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  We sit in our dorm, no one speaking a word as Jacinta soundlessly lays across Treys lap on the couch. An hour later there’s a knock at the window, I shoot cross the room to find Daniel on the other side. Jacinta sits up straighter at the sight of him as he climbs through the window and takes a seat on my bed.

  “Come on, Jacinta,” he says, his voice uncharacteristically low and melancholy as he indicates for her to join him on the bed. “There are a few things you should know.”

  Jacinta lifts herself up off the couch and wordlessly crosses the room to take a seat on her bed, opposite Daniel.

  “Did you guys need us to leave?” Trey asks the quiet room.

  “Nah, it’s nothing you haven’t already figured out,” Daniel mumbles. He takes a deep breath and raises his gaze to meet Jacinta’s. “You ready?” he asks.

  Jacinta presses her lips together and gives a slight shrug of her shoulders. “Not really,” she says. “But go on anyway.”

  Daniel pauses as he gathers his thoughts. “Alright, well I guess you have probably worked out that my mum and your dad had an affair,” he starts as Jacinta bows her head at Daniels confirmation. “Nineteen years ago, she met Phillip at a Guard gala day, she was working at the event that he had been attending and he apparently sought her out at the end of the evening. He was the wealthy older man and swept her off her feet. They had a brief affair, of course, my mother had no idea that he was a married man. She said it started off with the romantic gestures but didn’t take her long to realise his true colours. Three months into their affair she found out he was married to your mum and was going to leave him when she realised she was pregnant with me,” Daniel pauses at that part to let his words sink in.

  Jacinta lifts her head at that and cringes. “So it’s true, you’re my brother?” she asks with a frown.

  Daniel tightens his lips and shoots her an apologetic look. “Yeah, well… half-brother,” he confirms.

  “Ok, we can come back to that. What happened next?” she pushes.

  “Mum told him about the pregnancy and apparently he flipped on her saying she did it on purpose to get to his money,” he scoffs. “He paid her one hundred thousand dollars to disappear and to ‘fix’ the problem. Though my mother is not the kind of woman who can be bought. There was no way she would ever go through with an abortion, so fearing your father, she disappeared into the human world. She donated the money to the local shelter and got a job to pay for a home for us.”

  “When I was four, she was struggling with money, missed her family and wanted me to grow up with the influence of The Guard, the same way she had, so she packed us up and moved back into the community just in time for me to start school at The Academy.”

  “Holy shit,” Jacinta whispers.

  “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up,” he says. “Come here.”

  Jacinta looks up to find Daniels' arms open wide for her, she climbs off her bed and falls into his inviting arms. He holds her tight for a long while before she bursts into a hysterical laugh. “No wonder we fight the way we do,” she says to him.

  He gives her a brilliant smile and the tension in the room dissipates.

  “Does my mum know?” she suddenly asks.

  He shrugs his shoulders. “Not sure, but I think it’s something she probably deserves to know,” he says.

  She nods her head in agreement. We all sit in silence allowing Daniel and Jacinta to process the morning's events when a memory comes crashing through my mind. “Oh. My. God,” I screech.

  All eyes in the room fall on me as I give Jacinta a horrified look. “What?” she demands.

  A wicked grin spreads over my lips. “Remember that party about 3 years ago where we found that bottle of vodka, got wasted and played that really inappropriate game of truth or dare?”

  “Oh no,” Jacinta says, her face growing pale while a sick look crosses Daniels' face. They share a horrified look as Trey jumps up from the couch. “What happened? I don’t remember,” he demands.

  “No, no, no, no,” Jacinta begins to chant, rubbing at her temples as she awkwardly removes herself from Daniels' arms.

  My grin widens at the cringe on Daniels' face. “Jacinta here was keeping some ridiculous secret from me at the time so I started a game of truth or dare knowing Jacinta always picks truth, anyway when it got to her turn, she surprised me by picking dare. So I dared her to make out with Daniel, which of course being as drunk as they both were, happily agreed and were making out all night. Arms and legs were going everywhere,” I laugh.

