Magic Forged (Hall of Blood and Mercy Book 1) by K. M. Shea

Author:K. M. Shea [Shea, K. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Hazel

A week passed, and there were no new murders.

My life mostly revolved around exercising and taking Epsom-salt soaks in the giant bathtub of my private bedroom. (That was, perhaps, the only major positive in this: the huge room upgrade. My bathroom was the size of my bedroom back in House Medeis, and if I had a death wish I could ransack it for serious money between the soap dispenser that was leafed with real gold and what I suspected were real rubies welded into the giant mirror frame.)

I wasn’t seeing much improvement in the physical fitness area, but Celestina assured me I would soon. I was able to hold my sword in the sword forms now without my arms shaking. But that meant giving credit to Rupert for the weightlifting, something I was morally opposed to.

“Switch to a defensive stance next,” Josh instructed. He circled, keeping a critical eye on my movements. “For as inevitable as the final kiss of death is, I imagine you desire to fend it off for as long as possible.”

Josh had taken over my sword training for the past two days, during which I’d come to learn a lot about him. For instance, he wasn’t judging my lack of fighting abilities—though I wish he was—but rather just being…Josh. I’d never met a vampire as morose and fixated on death as Josh before. (I mean, vampires are immortal. If anyone thumbed their nose at death it was vampires. Josh, however, didn’t seem to agree.)

I maneuvered my body so my sword pointed down, but was positioned in a way that would protect my stomach.

“An excellent choice,” Josh said. “This stance in particular is helpful against werewolves, who are prone to going for the guts of their victim—though the smarter ones will focus on your neck.”

“Fabulous,” I said. “Something to look forward to.”

“When you add magic to your sword stances, you’ll find you are much more capable of fighting than you imagined.” Josh stopped in front of me with his hands clasped behind his back. “Magic is something of a cheat code when fighting.”

“Oh yeah,” I said. “Totally. That’s why everyone is scared of wizards.”

Josh tilted his head as he studied me, his forehead wrinkled. (I think I confused him about as much as he confused me.) “Very well, it seems you require a demonstration. Take up a kata—overhead cut.”

A kata is a Japanese sword form—sort of. It’s really a set of choreographed movements, but since I was a total newbie to the art form the only kata I had learned were pretty limited in length. They all have fancy Japanese names, but Celestina had decided it wasn’t worth trying to teach me when she laughed so hard at my initial attempts she almost impaled herself on a wrought-iron fence.

The stance Josh ordered me to use was actually super difficult. You hold the sword above your head, then cut down directly in front of you. There’s way more to it—balance and pressure play a huge role in

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