Page 7 of Enchanted Shadows (The Enchanted Kingdom #6)

“Ever consider closing the walls again, Your Highness?” Allen asked lightly.

“No,” Krew said immediately. “They will never close again, but we will add some extra guards and make sure this team is left to train in peace.” He switched his attention to the women.

“Apologies for this man’s behavior today.

” He gave me a pat on the back as he turned to follow Miles and Allen. “Next time save me a shot, Raikes.”

I smirked. “Next time.”

The three of them on their way to take Dixon Hill to the mountain, I spun back to the women. “I cannot guarantee you he will be the last one, but that is how you deal with creeps.”

“Lives up to his name for sure. What a dick,” Vivian said under her breath.

Molly was grinning. “Some might even say a Hill of Dicks.”

“Small ones,” Pippa deadpanned.

A laugh bubbled up in me, then somehow found its way out. I shouldn’t laugh. I should tell them that was highly inappropriate. But it was also damn funny.

I started heading back to the training ring, still half laughing and shaking my head. “Let’s get back to work, shall we?”

Zara came up next to me, her eyes on Krew’s back.

He was their king. Lots of people looked at him like that.

As if wondering if he was real. Or maybe they were just wondering how he could come from his father but be nothing like him.

It was going to take a few more years for people to come to terms with the differences in the king they now had compared to the one before him.

“Do you have something you’d like to say, Zara?”

She gave her head a shake, her brown eyes going to mine. “Oh. Yes. I was just going to ask if I needed to run and grab you some ice from the kitchens? For your hand?”

She was going to get me ice? That was nice of her. For someone with a self-proclaimed black soul, she wasn’t all bad. Just a few thorns. “I’m good.”

“You don’t want ice for it?”

I gave her a shrug. “It’ll be fine.”

Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. “Every time I have punched someone, I need it afterward.”

“Well, I can assure you, this is not my first nor even my fiftieth punch. I’ll be fine.”

“You won’t be sore?”

I cocked my head at her and gestured with a hand for us to begin walking back over. “I threw my weight into it properly. Maybe you need some more practice.”

Her chin went back and she let out a little laugh. “Are you trying to get me to punch you , General?”

“You can try,” I offered with a smile.

Back in the training ring, I knew we needed to finish our morning workout. If we didn’t, it would only delay the rest of our day. Even more so than it already was. But when teachable moments like this came along, it was a disservice not to grab ahold of them.

They all took a seat on the ground, which was the position we were in before we were rudely interrupted.

I stayed on my feet and pointed toward the barn.

“Pricks like that are going to doubt you. Pricks like that are going to take shots at you. Your being a team full of women is an insult to the loyalists of Theon Valanova. And any man who isn’t confident for that matter.

You should never have to stand there and take hearing what Dixon said. Ever. ”

A memory flashed in my head of how Michael Noyer treated Jorah while I was her guard.

I made sure to look them each in the eye.

“You know there isn’t supposed to be fighting between the teams in Wylan, but I am giving you full permission, as your General, if anyone ever does that to you again, you are allowed to handle it just as I did.

You are allowed to stand up for yourselves. ”

Wren gave me a smile like she was proud of me. And I had to inhale deeply, remembering how far things had come in Wylan. That Theon Valanova had done creepy behavior his entire shoddy reign.

I nodded toward Zara. “Zara felt a presence near the barn but didn’t entirely trust it.

It was fortunate for us she felt anything at all.

If she hadn’t, we might not have caught him so swiftly.

Dixon Hill had only been observing, but had he any evil intentions, those of us Enchanted would have felt it, picked up on it. ”

“But wouldn’t he know that?” Molly asked. “Wouldn’t he know that if he had evil intentions, we’d know he was there?”

Smart woman. “Yes. Precisely why he was only here to watch today. Which is equally as alarming.” I gave her a nod.

“He was not innocent. You heard him. But the point I am trying to make here is to trust those instincts. Zara couldn’t rely on an Enchantment to warn her, but we can all rely on our human instincts, every single one of us.

If you feel creeped out by something, there is likely a reason.

You will have to learn to trust each other, of course, but you also have to learn to trust yourselves. Listen to your bodies.”

A few of them nodded at me.

“Speaking of, we have exactly five minutes to finish up this workout, so let’s get to it.”

Sam snorted. “And if my body is saying that my abdominals are already too sore?”

“Then you remind it you are capable of more. Let’s go.”

With some groaning, we got back to work.