  “WHAT?” Trey shouts, “You hooked up with Jacinta and never told me?” he demands, his gaze trained on Daniel.

  Another laugh comes ripping from my throat. “What’s more important is that he hooked up with his sister.”

  “Hey,” Daniel defends. “I was that wasted I didn’t even remember that until just now, and besides how the hell was I supposed to know she was my sister?”

  “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Stop talking about it,” Jacinta begs, her hands pressed to her ears. The rest of the room bursts into laughter at her embarrassment. Trey moves closer to her and wraps his arms around her slender body.

  “Don’t be embarrassed babe,” he soothes, pulling her in tighter.

  Jacinta’s phone rings and she digs into her pocket to pull it out, cringing when she reads the caller ID. “It’s mum,” she announces and answers her phone. After a short conversation she hangs up. “Apparently Dad has a ‘work thing’ and they need to leave right away,” she says.

  “I’m assuming your mum wants you to go and say goodbye?” Trey asks.

  “Yeah, but I don’t want to see dad,” she confides.

  “I know, I’ll come with you,” he says, planting a swift kiss on her lips and taking her hand, leading her out of the room by the window.

  “You should probably go spend some time with Millie and your Mum before she has to leave again,” Daniel says.

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Come on,” Daniel says, throwing an arm over my shoulder. “I’ll walk you.”

  “K,” I say as we head out the door. “I can’t believe you hooked up with your sister,” I smirk.

  Chapter 3

  I walk into Combat Training on Monday afternoon with Daniel and Trey trailing behind me. My eyes zone in on the brooding man, leaning against the wall with his foot propped up. A smirk playing on his lips and a twinkle in his dark, gold speckled eyes as he watches me enter.

  “You’re late and you’ve wasted my time,” Rylan scolds, his tone demanding complete utter respect.

  Trey and Daniel wince at his tone and rush to join the group. I try my best to prevent the grin that is desperate to escape my lips, knowing that after months of showing up to my one-on-one sessions late, Rylan really doesn’t care if we’re late. He just enjoys watching them scramble around, doing everything they can to remain in his good books.

  Rylan pushes off the wall and comes to stand in front of our small group of misfits. “Right, now that everyone has decided to show up,” he starts, eyeing Trey and Daniel, who both wear guilty expressions. “We need to discuss how the Midterm Examinations will play out next week.”

  A groan echoes through the room from at least four of the guys. Though one harsh look from Rylan shuts them all up. “As you are aware, the week will commence with a written exam first. This will be on Monday morning in the great hall. All other electives will be having their exams at the same time. The doors to the great hall will close at exactly 9 am, anyone who is not inside that hall will forfeit their test results and there will be no second chances,” he says fixing me with a look that suggests he added that last part, particularly for my benefit as I have never been on time for anything in my life. I give him the slightest nod to acknowledge his warning was well received.

  “Monday afternoon you will be tested on your target skills which include all variations of shooting, such as near, far and a moving target. Same goes with daggers. You will be required to discuss safe weapo
n handling and give a brief demonstration to The Guard officials.”

  “Tuesday is when you’ll start your combat examinations. You will fight each of your classmates over the space of the next few days. A schedule will be placed on the notice board outside the combat room detailing when and who you will be fighting. Now, as you know, The Guard like to create an event of your physical examinations, so your fights will take place out on the back oval. Grandstands will be erected on the outskirts and you can expect to see a crowd of at least one thousand people each day, so take this opportunity to invite your families.”

  “Friday will conclude your exams with a demonstration of your weaponry skills within a fight. Though you will be using training weapons, you are instructed not to hold back. Due to the nature of these fights, you will be partnered with either myself or Ben,” he says, indicating towards our other instructor who gives him a nod in return. “As you know, the results for each of your exams will determine your current ranking, so I expect each of you to give 110%,” he adds, giving us all a stare down.

