Hunting Royalty

5. Terrors and Training

I gasp for air as I suddenly wake from a dream. No, a nightmare. Adrenaline pours though my veins and my heart beats uncontrollably. I struggle to recall the details, only one part remains clear. I can still feel the cold sharp metal placed along the back of my neck before it was raised high, then swung back down with enough force to completely sever my head. The details are fading but I still remember how real it felt. I'd never been so terrified in my life. It was a nightmare about my own execution.

It is nearly dawn, unable to sleep anymore I begin my day. I decide against waking Charlotte and dress myself in combat gear. I pass time working on some spells before getting word from Kayden to meet in his room for breakfast. It comes just as I was about to give up, the nightmare is still haunting me and I'm finding it impossible to focus enough to cast the spell properly.

I head across the hall and seat myself in Kayden's sitting room where plates of food have been set out on a large coffee table. Normally we would eat downstairs, but whenever we need privacy we eat in our suites. I activate my privacy charm to prevent eavesdropping as further protection. I pick a few pastries and some fruit using silver tongs and place them on my plate. My father arrives next and follows my lead in stacking his plate. Despite summoning us to his room Kayden is still the last to arrive, swanning out of his room a full ten minutes later.

"Finally," father huffs under his breath. Kayden just grins, sometimes I think he does it just to get on fathers nerves.

I decide to start things off and I quickly summarize the events from last night for father while Kayden shovels his food down. He's thoughtful for a while. "So the rumors are true. They are trying to kill off the royal family."

"They are definitely getting bolder," I reply. There has always been the occasional attack on the royal family but over the last 100 years a rebel group has been trying to overthrow them. They had mostly used politics and protests to achieve their agenda. The royal family is much beloved and always had the support of the High Priestess so the rebels were mostly unsuccessful. However, since Annemarie Baudelaire's death twenty years ago, there have been an unusual number of royal deaths. The core family has survived but all of the branch families are gone. The official story is always natural death or an accident but most of the nobles are aware that they were murdered.

"I went to the guard house to listen to the news about the attack. None of them knew much about the group responsible but I did learn there have been two other attacks on the prince in the last 6 months." Kayden says through a mouth full of food. "They also think my Gift is awesome," he says grinning like the fool he is.

"I think I have an idea who might be leading the rebels. It's a theory my father came up with but we never found any proof," father states. Kayden and I share a look, the rebels are ghosts, no one seems to know anything about them. "I suspect that the de Lorenzo family leads them."

That's a name I've only read about in the family journals, there has been no sign of the de Lorenzo's for at least 200 years. But it makes sense, they always wanted to rule Jordane and were willing to do almost anything. I'd always assumed that they had died out or given up, but the theory somehow feels right.

"If that's true this just got a whole lot more complicated," my brother says with a frown.

"Let's not worry about it yet. But it's probably a good idea if you reread some of the old journals just in case," father instructs me and I nod.

"If they kill the prince it will be the end of the royal line," I say with finality. The de Lorenzo's would win and our plan would fail.

"That's probably why everyone is pushing him to marry, make more little royals," Kayden says.

"Let's hope he survives long enough for this plan to be worth it," father adds.

"He will," I say with conviction. "M sent us to that restaurant, she protected him." Father just nods, he's aware of M and for some reason has never been concerned by a stranger ordering his children around. I suspect it's because he knows exactly who sends the letters but he's very tight lipped about it. He's only once slipped and that's when he called M, her. If he knows her gender, then he must know who she is.

"So how did your first meeting with the prince go?" he asks changing the subject.

"Kayden acted like an ass, we set the plan in action," I say nonchalantly. I see my father studying me carefully and weighting my words. I can tell he still doesn't like this but he holds his tongue.

"Did he show interest?" father pushes for more information.

"Too much. I had to put him in his place," Kayden says with a grin.

"So, you're gone the protective brother route?" father questions.

"We left the details of our relationship ambiguous, leave room for assumptions and jealousy," I say.

Father nods his approval. "Seems like you have things under control. I'll be leaving in a few days to take care of some business in Casabria. I'll be gone at least two weeks." Father owns hundreds of merchant ships and controls the majority of trade between the four kingdoms. He often has to travel to manage business.

We all finish up our breakfast and father leaves while Kayden and I head to the stables and ride out to a clearing in the forest. Training in the shade of the trees helps with the heat of the summers day and also gives us privacy. We let the horses roam free knowing they are too well trained to wander too far. I give my horse, Snowball, a final pat and let her join Pirate, Kayden's horse, named for the dark patch around his right eye.

The targets and equipment are still set up from out last session and Kayden busies himself summoning weapons from the armory. This is where his gift is most useful, not only can he teleport himself and objects around him he can also summon unseen objects across large distances. It has its limitations he must have held the object before and he must know it's precise location. The larger the object and the further the distance also makes it harder to summon or banish.

We start off with a warm up and some basic target practice for archery and throwing knives. Once we both start to feel like we are back in the rhythm Kayden says, "Me first." I sigh and cast a basic deflection spell around each of us. It will prevent weapons from piercing skin but they still leave bruises if they connect. It's a useful spell for training but not practical for actual combat since most weapons are enchanted to be immune from the effects of spells. All of our personal weapons carry this enchantment so we borrow training weapons from the armory for practice.

Kayden takes a stance with his preferred weapon, a broadsword and I choose a set of throwing knives for this round. I arm the training dummies with swords and activate the animation enchantment before retreating a safe distance and casting an invisibility spell around myself.

Kayden faces off with the dummies trading blows for a few seconds before I see an opening and throw my first knife. As soon as it leaves my fingers it re-materializes, it travels half way towards Kayden before he redirects it towards one of the targets fixed to a tree. I dart around to the other side firing off three more as I go which he teleports into targets as well. Kayden only ascended four months ago and he is still perfecting the use of his gift so we are still trying to push his limits to find out how much he can do.

We continue or drill for most of the morning, switching places often increasing the pace and difficulty. We each get hit a few times toward the end when we start to tire but deflection spell prevents any major injuries.

"I'm done," I concede panting for air.

"Let's head back," he agrees also breathing heavily.

We return everything to its place and collect our horses for the ride back.

A/N

So, what do you think of Adelaide Kane for Alia?

Hollis Chambers for the prince?

I put their picture in the last two chapters.

Please vote and comment.

Enjoy my lovelies <3