Her Hidden Half (War Songs of the Courts #1)

Chapter Sixteen

Several weeks passed and every one of those days there was a war waged in my training. I would push back against something Mr. Woodward was trying to teach me, sometimes to push his buttons and other times because I didn't like the bullshit rules he enforced, and he would get frustrated with me. It always ended with him pulling the card that trump all others: 'Do you have a death wish?'

I really fucking hated it when he said that, but it sure as hell was effective.

Training with Kieran was better, but not in the good way. While I pushed myself harder physically than ever before, he went soft. And when I'd had enough of him treating me like glass, I called him out on that shit. We'd gotten into more than one argument about the level at which I trained and it always ended with us glaring at each other, neither of us willing to give.

Overall, I'd been able to get a better handle on my emotions and I could actually feel myself getting stronger physically. Mr. Woodward attributed my control to the meditation he'd been making me do, but I wasn't entirely convinced. Mostly because the first week of attempting to meditate just made me angry, which was exactly the opposite of what I needed

The only recent development that'd put a minor damper on things was that Alec had been watching me with a closer eye. I wasn't really sure how to handle him so I'd resorted to avoiding him whenever it was possible. Not enough to make him suspect anything was up, but enough to manage how much he saw.

"Holy hotness." Alec's voice pulled me from my thoughts and my vision cleared to see him staring over my shoulder with appreciative eyes.

"Hmm?" I wrinkled my brow in confusion and turned to see whoever caught his attention with interest. I knew exactly who Alec had been drooling over as soon as I caught sight of Kieran standing at the entrance of the dining room.

"Oh, fucking hell," I cursed, quickly turning back and ducking behind a curtain of my hair, shielding myself from the perceptive gaze that had been searching the cafeteria.

"Who is that?" Alec asked, unaware of my dilemma.

"Kieran. He's the trainer I've been telling you about," I said just above a whisper, continuing to hide behind my hair.

Now that I'd thought about it, it probably wasn't the best technique. Red hair wasn't exactly the best camouflage.

"I'm sorry. Did you say Kieran?" Alec turned his attention to me with an odd look.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" I asked distractedly as I nervously peeked over my shoulder.

Alec squinted at me, looking between me and Kieran before they widened.

"Echo, he's coming this way," he whispered.

I groaned and tapped my head on the table, knowing I had been made.

"Echo." Kieran's voice made me pause and I sighed begrudgingly.

I slowly sat up in my seat and turned to see him standing over me with his arms crossed.

"Yes?" I asked with a reluctant politeness.

He glanced at Alec for a full second before returning his attention to me and replying, "Your schedule is being changed. You won't be going to Reed's class anymore. We both thought it'd be beneficial for you to train with me in the morning; Reed will join us in the evening so we can train you together."

"Who?" I asked, not completely registering the information.

"Reed. Your teacher. Pay attention," he said impatiently.

"Right. Reed. Gotcha," I said, pretending I had already known that as I kept the smirk that edged my lips from fully appearing.

I'd been trying to get Mr. Woodward to tell me his first name since I met him. Dude really liked withholding the information that I wanted.