valor calls me over. I had hoped I had escaped any sort of scolding or punishment, but I guess I should be grateful that he waited until after class.

---