Page 104 of Of Shadows and Blood

He tosses me his practice blade and I catch it with my free hand, immediately feeling the weight difference. I toss it back, understanding. I raise my arms up, stacking my hands atop one another on the hilt. Garreth assesses and adjusts my frame, pointing or pushing on my body until I am finally aligned.

“Does that feel better?”

“Incredibly.” I roll my shoulders down my back to release the building tension at my neck.

“You still practice in the mornings, right?” he asks, walking towards the racks.

“Yes, for the last month.” I practice swinging a few times, noticing how much better this feels.

“Think of those fundamentals. If you can get into the right position and recall the basics of combat, the moves will be much easier.” Garreth pulls a dirty, hay dummy from behind a rack. He places it in the center of the ring and turns it to face me.

“What, I’m supposed to fight a dummy?” I laugh. “I came out here to train with you.”

“Yeah, I get that, but I don’t need you to accidentally blast me into the wall just yet. This is a good baseline. Now, swing from the left with your forehand right here.” He gestures at the rib area of the stuffed sack.

My fingers grip the leather straps of the pommel and I twist, landing a clean blow where it was intended. Garreth motions again, so I step back and swing once more.

“Good, now do that one hundred times and then from the right one hundred times,” he walks over and takes a seat on a crate.

This repetition will be good for me, but I still huff from my mouth at the simplicity of this lesson.

An hour later, I’m dripping sweat and blisters have formed on my hands, but I don’t indicate exhaustion. I need to build up both stamina and strength.

“Garreth.” I turn to face him. “What’s next?”

“Now we’ll parry with one another from the left and right. Simple footwork.” He gestures at my feet to remind me of position.

“I’ll lead us back and forth, alternating right and left before we move a bit more randomly. Can you handle that?” He winks.

I scoff. “Pretty sure I can.”

Garreth swings to the left and I swing right, meeting his blade. There is little reverberation up my arm with the soft wooden fibers quelling the blow.

“Exactly,” he breathes before swinging to the right, my blade matching the force. We carry on like this back and forth, my feet gliding in each direction with ease. I can’t help but smile at my new skills. Garreth must sense the pride because he swings right and then left quickly, giving me a breath of a chance to deflect.

Suddenly, he starts moving us laterally and my feet nearly trip over each other.

“Shuffle, don’t slide,” he bites as he increases his force. Gritting my teeth, I try to keep my toes in flexion so that they don’t catch but I fail and catch myself going left, straight to the ground again. This time, I lay there for a moment to catch my breath and shake off any embarrassment.

“Why is my fiancée on the ground?” Cedric asks, entering the ring. He’s in a formal coat after just speaking with his council. Ever since we arrived back from Gruyere, Cedric has had little free time in between traveling to his legions and working closely with his advisors.

He reaches down to help me up but I shake him off, using the sword to push me to standing. He leans over, chuckling and plants a kiss softly on my lips, his hand grazing my lower back. My body sparks with need but Garreth clears his throat before I get carried away.

“Garreth was so kind as to train me this morning.” I gesture to the dirt ring, which is now completely messed up.

“I see,” Cedric murmurs. “Well, let me see what you two put together while I was dealing with missives to the High Council.”

Garreth looks up at him immediately. “They’re open to convening?”

Cedric nods, taking his jacket off with grace. The white shirt he has on underneath is a loose cotton blend, but I can still spot the firm muscles hidden by the sleeves.

I need to get a grip on myself.

But truly, we haven’t had a chance to reconnect since Gruyere. Intimacy is not so important that I feel empty, but we have so much to speak about and time has slipped from us.

So much lost time.

Dragging the sword behind me, I position myself in the center of the ring, waiting for Garreth. Cedric steps into my line of sight and smirks.