Page 55 of One Last Promise
Perhaps I had asked too much of him the last time I saw him.Giving up his friend wasn’t something I should have put on him.
The important thing was that Darce was still willing to train me now that he knew the reason I wanted to be a warrior.That spoke volumes about the type of male he was.A loyal, fair, pure one.Of course he wanted to protect his friend, just as he cared about and wanted to protect me.Still, he said he wouldn’t stand in my way when I got my chance at revenge; hepromised.
That was all the loyalty I needed from him.I prayed that in time, when his friend died bymyhands, it wouldn’t destroy us.
Chapter eighteen
“Keep your stance strong.You will thrust better that way.”Darce was drilling the moves into me today, criticising every maneuver that wasn’t perfect.“You know these moves, Alora.Fuckingfocus!”
“I’m trying!”Sweat was trickling down my face.Enyo looked up from the long grass, checking up on me.
“You’re not trying hard enough!Disarm me.Now!”Lunging at him, I tried to capture the hilt of his sword as I spun in a circular motion.Darce moved before I could make contact, kicking my back and making me fall to the ground.“What thefuckwas that?”Throwing his sword to the ground, he glared at me.“We’re done for the day.That waspathetic!Have you paidanyattention to what I’ve shown you these last few years?You should have these combos drilled into your brain by now!I’ve been training you for overthree hundredyears, Alora!”
“I’m finding them difficult to master when I put them together.It’s not something I can practise alone!”
“Oh, you’re blamingme?It’smyfault your stance is fucking awful?It’smyfault that you are mixing your sequences up?It’smyfault that you can’t even advance without tripping over your own fucking feet?Is that what you are trying to say?”Shit!Darce was moody today.
“No, I...I...”I had no answer as he scowled at me.In truth, I had been distracted the last few months.Xavier’s advances this last year had been affecting me more and more.It was becoming obvious that my sexual awakening was flourishing, and I had mistakenly allowed him to see a small amount of my power when I tried to push him off me.
“Alora, if your mind isn’t in this, I can’t help you.I can teach you, but if you’re not willing to learn, there is no point.”
“I’m having an issue with a Dylin male back home,” I blurted out, dropping my sword on the ground.
“What sort of issue?”Darce changed the tone of his voice, making it softer as he reached out for me.
“He wants to bond with me, and the palace is putting a lot of pressure on me to do it.”Telling Darce those words released so much tension from my body.“I’m not sure how much longer I can fight him off.”
“Has he laid a finger on you?”It was hard not to notice the swirls of darkness that ebbed from his hands as he spoke.
“He’s forced a kiss on my lips a few times.”
“Motherfucker!Give me a name?I will see that heneverlays a finger on you again!This was why I wanted to run away with you, Alora!These are the issues I feared!”
“No.You don’t need to save me.I have to save myself.This warrior...he’s powerful, Darce.You wouldn’t win a fight with him.”
“I beg to differ.”
