A Court of Death and Retribution

chapter 15

Maeve sat on my bed in the River House kicking her legs back and forth while Adira held out a black shopping back with an excited smile.

"Open it already!" Maeve bounced off the bed and hopped over to Adria with a giggle.

I rolled my eyes with a smile and took the bag from Adira. When I opened it, I found a set of Illyrian leathers that looked perfectly tailored for my body. My breath hitched and my jaw dropped open in shock.

Ever since I was a little girl I've always seen my father's leathers but I knew that I would never get the privilege to wear them. When my mother started training me for flying, it seemed more possible. My hope was that my father would see how good I was at flying and decide to help me learn to defend myself. Then, maybe he would be the one to give me my very first pair of Illyrian leathers.

I wish that little girl could see me now.

Tears formed in my eyes and blurred my vision of the twins, but I didn't need to see as I threw my arms over their shoulders and pulled them in for a tight hug, laughing and crying into their ears. They hugged me back with the same intensity and when they released, I smiled wide at my very own pair of Illyrian leathers. "Thank you."

"You're welcome! Now hurry up and put them on before we go to training." Adira gave me a knowing smirk before the two of them left me to get ready.

It was difficult to get the leathers on, but only because they were meant to be tight. I finally had shape to my body, a sight that I never had the luxury of seeing. The workouts had toned my body and the full meals allowed me to gain more muscle. My arms still weren't as strong as the twins', but I could see the beginnings of carved muscle. My stomach was flat now, but only because I hadn't eaten anything but an apple this morning. By nighttime, I had a healthy curve to my stomach that made me smile. My hips and ass finally had shape, same with my legs. According to Maeve, my ass and thighs were something that every female would kill to have. While Adira just rolled her eyes saying, 'they're definitely where your power comes from... in fighting.' I chuckled at the memory, but now I really saw what they meant in my tight leathers.

I tied up my hair and slipped on socks and training boots before heading into the training room. When I saw the twins, they were chatting with Cal and Nyx. I smiled and did a spin for them, holding my hands out to let them take a good look at me. "Well?"

The twins shrieked and ran over to me, wearing their own leathers. "Hot! You look hot as fuck!" Maeve said a little too loudly.

Adira shot her a pointed look, then turned to face me. "You look distracting. It'll help you in battle."

My lips thinned into a grin. "Thanks Adira, I think that's the best compliment I could ask for."

My eyes moved past them to see Cal and Nyx standing behind the twins. Their arms were crossed, and they both smirked at me. It was Nyx's heated gaze that made me look away. Luckily, Cassian's loud clap threw training into action.

He bounded towards us and put an arm around Maeve's shoulder. "You finally look like one of us. You ready to put all that exercise to use?"

I smiled at him and nodded my head. Cassian sent the twins and Cal and Nyx to pair off and start hand to hand combat while Cassian threw on punching pads and taught me how to effectively throw a punch. It took me a while and a lot of corrections to get the hang of it, but I focused and eventually got the hang of it.

Cassian was a tough but patient teacher, which was exactly what I needed. After an hour of learning basic attack combinations, he taught me how to defend different attacks, taking water breaks when we needed them.