Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

the pain that I’d caused him was something I didn’t know if I could ever forgive myself for.

Sam breathed gently as he slept on his side beside me, his bare back presented to me. I never tired of staring at him, at his muscles as they rose and fell with every breath.

I placed my hand in between his shoulder blades and caressed down his back ever so slightly, just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Words can’t express how much I missed you, Sam. I leaned over and kissed his cheek, trying not to let his stubble tickle my cheek.

“Sleep, love. You’ve earned it,” I whispered.

It was early, just after sunrise, and I should’ve been tired considering how much I’d slept the night before, but I guess we both needed the sleep. I’d never felt as refreshed as I did now. Though a slightly soured stench wrinkled my nose. I need a bath.

When I was clean, I dressed in a copper-colored tunic that perfectly matched Sam’s hair and a pair of black pants that Yumiko had let me borrow.

Sam hadn’t had an easy time the past few weeks, so I let him sleep.

Guess I’ll train. I tied back my hair and crept out of the room to pad down to the second-floor training room. I was alone when I entered and quickly began warming up like Evelyn had taught me. When I was limber, I started on several exercises, called calisthenics, in order to increase my endurance and flexibility.

They were tough, and afterward, I was heaving and dripping sweat. All right, stretching time.

It was another of Evelyn’s routines, and after I spent nearly thirty minutes trying to dislocate my limbs by contorting them to every possible angle, I was ready for my archery training.

I grabbed a washrag and doused it in a metal bucket with a sliver of fire stone inside to heat the water. I cleaned the sweat off as best I could and drank deeply from a waterskin hanging on a nail by the door.

The archery range was outside the castle in a courtyard beside the inner bailey. By the time I reached the walled-off stone area, the sun was bright over a cloudless sky. I ignored the rising heat and grabbed a wooden recurve bow from the covered rack next to the range.

I nocked an arrow and lined up at the circular straw target twenty-five yards away. The world dimmed as I focused on what Evelyn had taught me, slowing my breathing and waiting for the space between heart beats. I released the arrow, and it struck home several inches off center.

“You’re tensing at the release,” a voice said, breaking the silence.

I jumped and whirled around, trying not to shout as I stared at Yumiko, bow and quiver in hand, leaning against the side wall next to me.

She laughed and smiled at me. “Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you, but I figured with your hearing, you’d have heard me coming. I wasn’t quiet.”

“I was focused on my breathing and listening to my heartbeat.”

Yumiko came up beside me and slung her quiver over her shoulder. She drew and nocked an arrow in a flash and released it just as quick. It struck dead center in her target.

“The way Evelyn trains isn’t wrong. Hell, she taught me most of what I know, but her method isn’t exactly right for you, not with how adamant you are about sticking close to Duran—and given his penchants for trouble, you’ll be getting into more fights and don’t need the beginner’s version of her training.

“Here, let me help you.”

She set down her bow and came up right behind me. Her hands were light on my skin, but her thick calluses rubbed roughly as she adjusted my form ever so slightly. “Now, nock and draw.”

I did as she told me and readied my arrow. I sighted up my destination and waited for her instruction. “You’re holding in your breath while aiming and letting it out too fast when firing. It’s causing you to twitch just so. It takes practice, but you must keep breathing. In slow and out slow, fire at the end of the breath. It takes a lot of practice, but it’ll help you when you can time your shots to coincide with your breathing.”

She backed off and told me to give it a shot. I focused on what she told me and didn’t hitch my breathing while going through the motions. I had my shot, and I released at the exhale. It landed just above the center, but it was closer this time, and it was smooth, rather than jerky.

Yumiko brushed a loose strand of hair over her ear and nodded. “Better. You won’t master it overnight, but you’ve got the basics down enough. Just keep practicing, every day if you can. You’ll get there,” she said and began her own training. “Oh, and one more thing. Never let Harper try and train you. That idiot is a damn good shot, but his skill can’t exactly be taught, and he has too many bad habits.”

I told her I would only let her or Evelyn teach me, and we spent the next hour or so going through dozens of arrows. Little by little, shot by shot, I was getting better, more comfortable with the weapon in my hands. Even Yumiko praised me a few times, and that made suffering under the beating sun all worthwhile.

When I’d done as much as I could, and my arms started shaking with fatigue, I called it quits and went to take a bath and wake Sam. He was still sleeping when I came in, so I padded over and kissed his hair before taking the second bath of the day. It was much shorter than the first, and by the time I’d changed, my stomach was rebelling at the