“Go back to bed.”
He dropped his chin. “No, I’m tired of fighting. Tired of seeing the people I love get hurt and die. I don’t think I have anything left to sacrifice in this war against him. He’s taken almost everything from me, killing me slowly and methodically. He always was a patient bastard.”
My heart ached for Fin, and it took everything I had not to shuffle over to his chair and
comfort him. Wrap my arms around him and tell him everything will be okay.
I couldn’t wrap my arms around him and lie. We might all die in our next big fight against Esteban. Hell, there was no way of knowing how this would all turn out and I couldn’t put that lie on top of everything else between us.
So, I kept my mouth shut and lay there with him, hoping, at least, my presence could bring him some of the comfort he needed right now.
A door down the hall opened and closed heavily. I let out a long sigh and shoved back my covers. No more sleep for me.
As I expected, the Chief walked out and stared at us both. “Well, since everyone is up right now, let’s get some training in.”
Fin gave him what I thought was supposed to be a withering stare. No one alive could intimidate the Chief.
“I don’t think I’ll be training until I can heal this wound.”
I stood and stretched my arms over my head to get some blood flowing. “Nice try. Not even losing a limb would get you out of training in this house. One time, I broke my wrist and I still had to show up and do what I could.”
That defeated look still hung over Fin’s shoulders. I didn’t doubt for a second the Chief could see it too.
“She’s right. Come on, you can do some weights or stretching while we spar. You need to get some movement in the side so scar tissue doesn’t set in before you can leave and try to magically heal it.”
Instead of arguing, Fin carefully shoved out of the chair and folded his blanket to lay across the back of it. “Since I doubt I’ll be able to argue my way out of this, we might as well get it over with.”
“That’s the spirit.” I grinned.
He didn’t look at me but followed the Chief down to the mats in the basement.
I made a quick stop to change into a sports bra and leggings. No way I was throwing punches with my chest flying around everywhere.
As I walked down the stairs, I dragged my hair up into a tight top knot. The Chief had already set out two sets of long wooden staffs in the middle of the mats.
I surveyed them and then studied the rack. “We should go for the short ones. I’m fighting with daggers these days.”
“Daggers? Why?”
I shrugged. “Magic, I guess. They spoke to me, so it seemed like a good idea to get myself accustomed to using them. Especially with magical enemies.”
The Chief replaced the staffs with shorter baton-length ones. Fin sat on the other side of the room in a plain wooden chair shifting his torso from side to side. His fae blood would help ensure he healed faster than a human, but once we left the magical protections of the Chief’s cabin, neither of us knew what would happen with his wound. The extra time spent was hopefully to help the wound close before we left in case the magic of the blade activated again.
I drew my attention back to the Chief and grabbed two of the rods off the floor.
“Have you been training since you’ve been away?” the Chief asked.
Away like I’d gone on vacation and only now ventured home to see him.
“Yes, often. Our friend who died and Fin have been training me in both fighting and magic.”
The Chief nodded and launched himself at me, staffs raised to strike. I dodged neatly, but he dragged one of the staffs out to clock me in the side of the head as he passed.
“Predictable,” he said.
I rubbed my stinging ear. The blow wasn’t hard, but my ears were sensitive, especially to large wooden objects battering them. With no need for words, I crouched to lower my center of gravity, then I took a large step to my left and struck out at his thighs.
He blocked easily enough. I twisted at the last second and landed one of the staffs across his lower back.