The Discarded

The Reject Chapter 8 - 4

The clearing had been a torn area of bare dirt dotted with islands of stingy grass. The only interest, the bamboo people and the walls of the clearing with their trees and flowering vines. She'd changed that, transformed it with power beyond the touch of all but a handful.

The clearing was carpeted with lush grass. Searing the air with life, they bled vitality, each blade of grass an emerald unseen in the world of man. Leveled out but for artful hills more beauty than function, the clearing was scattered with flowers. Violet a pastel so pale they were owned both white and purple, blues as deep as arctic lakes, the flowers were striking in their simple beauty. It was a fairy tale done in shades of nature's glory, a place that teased the soul with the purity of nature stripped of civilization's cancer. More than a field in the middle of nowhere, she'd birthed something sacred. Fey currents of the Great Mother washed over the trio as the charms of the Earth Mother smiled on them with a welcoming tilt to her smile.

Burnt and destroyed bamboo men were replaced with brand new ones, green as the grass, flushed with life. An army ready and willing to give their all for the cause. Taking a closer look, Cesare wasn't surprised to see they hadn't been replaced so much as regrown. Anastasia's fury had done little more than trim their branches. With her customary love for the green ones, Elizabeth had grown them back from the seeds that threaded the ground.

The girls had stooped, as startled as he was by the change. Anastasia's whisper was loud in the sudden quiet. "I came here just a few days ago. I thought it would be nice, and I ... missed you. But the corridor was overgrown, and I wasn't about to challenge Miss Raven's power. I didn't know she'd worked on it."

A deep feeling of appreciation welled up in him as he looked around the training ground. "Raven's Roost." His words brought the girls around. "We'll call it Raven's Roost." He saw the name hit them hard, anger briefly sparking in eyes before cold resignation killed the blaze.

"Anastasia, we're going to start were we left off, increasing the destructive power of your flame. Why don't you sit down and meditate, then we'll move onto practicals." A shadow of anxiety rolled over her face before she turned away with a nod of understanding.

Watching her walk away, his thoughts were on the brief flare of anxiety in her eyes. "As much as you watch her ass, you'd think you'd tire of it." Alexandra's dry words brought him around to face her.

Despite eyes that twinkled with good humor, she couldn't hide the bedrock of distaste she had for the akatharton and his open appreciation of her body. "Every time is like the first time. I promise; I enjoy watching you walk away just as much," Cesare said with an exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows.

The anger that always seemed to be there when they were around the Harab Serapel faded as Alexandra laughed. "I thought I'd change into some workout clothes to free me up for our spar."

She changed into something close to what she'd wore at Viktor's class. Lush purple sweats costing more than all his clothes put together strained across freakishly muscled thighs before narrowing to a waist of coiled power. A white tank top and sports bra echoed what Anastasia had worn at class. Heavily muscled shoulders and arms were bare, corded flesh rippling with nervous energy. Big hands tightened into fists, hills and valleys exploding into view as potential strength was harnessed from fibrous meat.

Some called her manly for her bulging shoulders and arms, they were fools who didn't deserve the meat they were made from. She was beautiful in the way of a cobra. Death and brutality wedded to a female form; he couldn't help the surge of lust that flashed from his core as he ran eyes over her tightly packed form.

Her striking face was honest in a way rare in people, sharp green eyes daring the world to push her. Alexandra's nervous shifting died under his eyes as she soaked in his naked desire. It was an acceptance that went beyond the body, striking to the soul.