  “Right, now that’s out of the way, there is no particular plan for this week’s training. You have already learned everything you need to know to come out on top, it is up to you to make it happen. So, Ben will be spending his week in the shooting range and I will remain here. You will have the choice what you spend your week working on. I suggest you figure out your weaknesses and work your asses off to overcome them. Ben and I will remain in each room until 6 pm, so take advantage.”

  With those parting words the room breaks apart, a few follow Ben out the door to the shooting range and I choose to stay back, as after hours upon hours of practicing, I currently hold a 95% accuracy rate in those skills, though I will probably spend a few hours down at the range before the week is up.

  I head over to the small stage at the front of the room which is currently filled with all sorts of training weapons and study the collection in front of me. Knowing both my weaponry skills during combat and my overall strength are my weakest areas, I pick a handful of training items, head over to an empty space in the room and get to work, focusing solely on the task at hand and not the sexy man who is strutting around the room barking out instructions and demands.

  After 30 minutes of working my ass off, a bead of sweat travels down the back of my neck and I give myself a short chance to catch my breath. I put my training weapons down in a neat pile and head over to my things to grab a bottle of water. I plonk down on the ground and lay back on the cool linoleum of the training room closing my eyes as I catch my breath.

  I open my eyes a few moments later to find Rylan staring down at me. “You’re doing pretty good today,” he says crouching down to get closer to my height.

  “You think?” I scoff. “I feel a bit awkward with a few things and I’m pretty sure I’m screwing up with the big dagger again,” I complain.

  “Really?” he asks. “Looked next to perfect to me, in fact,” he says lowering his tone to a near whisper. “It was damn sexy.”

  “Shoosh,” I hurriedly scold, glancing around the room in hopes nobody heard his comment. A smirk comes over his face as he watches my face fill with panic. He lets out a low laugh and reaches a hand down to me.

  “Come on,” he says. “Show me what you think you’re having trouble with.”

  I reach up and take hold of his hand, warmth spreading through me at his touch. A feeling that I am positive I will never tire of. He pulls me up off the ground, holding onto me a few extra seconds. He regrettably let’s go and leads me across the room to my training space.

  We get to work with the dagger, his eyes heating further with every movement I make. Though, professional as always when it comes to my training, he keeps his dirty comments to himself and fixes the few things that I thought I was having trouble with.

  “Rylan,” A voice calls from the opposite side of the room. “Can I have a hand?” he looks over his shoulder, seeking out the owner of the voice and gives a nod.

  “You good here?” he asks, “Nothing else you need help with?”

  I give him a sexy smile and lower my voice. “Rylan, there are so many things I could use your help with right now,” I wink.

  He closes his eyes for the briefest moment and I find them scorching when they reopen. “Don’t tempt me, Bianca. My self-control is getting worse every day,” he whispers. “Trust me, if we were alone, I would’ve had you up against that wall the moment you walked in.”

  Holy cow. My mind begins to jumble as thoughts of Rylan pressing me up against the wall take priority in my mind. I stutter out something that resembles needing to get back to work. Rylan gives me a sly smile and turns on his heel, heading for the owner of the voice, leaving me to sort out my thought process. I pluck the thoughts of Rylan and the wall out of my mind for the time being and promise myself that I will revisit that one tonight.

  I work for another hour on an assortment of weapons before finally taking a break. I find Daniel heading for the door and call out to him. “Hey, where are you going?”

  He turns at the sound of my voice, a brilliant smile plastering his face. “I’m going to head to the cafeteria, grab a bite then keep going on sparring. Want to come?”

  My stomach rumbles at that exact time. “Do I ever,” I announce, jogging to catch up with him. “Who are you sparring with when you get back?”

  “No clue, I was going to ask Rylan but I don’t feel like getting my ass completely handed to me today,” he says.

  “I’ll spar with you for an hour if you do some strength work with me after that?”

