Chapter 7 – The Training
1292 Words
The word midnight hung in the air long after Adrian said we had twelve hours.
I didn’t sleep. I barely even blinked. By the time he came to get me, the sun was a pale smear over the trees, and my nerves were strung so tight I thought I might snap if someone so much as sneezed near me.
He led me down a corridor lined with tall windows, into a room I hadn’t seen yet. The walls were bare stone, the floor polished wood, the space wide and empty. Training room, my brain supplied, though I had no idea what we were training for.
“You expect me to spar?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because if this is about cardio, I can save you time and admit right now I’ll lose.”
Adrian almost smiled. Almost. “Not sparring. Centering.”
“Oh, good. Meditation. Exactly what I want to do before my predicted midnight death.”
“You’ll thank me when it works.” He moved to the center of the room and gestured for me to follow.
I dragged my feet but obeyed, standing opposite him.
“Close your eyes,” he said.
I crossed my arms. “Not happening.”
“Elena.” His voice had that edge that made refusal feel impossible.
I sighed and shut them.
“Breathe in,” he instructed. “Match it to the hum you felt in the chamber. Don’t fight it. Don’t follow it. Hold it.”
Easier said than done. The moment I tried, I felt the tug again—like an invisible thread winding around my ribs, pulling me forward.
My heart raced. “It’s—working too well.”
“Focus,” Adrian said, his tone sharper now. “Count backward from seven.”
“Seven,” I whispered, squeezing my fists. “Six… five…”
The tug grew stronger. The faint ring on my wrist pulsed. My knees wobbled.
“Four,” Adrian said, voice low and steady. “Three. Anchor yourself. Do not give in.”
Something warm brushed my hand. I flinched, then realized it was his fingers, steadying me.
“Two,” he murmured. “One.”
The pull snapped like a rubber band. I stumbled, gasping, eyes flying open.
Adrian’s hand was still on mine. His face was calm, but a faint sheen of sweat clung to his temple.
“Better,” he said.
I yanked my hand free. “Better? I nearly fell into… into whatever that was.”
“That was the thread,” he said. “If you don’t learn to resist it, it will devour you.”
“Great pep talk,” I muttered.
“You lasted longer than most would their first time.”
Something flickered in his eyes then—pride, maybe, or relief. Whatever it was, it twisted my stomach in ways I wasn’t ready to name.
Before I could say anything, the door creaked open.
Marla stood there, as stiff as always. “Hunters near the east grounds. They’re testing the wards.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened. He released my hand. “Lesson’s over. For now.”
I swallowed, every nerve lighting up again. Midnight was no longer a distant clock. It was marching closer.
The air shifted as Adrian straightened, steel replacing bone in his posture. “Double the perimeter,” he ordered.
“They already have,” Marla said, calm as glass. Her eyes flicked to me. “It won’t hold forever. Not with her here.”
Her. Like I was a disease weakening the house.
I crossed my arms, trying to keep my voice steady. “Maybe if I leave—”
“No.” Adrian’s reply was immediate, iron in his tone. “You step outside these walls, you’ll be dead before sunset.”
My throat tightened. Marla said nothing, but her silence spoke volumes.
Adrian turned back to me, his silver eyes burning. “Stay close. Don’t wander. Not tonight.”
“I wasn’t planning a midnight stroll,” I muttered.
“Good.” He moved toward the door, already focused on the invisible threat pressing in from the woods. “Come.”
I hesitated. “Wait—you want me to follow you into hunter territory? Great plan. Truly flawless.”
His gaze snapped back to me, sharp enough to cut. “You’re safer at my side than alone. Always.”
The words shouldn’t have made heat curl low in my stomach. But they did.
We stepped into the corridor. Servants—if that’s what they were—moved briskly, arms full of supplies I couldn’t name, faces grim. The house itself seemed awake, floorboards groaning, candles flaring higher as though the walls braced for impact.
Marla walked ahead of us, her presence like a blade. I wanted to ask questions—what hunters looked like, how close they were, why the hell they wanted me—but my tongue stuck.
Instead, I muttered, “This place could use an instruction manual.”
Adrian glanced sideways at me. “Consider this your first lesson.”
“Lesson?” I barked out a laugh. “So training camp means chanting and breathing until my veins glow?”
“Control first,” he said. “Defense next.”
“And offense?”
A pause. “If it comes to that, you’ll know.”
Great. Cryptic and terrifying. My two least favorite flavors.
We turned into a long gallery lined with tall windows. Moonlight spilled over the marble floor, pale and cold. Beyond the glass stretched the east grounds: rows of trees, shadows shifting in the wind.
Only… not just wind.
I pressed closer to the glass despite myself. At first I thought it was nothing but moving branches. Then I saw it. A figure at the edge of the trees. Hood pulled low, body still as stone. Watching.
My heart kicked hard against my ribs. “Adrian—”
“I see him.” His voice was low, steady.
Another figure joined the first. Then another. Shapes melted out of the treeline, not charging, not moving closer, only standing in the dark like chess pieces waiting to be played.
“There are more than yesterday,” Marla said. No emotion, just fact.
Adrian’s jaw tightened. “They’re waiting for the wards to falter.”
“And if they do?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Then they’ll come for you.” He didn’t look at me when he said it, and somehow that made it worse.
Silence pressed in. My skin prickled, every nerve screaming to move, to hide, to do anything but stand here like a target in plain view.
Finally, Adrian turned from the window. “Enough for tonight. You’ve seen what’s coming. Now you understand why we prepare.”
I hugged myself. “So I just… breathe until midnight and hope the walls don’t collapse?”
His eyes softened, just for a fraction of a second. “You’re stronger than you think, Elena. But strength without control is useless.”
Marla scoffed quietly. “Words won’t keep her alive.”
Adrian’s gaze cut to her. “Then it’s a good thing I intend more than words.”
They stared each other down, some silent conversation sparking between them. Then Marla dipped her head slightly and slipped away, leaving us in the dim gallery.
I turned back to the window one last time. The figures were still there. Unmoving. Patient.
A shiver ran down my spine. “Why aren’t they attacking now?”
Adrian’s expression was unreadable.
“Because they’re waiting for the same thing we are.”
“The same thing?” My voice cracked.
His silver eyes found mine. “Midnight.”
- Writer
