The Skin Thief

Chapter 87

Pretending not to know how to fight is strangely difficult. Pretending I don't have the reflexes that I do and letting Marcus strike me, or pin me is extremely frustrating. I hide it though, pretending that I am absorbing what he's teaching as though I'm learning it all for the first time. Though I have to admit, he is a great teacher.

He stands behind me, adjusts my shoulders and moves my arm.

"Like this," he says, his breath tickling my neck. I try not to shiver.

Marcus steps away quickly and stands in front of me. Despite the two of us working in such close proximity, he has been nothing but professional. Any sort of friendship or spark between us is non-existent whilst we're in the training halls. Something I am grateful for. I need all my focus not to accidentally give myself away and being distracted by Marcus would make that a whole lot more difficult.

"Again," he instructs. I move forward, my fist arching through the air towards him. It is a fine balance. I don't want to be so fast that it's suspicious. But I don't want to be so slow that he thinks I'm useless and not worth teaching.

Marcus blocks the attack easily before spinning around in a blur and taking out my feet. I land on my back with a heavy oomph, the breath leaving my body.

"Are you okay?" he asks me. I groan and nod, taking his hand as he extends it to me.

"It will come," he assures me. "Now, again."

For the next hour, it is very much the same. Marcus teaches me the basics and has me doing lots of drills. He explains everything thoroughly and again, I can't help but marvel at how good of a teacher he is. I also get to see some of his combat skills first hand and though he's barely trying, it takes my breath away with how precise and fast he is.

"Excellent work today," he says as we move to the changing rooms. "You're making fast progress."

"Thank you," I say, still slightly breathless.

"It helps that you already have a good level of fitness. Keep up with that," he instructs.

"I will," I assure him.

"Alright, let's get ready. Work starts in half an hour," he says, and I nod my head in agreement.

We split up, going into our own changing rooms. I shower quickly and wash my hair. I then spend a little time drying it before changing into my work clothes, which consist of a smart, fitted black dress that comes to a stop just below my knees and has a small V slit of a neckline, and a black blazer over the top.

I keep my hair down, applying some product to keep my natural waves, before applying some light make-up and then putting on my black stilettos.

"I'll go and put our training bags in the car," Marcus says as I come out of the changing room.

"Thank you," I say, smiling widely as he takes the bag off me.

"It's the least I could do after dragging you here at six am every morning for the last week," he chuckles.

"I enjoy it," I tell him.

"Me too," he replies. "Anyway, I'll see you up there."

"Okay," I reply and walk over to the lift. Once inside, I press the button to the floor I need before scanning my thumb and then my new security card. The lift moves and my heart flutters with excitement. One week into the job, and it still sends bolts of excitement through me. The work is amazing and even better, I've already gathered some great information about the way this realm is mobilising its agents and weapons in my realm. Though I haven't been able to smuggle out any pictures or documents to send to Cobalt, I've still been able to pass on what I've seen.