  Daniel holds his hand out to me. “You’ve got yourself a deal, pretty lady,” he says, placing his hand in mine and giving it a firm shake.

  An hour and a half later, I am exhausted. Rylan calls for the end of our session and sends us all away to get a good night’s rest for another hard day tomorrow. I find Jacinta waiting at the door of the training room, her eyes all seductive as she gazes at Trey who is finishing his last set with the weights.

  “God, my man is sexy,” she says as I get closer.

  “Oh jeez. Do I need to be worried that you're about to go and jump him with everybody here to watch?” I laugh.

  “Yep,” she grins. “You most certainly do.”

  I roll my eyes and give her a shake of my head. “Are you here for me or Trey?” I ask.

  “Believe it or not, I’m here for you,” she says, indicating down to the tray of food that lays at her feet. “I thought we could go for a picnic dinner and then head back to our room for an early night because you look exhausted and you are in desperate need of a shower,” she informs me, making a show of plugging her nose.

  “Shut up, you cow. I’d love to see how you look after 4 hours of training,” I say as she picks up the tray and heads for the door with a quick wave to her boyfriend.

  “Yeah… That’s never going to happen,” she cringes.

  We head out and sit in the long grass of the field and eat our dinner while relaxing in the late afternoon breeze. And just like she said, we head back for the shower I so desperately need and curl into bed for an early night. My head barely touches the pillow before I fall into a deep sleep, dreaming of a particular man pressing me up against the combat room wall.

  ----------

  I spend the following week working my ass off. Each day working on turning those weaknesses into strengths while also keeping up on everything else. Rylan pushes me harder and faster in my morning sessions, draining every last ounce of energy I possess, just to spend my day in classes regaining that energy to then push myself to exhaustion in the afternoon.

  I consider Trey my strongest competition, so I take every opportunity I get to go head to head with him. I study his movements and learn as much of his footwork and sequences as possible, though after spending the last few months sparring against Rylan, the best Guard fighter in at least the last two decades, I like to think I’ve got this in the bag.

  It’s now Monday morning and the writt
en exam starts in approximately three minutes. I sprint across campus, my bag slipping from my shoulder and pooling at my elbow. I struggle to hold onto it as my legs power ahead. I sprint past the Combat room, the gym, and a few more classrooms. One more corner and I’ll be safe. I get around the corner and skid to a stop in front of the doors to the great hall, just in time to sneak through the door that Ms. Peterson is currently closing.

  Crap, that was close.

  “Cutting it a bit short there, Bianca,” Ms. Peterson scolds as I slip past her. I glance up at her while I catch my breath to find nothing but pure disappointment shining back at me.

  “I know, I know,” I mumble, slinking past her to find my seat. I scan the rows and find the one empty chair left in the room and make my way over. I feel someone’s gaze boring into me and I reluctantly raise my eyes to meet the extremely unimpressed glare of my favourite instructor. I cringe and give a little shrug of my shoulder and mouth the word ‘sorry’ hoping he can find it in himself to forgive me. I mean, at least I’m on this side of the door and not hating myself on the other. He presses his lips together and shakes his head, his features finally soften and I know I’ve been forgiven.

  I take my seat and glance down at the exam sitting on the table and wait for the teacher at the front of the room to give us the go ahead to begin.

  Two hours later, I slam my pen down on the table relieved that is finally over. I mean it was the easiest thing, but two whole hours, kill me now. I get up and search the room for Jacinta when Daniel comes up behind me. “You only just made it,” he laughs.

  “Tell me about it. Did you see the look I got from boss man? I swear he looked as though he was about to give me up to the fey and leave my remains for the wolves,” I say, cringing at the thought.

  “Yeah, I caught that. You’re lucky he’s crazy about you. I swear you just got away with murder,” he laughs. We make our way out of the great hall and find Jacinta and Trey waiting on the other side. We hang out figuring out what to do for the next few hours as the teachers have cancelled all classes today.