After completing a set of exercises to loosen her muscles, Kiva looked at the nearest pair of guards, their clashing swords screeching with each strike, and asked, “Is that what we’ll be doing?”
Caldon threw back his head and laughed. “You’re crazy if you think I’m letting you anywhere near a blade anytime soon.”
Kiva crossed her arms.
His chuckles waning, Caldon said, “I need to see what I’m working with here. Stand up as straight as you can.”
She did as ordered, his eyes trailing down her body, but not in his usual flirtatious way. There was a seriousness about him, enough for Kiva to realize this was important to him — the art of training, and the discipline required for it.
“It’s worse than I feared,” Caldon muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“Are you sure you’re standing up straight?”
“Of course I’m —”
“May I?” Caldon didn’t wait for her permission before he pushed her shoulders back, kicked her legs apart, braced her spine, and tilted her chin up. “Better,” he said. “Now hold that position.”
Barely seconds passed before her shoulders began to curl inward and her chin drifted down, neither of which she would have noticed if Caldon hadn’t corrected them. A slight ache began in her lower back, the burn spreading both higher and lower the longer she remained in the one position, her neck beginning to scream.
“What’s the point of this?” Kiva asked, gritting her teeth when he pushed her shoulders into place yet again.
“We need to improve your balance and strengthen your core,” Caldon said, tapping his sword against her stomach. “You have seventeen years of bad habits to break, but those two are important. There’s no point in learning how to do anything more challenging” — he indicated the sparring swordsmen — “until your foundation is in place.”
“But I’m just standing here.”
“The way you stand affects the way you move,” he said. “If you can’t stand correctly, you’ll never move to the best of your ability.”
Kiva grumbled under her breath, but in the back of her mind, she saw the logic in what he was saying.
When Caldon called time, Kiva took great effort not to slump over. She ignored the dull ache in her back and neck, instead holding Caldon’s amused look and hating that he seemed to know about her physical discomfort anyway.
“Now that you know what your posture should be,” he said, moving the wooden box closer, “step up.”
Wondering if it was some kind of trick, Kiva tentatively did as instructed. The box wasn’t very high, but she still felt her muscles tighten with the stretch.
“Now do that again, but hold your straight-backed position,” Caldon said.
Kiva repeated her actions, but this time with the correct posture, prompting a burning sensation to ricochet all the way down her body.
“Good,” Caldon said. “Again.”
And so Kiva did it again.
And again.
And again.
While continuing the mindless task, she tried to glance around the training yard in search of anything her brother or sister would want to know. But she had no idea how to describe the fighting techniques that were being practiced, and soon enough it took all of her concentration just to keep her legs under her as she stepped up and down, over and over again.
Her thighs were on fire, the rest of her body equally inflamed, sweat dripping from places she didn’t know could sweat, when Caldon finally told her to stop.
“How’s that feel?” he asked as she collapsed on top of the box.
“Like I want to murder you,” Kiva panted, massaging her legs.
“Perfect,” he said. “We’re making progress.”
She didn’t even have the energy to scowl at him.
A water canteen entered her line of sight, and she eagerly grabbed for it.
“Take it easy,” Caldon said, pulling it away before she could drain it all. “You’ll regret it if you drink too much. We haven’t finished yet.”
Kiva bit down on a whimper as Caldon tugged her back up to her feet.
“Balance and core strength are important,” he said. “But right now, you have no fighting skills, and that won’t change overnight. So if something were to happen to you, like, say, if someone tried to abduct you — again — then your best bet for staying alive is simple: run away.”
Dread began to well within Kiva.
“Your fitness levels are nonexistent thanks to your time in Zalindov, so we need to work on your endurance.” A grin stretched across Caldon’s face. “If you want to murder me now, just wait to see how you feel after what’s next.”