AISLIN | I

CHAPTER SIX

DINNER THAT night went pretty smoothly.

Grey, Serena, and Koa were all happy to have me here and welcomed me with open arms. Evander Glared at me most of the time, but at times I caught his just gazing at me. No hateful message or annoyance in his eyes. He was just looking at me.

The next morning I got ready to meet the whole army outside of the west wing. I pulled on my uniform. Tight grey pants, a white dress shirt with a dark blue vest that had a small chain, and dark blue calf boots. When I got there, hundreds of men stood. Their chatter was loud and frankly obnoxious. I spotted August out of all the men and called him over to me.

"Is this everyone?"

He nodded, "Yes, this is everyone."

"Okay. Now, where is Leland?" I asked.

"Um?" August stood up on his toes and searched for him, "Oh! There he is!"

I looked where August was pointing and saw the top of Leland's white hair. I immediately started to walk towards him, elbowing my way through all the men. Their voices began to hush with each man I passed. They got out of the way sooner rather than later, so I didn't have to elbow my way through.

When I reached Leland, the men's voices around us were mere whispers.

"Is that her?"

"I thought she was just a myth?"

"I thought they were just playing a joke on us!"

Leland looked at me with a bored expression, "Do you need something?"

I smiled, "Nice to see you too," He simply rolled his eyes. "We have work to do, and I need your help."

"Oh so now you want my help." He sassed crossing his arms.

"I never said that I didn't need your help," I explained, "You are still the Commander of this army and you know them better than I do, but you needed a reality check. You are not the strongest or smartest person in the room all the time. I need you to realize that there are going to be people, male and female, that are going to be in a higher rank than you and have authority over you, and your haughty, sexist and prideful attitude is going to get you in a lot of trouble."

Leland simply looked at me as I continued, "You have earned the title of Commander with the rest of these men, but not me. The respect you think you deserve, I will give you when you have earned it. Just because you acquired a title doesn't mean you deserve it. That goes for anyone. King, Queen, Knight, or even Warrior. These names were given to us because we earned them. I need you to show me that you are worthy of the title you have and that you want it. I mean want it. Okay?"

For a moment Leland didn't react, he just looked at me. He clenched his jaw and nodded, looking away, "Okay."

"Okay. Now I need your help, are you ready to help?" I questioned.

He nodded again, "Yep."

"That's what I want to hear!" I shouted. I turned around to the army, "Hello everyone! From now on you will be going under extreme training. You are going to be sore, bruised, and famished. All I ask from you is that you listen and you never give up. I am going to turn all of you into warriors."

Mixed expressions were littered on the faces of these men, but I saw determination.

Perfect.

The first thing I did was have Leland separate them due to their weaknesses. They made three groups. The first group was Endurance, the second group was Hand-eye coordination and Reflexes, and the third was Combat. We spent all day working on their weaknesses but more is going to need to be done. Leland was quiet but he listened to me and didn't complain about the instructions I gave him. I have real hope for him.