Queen of Ash

Cursed

Emerson

Rye didn't come back to breakfast.

In fact, when I went down for lunch, he wasn't there either, so I decided to have lunch in room. I wasn't really looking forward to eating lunch in a room with his Mother. I was disappointed when I couldn't find him. After spending what seemed like years learning protocol with his Mother, I needed something interesting to talk about. I was looking forward to seeing him at dinner, but he wasn't there either. I sat quietly across from his mother, who looked at me like she could kill me with her gaze. I just smiled and ate.

Even as I walking back to my room to change, I could hear his Mother's voice in my head griping about my etiquette. As I was walking, I was forcing my shoulders blades back and down. My lower back muscles hurt from my new change in posture. I was taught to be stealthy, not elegant.

I went to my closet and grabbed a pair of black leggings and a black t-shirt. At least I could do this next part, training was always what I was best at. I changed and threw on a pair of tennis shoes. I walked quickly to the training courtyard in hopes Rye was going to be there too. I felt like I had no other friends at the estate, he was the only person I could talk to.

I headed back down the stairs and out the back door to the training pit. In their backyard there was this huge glass dome that held all of their training equipment. In the center there was a sand pit that was much like that one that he would be fighting in, in three weeks. I pushed open of the glass doors and the cool dome air made my arm hair stand up. I looked around the room, guards were running on the outer track, some were firing arrows with terrible accuracy, and Jase stood in the middle of the Arena, his arms crossed. I strutted across the dome and I could see the deadly look in his eyes. No matter how much he hated me, nothing could be worse than my training with Lelon.

"So what are we—"

"Two miles around the track. Once you're done we can discuss the rest of your training regiment. My mouth was opened, I shut it quickly and tried to think of a witty response. When I couldn't I just rolled my eyes and took off in a run towards the track. I was going to out run every single solider under his command. I took deep regulated breaths, the pushed off the ground forcing my legs to run faster. The men passed one by one each trying to gain back up on me. However, I was trained to by nimble and quick, something they couldn't do. I ran faster going around and around the track.

I focused on my breaths and my muscles moving as I ran, I would do anything to stop thinking about where Rye was. After I had finished running I slowed my pace to a walk and took deep breaths. Two miles was nothing to what Lelon used to make me run. We used to run four miles with each other everyday when I was growing up. Jase walked over to me with an over confident smirk on his face.

"Let's see what else you can do."

I walked over to the throwing knives stationed in front of multiple different targets.

When Lelon trained me, I had to be perfect in everything including, poisons, knives, swords, fire, and my favorite a bow. It was grueling work, but worth it in the end. I waited in line with the rest of the guards that were training, watching them barely hit their targets, each one worse than the last. I tried to stifle my laugh. The guards no doubt wondering if I could do any better. No one knew that I was really the Queen of Ash. The only thing people knew about me was that I was Rye's half-breed fiancee. When it was my turn I walked up to the rack and grabbed seven knives, one for every target.

They watched me with disgust and curiosity as I planted myself in front of the targets. I then took a few steps back from where they all threw, putting me a good seventy-five feet from the target. This was child's play. I brought the first knife up and took a deep breath focusing my eye on the target's chest, the bullseye. I brought my arms up bringing the knife above my shoulder and flicked my wrist, letting the knife slice through the air.