my inner boss bitch. I can let them go at each other again, or I can take this shit by the short hairs and get all of us to a place that won’t lead to our mass slaughter when things go down with Adriel.
“We’re here to train,” I shout out into the tension and death stares. “I don’t fucking care how you feel about each other, your history, or any of your reasons for mistrust when we’re out here. All I care about is that each and every one of you has runes, and that makes you an asset and a target.” I look at each of them as I talk, my eyes hard and my words brokering no argument. “Like it or not, Adriel’s coming for us, and it just might take each and every one of us to end him. If we can’t figure out how to work together and watch each other’s backs, then we might as well just hand ourselves over to him now.”
No one says anything to that, and a few of them drop their eyes away from my steely gaze. Knox meets my stare head-on, and I can practically see the never going to happen in it. My eyes stay fixed on his for a couple of beats, and I communicate a very clear get with the plan or get the fuck out. I look around and quickly map out areas where I’m going to set up teams. Enoch and his coven had me train in a gladiator-like style, but this group needs to learn little things about their runes and what they can do first, so I’m starting with Sentinel baby steps.
“As much as I’m sure you’re all hoping to magically beat the shit out of each other like you do in paladin training, that’s not going to work for this situation. So instead, I’m going to pair you up based on your natural branch of magic. Enoch and Sabin, you’re together.” Sabin nods and then moves so that he’s standing in front of Enoch. “Kallan, you’re with Valen. Nash with Ryker. Knox and Torrez, and Bastien, you’ll be with me.”
All of them pair off somewhat reluctantly, but I treat the fact that they did it without arguing as the small victory that it is.
“Every day, we’re going to work on activating the runes that you have. Once everyone is proficient at that, we’ll start sparring. You will spar only with the weapons or magic that your partner has access to. When you’re good enough with those, I will mix up the partners so that everyone gets a chance to work different skills and weapons against different opponents, including me.”
Some of my Chosen begin to grumble their disagreement, and I shut it down with a slash of my hand through the air.
“I don’t care if you have issues with fighting your mate or a girl or whatever the excuse is when it comes to facing off with me. This is not up for debate. I can teach you things that you’ll need to know, and I imagine that I can learn plenty from you, too. If it’s not a mortal blow, then deliver it. We have healers, and we don’t have time to pull punches and take things at a leisurely pace. This shit is life and death, so Sentinel up and treat it that way.”
I pat myself on the back for channeling my inner Braveheart just enough to put a hint of fire in everyone’s eyes but not so much that I’m screaming freedom and looking for something to paint my face blue. I assign each pair to stand in a different area so that they’re spread out but can still hear me call out instructions. Bastien stands to my left as I take in my marked army and try not to feel completely underqualified to lead them.
“Quickly think through the runes that you have and decide which of those runes you’ll be working to activate first. Those with weapons, I would suggest focusing on one of them. Those of you without weapons yet, focus on an ability,” I instruct before turning to Bastien.
He’s smirking at me. “I find you very appealing when you’re being bossy,” he tells me, and I laugh.
“Don’t think buttering me up means I’m going to take it easy on you,” I warn.
Bastien’s hazel eyes light up with mirth, making him even more gorgeous than he already is. His long wavy dark brown hair is pulled back, accentuating