Lord Lachlan's Lesson

Now I felt even less like a king. It was almost like when I first woke up, surrounded in darkness, but this was not how I pictured my life yesterday.

I sat there in silence for what felt like hours, though it was probably only minutes. I considered calling out to Fiona or trying to find my way back out on my own. Something told me that it would be best if I just waited here patiently like she had instructed me to. After all, Melodious had seemed pretty upset when Fiona had mentioned Lord Lachlan's name earlier.

Then there was the part about things being tough and me not liking the training. I was already not really liking this. What kind of training would it be?

I was so lost in thought that I jumped when I heard a key turning in the lock of the door leading into the room, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching from across the room.

I tensed up instinctively, preparing myself for whatever was coming, but relaxed slightly when Fiona reappeared out of the darkness with another figure following close behind her.

"Fiona, I told you to wait for me before bringing him down here," the figure scolded Fiona in a male voice.

"I'm sorry, Lord Lachlan, but I don't work for you," Fiona replied contritely as she walked into the room with a candle. "I don't understand why you want to do it in this dark room."

I watched as a tall man with broad shoulders and long, yellow-blonde hair that fell down around his face in waves walked in behind Fiona. He had piercing blue eyes that seemed to tear right through me as our eyes met. The man had an air of authority about him that made it very clear that he was used to being in charge. The man's hair obscured part of his face, but even with only that part of his face visible, I could tell that he was a man that had seen many things.

"What's your name?" he asked abruptly, breaking into my thoughts.

My name? I hadn't even thought about that. I was not a child, so I had to have one, but what was it?

"Um... Azriel," I replied hesitantly as it came to me. Something about this man just put me on edge and made me not want to trust him.

"And how old are you?" he asked next, without giving me any time to recover from his first question.

"I don't know," I said, and that was the truth.

Thankfully, Lord Lachlan seemed satisfied with my answer because he nodded his head slightly before moving away from the table and towards one of the walls, pressing a stone on it.

The stone sunk into the wall slightly, and then the entire wall sunk in and slid to the side. I would have been more impressed by it, but my eyes were glued to the wall that was behind it. It was lined with all sorts of weapons. Most of them I couldn't identify, but that was hardly surprising.

He ran his fingers lightly over the hilts of several knives before finally settling on one. He ran his fingers lightly over the hilts of several knives before finally settling on one. It was a double-edged dagger with a curved blade adorned with intricate carvings and jewels. He pulled it from its velvet sheath and admired the way the light of the candle reflected off of the blade.

I watched as he seemed to weigh the blade in his hand and then checked it for balance. Anxiety from the silence and watching this strange man play with that blade were starting to get to me, but then he turned his gaze to me. Without saying anything, Lord Lachlan threw it toward me underhanded across the room.

As my heart rate instantly rose, time seemed to slow, and my eyes stayed on the dagger as my hand seemed to lift on its own. I managed to catch it by reflex alone right before it would have stabbed into my stomach. I didn't have time to register what was happening until after it had already happened and the knife was in my hand.

I looked down at the knife in confusion for a moment before slowly raising my gaze back up toward Lord Lachlan. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed lazily over his chest while watching me intently with an unreadable expression on his face.

"What was that about?!" I demanded, but he ignored my question.

"Do you know how to use that?" Lord Lachlan asked casually, gesturing towards the knife still clutched in my hand.

I shook my head silently, feeling a little embarrassed and forgetting my anger. I wasn't even sure how I had caught the knife in the first place if I didn't even know how to use it.

Lord Lachlan straightened away from the wall and began walking towards me slowly with a predatory grace that made him look more like a jungle cat than a human being.

"Let me show you," he said softly as he came to a stop directly in front of me, so close that I could feel some sort of power or energy that was leaking from his body. He was so close now that I could see flecks of gold in his blue eyes.

He reached out and placed one hand on top of mine that was still holding onto the knife before turning it. Before I could react, Lord Lachlan rammed the blade into my guts.

My eyes bulged as I stood with my hand still being pressed to hold the dagger that was now inside of me. My mind couldn't seem to process what was happening, but I was starting to feel a searing pain start to spread out from the wound.

"Why?" I asked and then coughed up some blood.

"You are a monster, and I hate monsters. You might be something great one day, but for now, you are my responsibility. What I do to get you ready for that day is up to me. Not you or your monster Queen, do you understand?" Lachlan said as I coughed out my blood. I nodded, but I could feel myself slipping as the pain coursed through me. "Good."