Bloodline

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Holy shit, he looks just like you."

"So I've heard."

I stared up at the King's friend, Raven, who stood just outside the gymnasium doors. I couldn't make out his features because of all the red haze, but I could tell he was tall, maybe not as tall as the King, but tall enough. His hair was curly and swept back from his face. He wore all the same color, which I assumed was probably black. Black seemed to be a popular color of soldiers around here.

"No, I mean, it's eerie," Raven said, his voice a smooth tenor, warm and friendly despite his commentary, "Like, his nose, his lips, even his eye shape. It's like someone made a clone, but with like, Akin's coloring almost."

"Yeah," the King said slowly, "Anyway, we need to get him worked up and see if we can turn this back around and get the Beast back into submission."

"Sounds easy enough," Raven said sarcastically, then put a hand on his hip to study me from head to toe, "What's his name again?"

"Seven," the King answered, "For now. Akin's talking about maybe getting them a name change, but we'll get to it when we get to it." Raven looked up.

"Oh? A name change? Sounds serious," he commented, "I recall you saying something about not wanting to keep them around." He wasn't going to mince words, and despite those words being harsh, I didn't fault him for it. It made sense. Why would the King want to change my name if he wasn't going to keep me? Not that I was a possession or a child or anything. Of course, the question made the King stiffen for a second, like he also realized what he'd said and he wasn't sure why he said it. Or what he thought about it.

"Anyway," the King said, voice tense now and I could somehow tell Raven was smiling, "We should start training him before his Beast decides he's hungry again."

"Wouldn't want that to happen," Raven drawled. The King made a noise, like he found the comment annoying, but he didn't say anything as he opened the doors and led the way into the empty gymnasium. It was massive and echoey without anyone in it. Our boots thumped loudly on the floor and the sound bounced back off the walls. We made our way to a ring and the King held the rope up for me to duck inside. He followed me and instructed Raven to stand just on the sidelines to watch.

"So how exactly do you think this is going to work," Raven asked, folding his arms over his chest, "We just kick the crap out of the kid until he changes back?" The King turned to look at him and I could just imagine the look of exasperation on his face. It was comical.

"No," the King said slowly, "We need to exhaust him. Exhausting him will put him in a state of relaxation. It should be enough for the Beast to slip into slumber again and for Seven to have enough strength to come back himself."

"Ah," Raven answered, "When you put it like that. Makes sense." The King gave him a look. Something told me it was a no fucking shit look, followed by what had to be another smile from Raven from their body postures. The King turned back to me and I growled because my Beast could tell he wanted to fight and it was ramping up, ready to go and kick some ass. The King stood there for a while, sizing me up and it was slowly pissing my Beast off. I could feel the rush of adrenaline flood my veins, feel the anger rising in my gut like lava in a volcano, could feel the hunger ripping through my stomach.

I lunged first. The King spun out of the way and kicked me in the ass so I fell into the ropes. I bounced off and swung around, snarling at him. He cocked his head, but didn't fight me. He was taunting me and it was pissing me off. I lunged after him again and he dodged. I went for him again and he ducked to the side. He kept just sidestepping me and avoiding me, not touching me, just teasing me. I threw my head back and roared so loud I shook the rafters overhead.