The abandoned wolfless but true princess

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Something in my chest tightened. Of course he was not doing this for me but for my father—for him. I didn’t say a word, I just kept mum but I quickly pushed that to the back of my head. Part of me was excited that he wanted to do this but another part of me was scared.

Branko didn't say anything for a while, he just pulled his body off the bench and walked over to me until he was standing directly in front of me.

"Learn to rely on your core strength and not your feminine abilities Eleanor," he said in a calm voice while turning to stare at me for a few seconds, "how many hours do you train before?"

"Five at most," I answered.

"Seven," he added, "we are moving it up. Three times in a week, we meet and you train your core here. If you want to meet up to expectations, you have to ensure you do not waste any time," Branko folded his hands across his chest as he continued to speak, "You might be the daughter of the king but that doesn't change anything. If you want to be accepted here, then you need to make a big difference. Do you understand that?

I stared at him for a while. Part of me was elated that he was teaching me this himself. From what I heard,he was the best coach here.

"You spoke about expectations. Who's expecting anything from me?"

He scoffed, walking away from me.

"Fail and see how everything is taken away from you. Take five, I won't go easy on you," He didn't wait for my response, he just made his way towards the edge of the lake. There was something hidden behind those eyes of his, if only I could unravel them —I would be able to get through to him.

"Your clock is ticking," his voice pulled me out of my train of thought and I immediately ran towards him.

“I am not even healed yet,” I called after him, “I was really wounded when Corey was chasing after me, do you want me to train in pain?”

“If you wait until you are healed, you may never get it, Eleanor.

From the way he was standing, I knew he was about to teach me combat and a serious one at that. Adrenaline bubbled through my entire body almost instantly.

"We will go over your attack on Jorge first," Branko said again, "we will analyze and come up with ways of better defending yourself. Am I clear?"

"Yes, coach,"

Truthfully I was not prepared for this. My whole body was aching and the only thing I wanted to do was get in bed but how could I? Branko chose this night to teach me, I couldn't risk him seeing me as the unserious one. I held it in —-my pain and everything that came with it.

"The attack on Jorge," his voice rang out again, "show me exactly how you did it, “we do that and we go over you and Corey. Understood?”

"Yes," I nodded and took a few steps away from him. He was trying to show me the flaw in that, that I was sure of.

I didn't wait for him to think or prepare. I lunged at him in a quick run and leaped into the air just a few seconds away from him but as I brought my finger closer to his face, Branko grabbed my neck mid air and half slammed me to the ground. My whole body exploded in pain and I felt like I was going to die the next minute. He wasn’t going to go easy on me and this confirmed it.

Pain continued to surge through my body as I laid there, his huge frame towering above me.

"Your number one mistake," he called out, "thinking you were in control of the situation, Eleanor," he continued, "whatever happened that day was purely luck. Jorge would had sent you to the great beyond if he wasn't startled for a brief moment,"

A slight frown formed on my forehead as I slowly pushed myself to a standing position.

"Everyone was there and they saw what happened," I shot back, "I won Jorge fair and-

His hand curled around my neck and he yanked me closer. My body almost crashed against his but he didn't let that happen—I was at arms length.

"If you ever want to defeat the three musketeers, you will need more than just a simple tactic to do that—" he was still talking when he brought his leg to my waist and kicked me hard—-I immediately fell to the ground, I hissed in pain.

“What was that for?”

“No more tricks,” he answered as he straightened up, “if you want to attack someone, do it with your full chest. What happened between you and Corey today should not repeat itself. Stand and fight for your right,”

Before I could say a word, he turned around and began walking away.

“You look tired, go and get some rest. We will continue tomorrow, I will send for you” there was no hint of emotion in his voice and that made me let out a sigh. I wasn’t expecting him to show any kind of care towards me but he was more of an ally now, wasn’t he?

“Coach, you—

“Go get some rest, Eleanor,” he cut me off before walking towards the bench.