Not My Fairytale

Chapter 12

**A/N: Don't forget to VOTE and LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK at the bottom (or anywhere, really)**

A Friend or A Foe

"To kill a shifter, you need to aim for the right hemisphere of their brain," my father informed from where he paced the field before us. "Or cause irremediable damage to their heart. If you damage the left hemisphere or leave enough of the heart intact, their body will heal. Neither of you have dealt a killing blow yet today, I expected more of you."

Almost in unison, Franco and I bowed our heads in shame. I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye. We still hadn't spoken since the night my body rejected his touch, and the tension was like a palpable cloud around us, choking the air from my lungs and distracting us both from our training.

Oblivious to our personal problems, my father continued, "If for some reason, you are unable to land a blow to the head or chest, then an artery should be your last resort. If their body is already weakened beforehand, they could bleed out. If they aren't, it could buy you time to finish them off, or escape."

He stopped pacing and looked at us. "The men you will face when we raid the Blood Fang hideout tomorrow will not hesitate to kill you, therefore you must not hesitate to kill them, if it comes to it." The council had moved to attack the hideout as soon as possible. A touch hasty, in my opinion, but it was no wonder why, with the attacks against humans becoming more and more frequent by the day.

My father gestured with his hand for Franco and I to try again. I grit my teeth, body already adapting a defensive stance, and turned back to Franco. His eyes met mine briefly and the confusion and hurt warring in them nearly broke my heart all over again. I swallowed down the pain welling in my chest and began circling him.

I was torn, as I had been all morning. The need to impress my father was ever-present in the back of my mind, beating in time with my heart like a war drum. But with Franco looking at me like he knew I was avoiding him, I could feel all of the fight going out of me. I had never wanted for him to get hurt, and I couldn't bring myself to hurt him further, even if it was just a part of our training.

The worst part was knowing that I was going to lie to him again if he approached me later, anything to buy myself more time to decide what to do about Angelo. It's only until after the raid, I promised myself. Then I'll tell Franco everything, and maybe he'll understand why I can't be with Angelo. Maybe he'll forgive me.

Using my distraction to his advantage, his arm swung out in my direction. I spun out of reach just in time, feeling the tip of his wooden practice sword slide easily through the ends of my hair. He wasted no time, shifting his weight to attack again. I danced out of reach once more, lifting my own blade to parry his blow, if only to keep my father from noticing that I was holding back. He swung his sword in a wide arc, but I retreated again, prolonging our match and making him chase after me. I may have been opposed to hitting him, but that did not mean that I wanted to be hit myself by one of these heavy wooden broadswords– and on the head or chest, no less. Ouch.

I had no idea how long my father would allow us to continue on like this before he grew frustrated and found us both a less challenging opponent. But the knowledge that he eventually would was what kept me going as I continued to twirl out of harm's way, arcing my sword in the occasional blow of my own, though I always gave Franco ample time to block. My father had watched me beat Franco countless times over the weeks, one off-day wouldn't ruin my chances of winning the council's vote come solstice. I hoped. Regardless, I readied myself to continue evading Franco's blows for as long as it would take.

I could at least give him that much.

~*~

Evading Franco after the council meeting was not nearly as easy as it had been at training, but somehow I managed. It was a hollow sort of victory though, as I strolled through the castle on my way to my rooms. There was no reason to hurry my steps. I was only going to lock myself up alone again until dinner, with only shy, demure Ava for company. If she wasn't too busy with her duties.