Magic Forged (Hall of Blood and Mercy #1)(34)

She tapped the side of her leg. “Not a problem. I will add it to the list. Now, Rupert will commence with your training. I am merely here to observe.”

And probably make sure he didn’t kill me—which I might deserve after my little Twilight comment.

“Okay.” I nodded and tied the extra material of my shirt in a knot at the waist so it wasn’t quite so loose. “Thank you.”

“Rupert, you may begin.” Celestina bowed her head to the red-haired vampire, who had recovered—though his eyes glittered with furious sparks.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth. He paused, then bowed to Celestina. “You’re training her tomorrow in weapons?”

“Yes.”

Rupert smiled maliciously. “In that case, we’ll begin with the arms. She’ll need weight training before she can handle lifting a weapon.”

It sounded logical, which instantly put me on my guard. (There was no way he was going to play nice when he made his dislike of me so obvious.)

Rupert pointed to the dumbbells. “Pick those up—and don’t set them down until I say so.”





Turns out, I was right. Rupert wasn’t playing nice at all.

He trained me in weightlifting for about an hour and a half, and for almost the entire time he focused on arms—stopping only to make me do these awful squats and lunges when I needed a break.

It was really difficult, but it wasn’t until the following morning when I woke up and—even though I was just sitting in my bed—my arms and legs hurt so much I thought the night had been a hallucination and the fae monster had crushed me.

It hurt to move my arms at all, and I had a feeling staircases were going to be murderous if my legs ached this much already.

I didn’t want to leave my bed—I ached too much—but the magic in my wizard blood was starting to make me hot and sweaty. I was in the slow and painful process of trying to slide out of bed when my bedroom door abruptly banged open.

I rocketed upright, then fell on the floor with a pain-infused mewl when my legs gave out. I groaned and tried to push myself off the ground, but that used my arms, eliciting another yelp.

“What are you doing?” asked a chocolate-smooth voice I was starting to resent.

I peeled my face off the ground and glared up at Killian, who was lounging in my doorway. “Trying to stand.”

“No.” Killian gazed around the room as though its appearance insulted him. “In here. What are you doing in here?”

I used what little ab strength I had to sit up and lean against my bed, then peered down at my clothes with a frown when I realized I had fallen asleep in my borrowed workout clothes. I tried to brush wrinkles from the shirt. “What are you talking about? This is my room.”

“No, it’s not,” Killian said.

For a moment, I panicked. I wildly inspected the room, confirming it was the plain but clean room in the servants’ area I’d been assigned the day I arrived. I was in the right place—that was my blood-stained shirt peeking out of the laundry basket I had shoved in the corner.

“Yes, it is?” I was so confused it came out as a question.

“Not anymore.”

“Not my room?” I said, bewildered. After the fae attack, the “surprise” of my magic and my parents’…whatever, the news that this was no longer my room made my eyes sting with tears. I sniffed, aware it was ridiculous to cry over a room, but my life had been one huge upheaval for months, now, and there was something about losing my room that made me want to burst into tears. “Then where will I sleep?” I asked, my voice getting extra squeaky.

“You were supposed to get a new room last night.” Killian’s voice didn’t lose its silky quality, but he spoke pretty quickly. “Apparently Rupert failed to inform you.”

This made me feel infinitely better—not because I actually cared if this was another petty insult from Rupert, but because the dark quality to Killian’s voice said he wasn’t pleased, and since waking up I had decided that anytime Rupert was in trouble it was a good time for me.

I pressed my palms against my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to shoulder off my wild emotions.

“Celestina has been looking for you for at least an hour as your training was already supposed to have started by now,” Killian added.

I ran my hand through my blond hair, trying to detangle the worst of my bed-head snarls as I peered at the alarm clock on the nightstand. “It’s noon.”

“Your powers of observation astound me.”

I squinted at him. “You’re up. Why are you up?”

Killian quirked an eyebrow up. “Vampires are capable of operating in daylight hours.”

“Yeah. Except they don’t usually.”

“I expect better from my Family and myself.” He abruptly swung out of my room and walked off. “Medeis, come!” He snapped his fingers as if calling a dog.

I wobbled after him, finding it an unspeakably painful process given his long strides and my pins-and-needles legs. “Where are we going?”

“To deliver you to Celestina, and remind her to show you to your new room.” Killian left the servants’ quarters, entering the more ornate part of the hall, and to my horror started up the first marble staircase he found.