Royal Pain ~ Slave to the High Royals

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The next day began as usual, myself and Rose exchanging few words as we both remained exhausted and drained. The fight with Simon from the day before was really beginning to present itself in waves of constant pain. I ached everywhere, but I was determined not to let that have any effect on the training session with the others.

In the early hours before class, we had an unexpected delivery of the same uniform that we had seen others wearing previously. They were made out of a strange material which was extremely stretchy but seemed to mould itself to my body with little effort. Rose turned her nose up at hers, point blank refusing to wear it because she believed it made her look ridiculous.

In my opinion its sleek appearance made us look lethal, just the motivation I needed to really throw myself into the training to come.

After finally managing to persuade Rose that two day old clothes were much worse than the outfit, she changed and we were able to head outside into the fresh air. My annoying limp remained, though I tried my hardest to hide it and try to forget about the pain.

Already waiting outside were Josh and Aiden in their own versions of the new uniform. Sadly, Aiden still had Silvia attached to his side like some weird growth.

Talk about clingy.

Classes had yet to begin as after dinner last night we had all decided to meet early so that we wouldn't be disturbed. I was slightly perplexed as to why Silvia was involved when she had no idea of Josh's or Aiden's true nature. Surely it would only make it harder for them as they would have to hide it. Then again, hopefully they wouldn't even consider using those advantages over us when we were just starting out.

''Good morning!'' Josh chirped, approaching us as the others stayed put, ''Who wants to go first? I figured it would be best if we watch each other so that we can learn the different styles. Sound good?'' He looked genuinely happy that we had decided to do this.

''Yep sounds good.'' Rose spoke up, looking Josh up and down. ''I can go first, since I've done this before.'' She began to stretch her arms and legs, warming up.

''Sure, but we know how it went down last time.'' Josh teased, following her movements with calculating eyes.

''Yeah, yeah. Except this time, you can't use any of your special 'talents'.'' She said pointedly, her eyes flicking to Silvia for a moment.

Josh frowned, seemingly only just realising what her presence meant. I guessed that he wouldn't have been able to stop her from coming even if he tried. Aiden seemed pretty set in his ways.

I decided to take a seat on the grass, folding my legs beneath me as they protested and screamed for me to rest. Rose and Josh took up their positions opposite each other and began circling. My eyes remained focused as I took note of their positioning, and the way Josh was tracking her every move. Despite being so much more powerful than her, I guessed that he was trained to never underestimate the enemy.

Josh struck out first, managing to reach through Rose's defences easily and hit her in the stomach. She seemed stunned for a moment, but quickly regained her composure so I assumed Josh wasn't putting too much power behind his punches. Shortly after, he once again managed to topple her off balance with a sweep of his leg.

After a few more minutes of the same repetitive losses for Rose, she seemed fed up, ''Alright, can you show me please?'' Her hands dropped to her sides as she took a step back, cancelling their rhythm.

Josh cracked a smile, strolling towards her and grabbing her hands abruptly. He closed his hands around hers, turning them into fists, ''Legs apart, knees bent, weight on your toes.'' His voice wasn't necessarily bossy, more assertive.