𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚃𝚘 𝚆𝚊𝚛

Chapter 19: Back To Reality

It was already time to come back from our honeymoon... I wasn't looking forward to it.

Never in my life had I thrown such a fit about leaving a vacation. Beckham practically dragged me away from the island and onto the plane.

        "But I don't wanna go!" I'd screamed as he threw me over his shoulder.

        "I don't either, but we've got to go back, honey."

You see, the thing I wasn't looking forward to was the upcoming meetings that had been requested by each leader of the country. Except for the Souls and the Corrupted, of course. Each leader was coming to Aridonya tomorrow morning; we were to discuss my previous proclamation. The new law was going well, by the way. I wasn't fond of the army starting their merged training without me while I was away, but the sooner the better. Beckham and I were watching the training with smiles and crossed arms. Everyone seemed to be getting along for the most part. The biggest problem, I think, was just the fact that the men had a hard time keeping their eyes at face level and above. But what can you do about it? My attention was brought to a woman fighting hand-to-hand with Dylan. When I caught a glimpse of his face from around the built female I could see his lip was bleeding a little. I made my way over to the faceoff while Beckham was lost in a conversation with Zac. The girl continued to dodge and flake each of Dylan's offensive move departures. Impressive considering Dylan was one of our best fighters. After a few more seconds of stalling, the girl swooped her leg from under herself and took out his legs from underneath him, a groan of pain escaping his lips. 

        "Alright, alright!" He uttered in defeat. The female opponent politely offered him a hand, which he surprisingly took, and helped him up off the dirt ground of the small ringed arena. I was overjoyed when I realized who it was that was training against him. She lept down from the dirt mound and took a bottle of water off the table. It was Athena.

        "I guess I wasn't wrong about you wanting to be the one training," I said to her as I approached the table beside her. She shrugged and smirked a little.

        "It's nice being able to kick a guy's ass, you know?" I laughed and watched as another duo of fighters entered the ring. 

        "Yes. Me, of all people, would know that very well." I spotted Dylan watching Athena from behind. He had a wet cloth pressed to his lip and he was sitting on a wooden keg. He wasn't angry or disappointed. His face held another emotion. He saw me looking at him and straightened his posture like an alert puppy. I turned my attention back to the badass girl next to me. "Do you know Dylan very well?" I asked with curiosity. She stretched her arms by placing one straight arm across her chest. 

        "Not really, other than that his stance is pretty sloppy and he tries to take out the enemy too much. He should really focus on defense." I smirked and peered over Athena's shoulder at Dylan again. He was waving his hands vigorously at me, signaling for me to stop what I was doing, mouthing the word 'NO!' over and over again. I just used it as more motivation to continue.

        "Well, rumor has it that he's into you." Her eyes widened a little at my comment.

        "I think you've got me mixed up with someone else, princess." I shook my head matter-of-factly. Now Dylan was running his hands over his face with dread. It was hard to contain the laugh that wanted to burst out. 

        "I'm one hundred percent positive that I am not mistaken. He's definitely taken a liking to you; especially since he knows you can kick his ass. Have you realized you're the only one that's been able to beat him so far besides me?" She peered at the ground, processing what I've just told her.