Huntress

ONE

The sky darkened more and more with each passing day, the moon's light fading to a silvery-grey with each passing night. Dread and fear lurked in the eyes of every Potential. It was uncomfortable in the Covenhouse, but the training pits were stifling.

Aelody smacked her staff against the training dummy so hard that the wood groaned. Her nostrils flared, and she whirled, bringing the staff down again. She would not stop until the dummy broke, or her staff did. Her arms ached from the hours of extra training, but she forced herself to keep going. Every day that passed brought her a day closer to the Game.

"You know," a low voice drawled from behind her. "You can't actually kill it. It's not a real person."

Aelody gritted her teeth, hitting the dummy again. The staff bent slightly in her hand, small splinters flying off the wood. A sizeable dent was left in the neck of the dummy; had it been a real person, they would be dead. "In the Game, I can't afford to play like my opponent is made of wood," she panted, not looking away from the battered training dummy.

Hagan let out a laugh, and lifted his own staff from the rack on the wall. "Then train with a real person, El." He beckoned to her, rounding the mat to stand in front of her. "Come on. Walden will go insane if you break another one of those things." His lips twitched upwards into a smile, and he beckoned again.

Aelody glared at him. "I don't have time for this," she said. "We don't have time for this. The Game is coming sooner than I'd like, and I don't want to be unprepared when it does."

She swung her staff over her head, and as she brought it down, Hagan's staff clacked against hers. He met her glare with an easy grin. "You've been prepared for months, El," he told her, keeping his staff steady against hers. He lifted a shoulder. "Anyone who goes against you is an idiot, and they're going to get their ass kicked."

The corners of Aelody's lips tugged downwards, and she stepped away, letting her staff fall to her side. "Flattery will get you nowhere," she told him flatly. He shrugged, and she rolled her eyes at him. He held out a hand for her staff, and she gave it to him. "Don't think this won't stop me from kicking your ass in the pit tomorrow."

Hagan's eyes flicked to the board across the room, where their names had been scrawled side by side. "Here I was hoping for some brownie points."

Aelody punched his upper arm, fighting her smile. "There are better ways to earn brownie points than interrupting my training, Hagan," she hummed. When his brows rose, her cheeks reddened. "I didn't mean it like that," she said quickly.

A rumbling laugh left Hagan's mouth. "Of course you didn't, El." His eyes glittered with amusement. "You missed dinner, by the way."

At the thought of food, Aelody turned for the door. Hagan fell into step easily beside her, arms swinging loosely at his sides. They were quiet the whole walk to the kitchens, until Aelody caught sight of a tray of freshly baked rolls cooling on one of the counters, and Hagan let out a barking laugh as she practically sprinted across the room for them.

Her hand had barely closed around one of the still warm rolls when it was slapped away. Aelody yelped, stepping back and frowning at the woman who scowled at her. Flour covered Andromeda's face, dusting over her mousy hair and creating a thin layer of white over her navy apron. Still, the woman looked fierce with her lips curled into a scowl. She put her hands on her narrow hips, eyes flicking between Aelody and Hagan.

"You better not have missed dinner to do anything inappropriate," she said, one of her brows arching.

Hagan hopped onto one of the clear counters, shuffling back to sit comfortably, and gave Andromeda a lazy smile. "El was trying to decapitate another dummy," he drawled, throwing a wink at Aelody.

Andromeda's face held its stern expression for a few uncomfortably long seconds, before she smiled. "Walden will absolutely throttle you if you ruin another of his fake people," the half-witch said, her amusement bringing out the slight accent to her voice. It had been thicker when Aelody was younger, but with time it had faded into the western drawl of Bionin.

Aelody rolled her eyes at the pair of them, reaching for one of the bread rolls. This time, Andromeda let her take it. "I wasn't trying to decapitate it," she said around a mouthful of bread. She swallowed, and shrugged. "I don't want to be unprepared."

Andromeda gave her a withering look. "Aelody, my darling, you've been prepared since you were sixteen." The woman patted Aelody's cheek. "You are allowed to take a night off from your assassin training."

Both Aelody and Hagan wrinkled their noses at the word assassin. It was common knowledge that Andromeda had no love for the work of the Coven, for what its governors trained children for: to hunt witches. The only comfort was that they weren't the ones actually doing the killing—that job went to the Covenleader and his band of executioners.

"I'll take a night off after the Game," Aelody said, finishing her bread roll. Her stomach ached for another, but she forced herself not to grab one. It would take her hours to get to sleep if she kept eating. "I need to get some sleep." She gave Andromeda a stiff smile, and began to walk to the door. As she passed Hagan, she gave him a stern look. "You should go to bed, too. I don't want you falling asleep in the ring before I can get a good hit in."

Hagan grinned at her. He pushed himself off the counter and walked with her. At the door, he glanced over his shoulder and tipped his head to Andromeda. "G'night, Andy."

"Goodnight, you two."

The silence of sleep had settled over the Covenhouse, with the last of the lights from various rooms extinguished. They walked up the three flights of stairs before parting at the landing at the top. Hagan's arms closed around Aelody's shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug. "Whether the Game is tomorrow or a week from now," he murmured into her hair, "I will protect you with my life if it comes down to it."

Aelody pulled back, looking up into his face with something close to horror painted on hers. "It won't come down to that," she said, her voice deadly quiet. Hagan blinked at the silver of tears in the corners of her eyes. "Don't you dare even think about that."

He brushed a thumb under her eye, let his hand rest on her cheek. His lips twitched into a small smile, the one he knew she adored. "Think about what?" She narrowed her eyes at him, but he leant down and kissed her brow. "You worry too much. We're both going to be fine," he said against her skin. He pulled back. "I promise."

Aelody locked her fingers around the back of his neck, and tugged him down. "I love you," she told him, her voice barely more than a whisper. She kissed him lightly, a gentle thing that lingered almost sweetly.

Hagan smiled against her mouth. "I love you, El."

A door creaked open, and the pair of them sprung apart like guilty children. Killian's dark eyes narrowed at the sight of them. "Could you please do all your mushy nonsense in your own room?" He waved a hand at both of them, the rings on his fingers catching the candlelight from his room. "Some of us have gag reflexes. And good hearing."

Hagan gave the older boy a rogue grin. "Yes, sir." He mock saluted, and Killian shut his door harder than necessary. Hagan turned his amused stare back to Aelody, and pulled a face. "We should go to bed before anyone else comes to complain about our mushy nonsense."

Aelody bit her lip, eyes darting to Hagan's bedroom door. "We should."

Hagan glanced behind him, following Aelody's line of sight, and a smirk graced his lips. "You're always welcome to do whatever it is you're thinking, El."

She shoved him, but let him take her hand and pull her towards his bedroom.