Chapter 48 Chapter 48
Amber
Turns out, I had grossly underestimated Damian’s temper and grossly overestimated my ability to follow his orders.
If Damian was indifferent outside of training, he was a monster while on the training field.
I had barely been able to sleep at night, my nerves on the edge and my brain going haywire. That stupid potion was obviously a hoax so now I truly wanted to train and get good at defending myself.
Two weeks was not a lot to truly become a warrior but I would find a way to continue pestering him…if he wouldn’t glower and glare at me like I had personally offended him.
I had changed into an active wear tracksuit, tied my hair into a ponytail and had reached just five seconds late to the training field.
Fucking five seconds.
But to Damian it was the difference of life and death.
“Five rounds of this training pit, now!!”
He scowled at me without even bothering to say good morning.
I was already panting because I was running down the stairs, skipping two at a time.
“I was just five seconds late, it's not a big deal” I replied, hating that he started the morning without even telling me anything about the training schedule.
“My training, my rules!” He said, looming over me.
He had freshly showered and his hair was still damp, his hair curling at the temples due to the water droplets trickling down.
He was in active wear too, black as usual as if that was the only color in the world.
“Your rules are barbaric” I gritted my teeth but that only made him scoff.
“Then go to the other heirs or maybe the academy’s gym instructor. Stop wasting my time!”
It was barely five am and we were already butting heads. I could have turned around and walked out just fine but my stubborn ass wouldn’t let me.
For a stupid reason, I wanted to prove him wrong. I wanted him to know that I had every right to be a fighter, a true warrior and I wanted him to fucking accept it.
At least, it was just this particular training pit around the punching bag, a wide circle but definitely a lot smaller than the entire training ground that would take me half an hour to complete at my full speed.
So, I took a deep breath and completed the laps like he ordered me to while stealing glances at him whenever his back was facing me.
Damian took his position and began punching the bag again without wearing any protective gear. The sound of his thuds against the bag echoed loudly in the quiet of the morning.
By the third lap, I was already panting but continued and then I was standing in front of him, breathing hard as he rained down punches on the training bag.
“I am…done” I said, wiping the sweat on my temples with the back of my hand.
“Your speed is low. It shouldn’t take you more than five minutes but you took ten for such a short distance.”
“If you have forgotten, today is the first day! Do you expect me to do cartwheels the second I want to train?”
I huffed as he spun around and kicked the punching bag, missing my face by inches because I ducked at the right time.
“No, I want you to realize that your focus should be entirely on saving yourself during the hunt and the best way to do so is running faster than the others.”
I hated how right he was.
“Are you just going to make me run around in circles? Because I don't need to be woken up at 5 am to do that.”
“You need to improve your speed like I said instead of wasting another three minutes bickering about it.”
He spun around and jumped up to kick the punching bag again.
“Now you are just throwing numbers in the air.”
“Check the time if you want” He shrugged and went to the side to grab his towel and wipe his neck.
I did and he was right about the time as I did the math mentally.
“How did you..” I began but he only shrugged and sat on a log lying around.
“Habit. You should have a mental clock running in your mind if you are going to be in danger, be able to calculate whats the most efficient mode of attacking or deflecting in the least time while also conserving maximum energy. It helps you in the long term.”
“Oh, that’s impressive” I admitted and then asked another question that had been bothering me.
“Why aren’t you participating in the hunt?”
He was an alpha heir and I believed was here to prove how he was no less than the other heirs. Participating in the challenges and defeating them would be the best way to do it.
“I don't like chasing innocent and gullible prey when there are so many criminals roaming free who deserve hate and violence.”
This was probably the first time he had given me a hint of what he does or why.
“So you knew on your first day that Clarke was an asshole?” I asked, growing curious.
I had wondered why a student was assaulting a staff member with so many people watching and it seemed now I had an answer.
“We aren’t here to chitchat. Your cooling off period is over. Five more rounds again, three sets and if you grumble, I’ll make it ten”
He was all business as he got up from the log, shutting down any further questions.
“Fine but I am not going to just run around after that. You are going to teach me something solid”
The fact that he didn’t disagree was enough motivation for me to run.