The Illyians' Baby

15

The day after Rhysand's meeting was uneventful. Azriel and his shadows were away for the whole day. He was given direction to figure out the other courts' stances on Hyburn. Cassian had a training session with Rhys in the morning before Rhys met with Amren one-on-one.

I spent most of the morning sleeping in and reading in bed. My muscles are sore from training with Cass and I am mentally exhausted after spending a whole day stressed about Rhys.

A knock on the door pulled my attention away from the book I was currently reading. I look towards the door to see Mor poking her head in.

"Hey," I greeted her, placing the book on the side table. "What's up?"

Mor stepped in further and I saw she was wearing athletic clothes instead of her signature red gowns. "Are you training today?"

"Yeah. I was about to get changed and head up to start my warmup. Are you wanting to join?" She never really struck me as someone who actively trained.

I stood up and walked over to the wardrobe. Mor perched on the corner of the bed while I changed.

"I trust my cousin to do what is right for this court. However, my experience tells me that things will inevitably go sour. Therefore, I feel the need to get back in shape." I scoffed. "What?"

I pulled my sweater over my athletic clothes and faced her. "Have you ever been out of shape?"

She tossed her head back and laughed to the ceiling. "You hold me on a pedestal." She stood up and linked elbows with me. "Let's get our sweat on."

Cassian was waiting at the water table when we entered the training pad. He smiled when he saw me and walked over to greet us. I leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"Joining us today?" He turned to Mor with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, how hard can it be?" Mor's confidence was radiant.

Cassian laughed and set us off on our warmup laps. We got halfway through the strengthening routine when Mor tapped out. Cassian just shook his head and encouraged her to do some stretches to cool off.

We finished up the routine and then he led me to the training mat.

I caught my breath and stood at the edge of the mat. "What are we doing over here?"

"I want to start walking you through some defensive moves. The other two and I might need to be gone for extended periods of time." I frowned at the implication that there will be times when I don't see them. "The goal is to not leave you without at least one of us. But plans don't always go the way we want."

"When do you go back to the camps?" I asked.

Cass shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Probably in a couple weeks."

I nodded. "How long will Az be gone?"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "He will be back in a day or two. Now are you going to keep asking me questions, or can we continue our training?"

I sighed. "Fine, fine. Where do you want me?"

Cassian positioned me in the center of the mat and talked through various scenarios where I could find myself in need of taking up a defense. He focused on three situations and walked me through steps to get me out of them. We ran through them until they seemed like second nature. By the end of the session, I knew how to get out of someone's grip and incapacitate them. We ended the session with three laps around the perimeter. He ran with me and challenged me to keep up with him.

"Run through those steps in your spare time." Cassian passed me a cup of water. "I want you to disarm Azriel when he gets back. Not only will it be good practice, but I will get a good laugh at you tossing him on his ass."