CHAPTER 4: THE LESSON
Elara's POV
Kael dragged me through corridors that twisted deeper into the court until we reached a chamber that smelled like old blood and centuries of violence.
The training room was carved from black stone with weapons lining the walls and scorch marks on the floor that told stories of fights where not everyone walked out alive. He released my arm and put distance between us and when he finally looked at me his eyes burned with fury I felt crackling through the bond like lightning in a bottle.
"Seraphine has been killing since before your great-grandparents were born," he said and his voice was too quiet and too controlled. "She's spent six centuries perfecting how to end things that get in her way and I have twelve hours to teach you what takes decades to learn."
Through the bond I felt his terror underneath the anger and it made my chest tight because I'd never had anyone fear for my safety before. "Then stop wasting time being angry and teach me," I said and took a step toward him.
Something shifted in his expression and his hands came up to grip my shoulders and when he spoke his voice cracked. "I've waited eight hundred years to find you and I'm not ready to lose you after three days because you needed to prove a point."
The confession hit harder than any blow and I stared up at him and saw something raw that looked almost human and through the bond I felt the weight of his loneliness and his desperate relief when our bond had snapped into place and underneath all that was genuine terror I'd be taken before he'd even learned what my laugh sounded like.
"Then don't let me die," I whispered and reached up to touch his face. "Teach me something that keeps me alive."
His resolve crystallized through the bond and he stepped back and moved to the wall and selected two practice blades and tossed one to me. I caught it more by luck than skill and he started circling me like a predator.
"Vampires are faster and stronger so trying to match Seraphine in either is suicide," he said and without warning he struck and I barely blocked and the impact sent shock up my arms. "Your only advantages are that she's underestimating you and the bond has changed you in ways she won't expect."
He came at me again and this time when I tried to dodge he was so much faster his blade caught my shoulder and pain bloomed hot and immediate. Through the bond I felt his satisfaction mixed with regret and the cut was already healing in a way that was wrong and fascinating.
"Vampires don't telegraph movements and they don't fight fair and they go for whatever hurts most," he said and his voice went cold and clinical. "Seraphine will try to humiliate you before she kills you so she'll draw it out and make it entertaining."
Over the next hours he taught me dirty tricks and none of it was elegant or honorable and all of it was designed to hurt and survive.
He showed me where vampires were vulnerable despite their strength and how to use my smaller size as advantage and how to pull on the bond when I needed speed I didn't have.
Every time I made a mistake he corrected it with his blade and soon I was covered in cuts that healed almost as fast as he made them and through the bond I felt his grim satisfaction I wasn't crying or begging him to stop.
My muscles screamed and my hands bled and sweat soaked through my training clothes but I kept moving because stopping meant thinking about dawn and thinking about dawn meant accepting I was probably going to die. Kael pushed me harder than I'd ever been pushed and every time I stumbled he was there forcing me back up and through the bond I felt his desperation to pour eight hundred years of survival into twelve hours of training.
"She'll try to get in your head," he said during a brief pause where I gasped for breath. "She'll say you're just a novelty I'll discard or that I'm only keeping you alive because the bond compels me or that you're nothing but a blood bag pretending to be something more."
Through the bond I felt there was truth in those fears even if he'd never say them and my chest went tight. "And if she's right?"
He crossed to me and tilted my chin up and his silver eyes held something fierce. "Then prove her wrong by surviving and make her eat every word while she bleeds at your feet."
His mouth crashed into mine and the kiss was desperate and possessive and through the bond I felt his terror and his hunger and his absolute conviction that I was his regardless of what anyone thought. When he pulled back we were both breathing hard and his thumb traced my jaw.
"Don't you dare die tomorrow," he said roughly. "I'm not done with you yet."
We trained through the night until dawn started filtering through the high windows and my body was one giant bruise that healed slower each time because even accelerated healing had limits.
Kael finally stopped and pulled me against his chest and I felt his heart beating in time with mine and through the bond his terror was so thick I could taste it.
"Make her angry so she gets sloppy," he said against my hair. "Don't fight fair and use the bond when you need it and remember that surviving is the only thing that matters."
His arms tightened around me and I felt him memorizing this moment like he thought it might be the last time he held me and maybe it would be.
Through the bond I felt his fierce pride that I was willing to try mixed with his fear it wouldn't be enough and somehow that made my own terror more bearable because at least I wouldn't die alone and unmourned.
"If I die you'd better make it impressive when you kill her," I whispered into his chest.
His laugh was broken and when he pulled back his eyes were bright with something that looked almost like tears though I knew vampires didn't cry. "If you die I'll burn the entire court to ash and rule over the ruins alone," he said. "So don't."
Dawn broke over the eastern grounds and it was time to see if three days of transformation and one night of training were enough to keep me alive against a vampire who'd spent six centuries learning how to kill.