Alaric has forced me to train again, this time away from civilization and with Izzy as she pleaded to join us. We decided to go to the old cave where Luke promised to meet us, an undisturbed haven.

The horse sways underneath me as I follow Alaric and Izzy follows me. I hold my bow tight to my chest as my stomach clenches with hope and fear that Luke might be at the cave waiting for me.

When we finally reach the cave it shows no sign of Luke and the only sound is the distant creek and birds chirping. Never the less, I swing my legs over the horse I land on the ground softly as Izzy follows after me.

I run up to the cave and stop short knowing it's hopeless. Issy walks up to my shoulder and squeezes it, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry Jean," Izz hugs me from behind and I shove her off.

"Sorry isn't going to bring them back!" I snap and walk back to my target as I pin it up.

"I know you are hurt," she walks back to me and I push past her.

"Then leave it alone!" I yell kicking the stones on the ground, "you are just reopening scabbed wounds — you're making it worse!"

"Jean... you aren't healing, your pushing yourself to the point the cuts are tearing open even more," Izz stares at me with pain as she succumbs the the fact that I'm broken.

"Don't Izz," I scoff and turn around to face her, "just leave."

I gently roll Izzy's hand off me and walk away to the vine curtain which separates us from our cave home.

"I can't believe it's been a week since we've last been here." Izzy walks around and picks up a stone laying on the ground.

"Well believe it," I growl and throw the vines back to where they laid before. "Looks like coming out here was pointless like everything else we do."

Alaric shakes his head and pulls out a target from his pack attached to his saddle. "Not entirely," his smile is radiant and makes me shiver.

Izzy smirks and nods for me to pull my bow out, "Yeah, you get your bow while Ric and I will get to know each other."

I scoff and shake my head, "stop being desperate Izzy. Slut isn't a good look on you." As soon as the words lift off of my tongue an instant regret stabs me.

Izz stops and stares at me before her hand slapping across my cheek, leaving a red and tingling mark. I suck in a breath and let the heat rush to my face as Alaric's eyes widen in shock while the paper still hangs in his hand limply.

"I am tired of your emotion abuse," Izzy whispers her voice shaking, "I know you are hurt because she's dead, because Luke isn't here, but that doesn't mean to take the pain out on me— us, our family. Just because you blame yourself doesn't mean you should pass it on."

I stand letting a dry tear fall down the side of my cheek while Izzy's face runs wild with them. "Please leave," I look down and grip my bow trying to squeeze the heartbreak away. "Go get to know Alaric."

The two stand quietly before Alaric sets the target up and walks past me, stopping just behind me before, resting his hand on my shoulder gently. Quickly I throw off.

I whip an arrow out and shoot the target hitting the edge of the white paper. I wait until I hear Izzy stomp off and Alaric's sigh as he props himself on top of a fallen log, "what on heavens earth happened to you?"

"Nothing," I pause wiping another tear, "that's the problem."

"You need to stop blaming yourself, we all have baggage and you aren't particularly special." Alaric's voice has lost all of its playfulness and is replaced with a dark, dejected, hopeless tone.

I turn around to gaze upon not Alaric, the strong, kind, flirtatious man I've known for the past week. But a silent boy who's been torn and put back together by people who say they care about him.

"Who did you lose?" I ask feeling a sense of familiarity of pain and loss emitted by his slumped figure.

Alaric doesn't answer before he shakes his head and replaces his vulnerability with a smirk, "not now buttercup. I need to see what you've got."

I groan and try to brush off the terrible nickname as it reminds me of Luke's. Princess. A limited vocabulary that man had but that never stopped— stops me from loving him.

I take a breath in slowly and release the arrow which I hitched onto my waxed string. Calmly the arrow twists through the air before landing in the centre of the target gracefully.

"Too easy for you," Alaric sighs and stands up from off the log he'd settled into. "Let's try something more... fun."

I squint and let my bow fall while walking towards the target plucking an arrow off. Alaric follows me and sets his hand by my ear  just over my shoulder which he leans on. I turn so that my face is looking up to his, the ice in his eyes pierce my dark ones.

"Need something?" I ask unimpressed with his closeness.

"Yeah," he whispers lowly leaning in closer before jerking back and yanking the arrow out of the tree behind me, "the arrow."

I smother a sneer and replace it with a grimace, "nice." I rip the target from the tree and hand it to him and he crumples it up.

"Stand by the log I was sitting on," he directs, "when I throw this paper in the air I want you to jump and shoot it out of the air when I say so."

I nod my head hopping onto the rough, sturdy log drawing an arrow and locking it into my string.

Alaric throws the paper in the air and I hold the urge to shoot it until it hits its peak. The paper pauses in the air like it's on a string, before it begins it's dissent. Alaric waits until the target has begun to fall and pick up speed, he wants it to be harder for me. I clutch my bow and wait for the command which never comes. The paper falls helpless to the ground and Alaric picks it up.

"Where was my command?" I ask confused.

"I gave it to you, but you weren't watching me."

"I need to look at you?" I ask my eyebrows raising.

"Yes," Alaric rolls the paper ball in his large hands, "I need to make this remotely challenging for you."

I sigh and nod, "fine. Go."

I stare at him as he holds my intense glare while he tosses the paper in the air. Finally, Alaric nods and I spring up, shifting my gaze to the paper which falls to the ground. I wait until I slow down before shooting my arrow which hits the paper, pinning it to the ground.

I smile at my success and look to Alaric who's crossing his firm arms, "not bad, again."

We train like this for a while before switching to a new challenging tactic. Alaric's ties the fabric around my eyes and leans down to whisper in my ear, "you can't always depend on your sight, you need to trust your other senses."

I sigh and nod at the feeling of his delicate touch sliding off my shoulder, "hit the tree with your best shot."

I am warmed up and focused, hearing his chuckle only helps me loosen with relaxation. I load my bow and hold the string as a nervous tingling travels to my hands and feet. I wait and hear the stone Alaric throws hit the trunk of a tree to my left. I swivel around and release my arrow, loading my bow again I wait.

"Remember buttercup," Alaric interrupts my concentration, "you have to judge the distance according to the sound too."

I nod and keep shooting near the places where the rocks hit the branches. Eventually there's an tense, long pause. The uncertainty filling the air.

"Alaric?" I ask shifting, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he pauses again, "just don't miss. I'm tired of you not hitting your target."

I scoff and adjust the blind fold before re-positioning and waiting. Finally, there's a hollow tap against the tree in front of me and I shoot. Before I'm done reloading my last arrow there's another tap against a tree to my right which I swivel to and release my arrow instantly. The tension leaves the air as easily as it came and I finally slide the damp blindfold off. I stare at Alaric who stands with my arrow just above his head, the tip of the arrow just beside the dust mark the stone made. I turn to see Izzy staring in shock standing beside the cave her mouth pried open.

I quickly look back to Alaric who pulls the arrow out of the tree, "you trusted me?"

Alaric smiles, "to be honest I bent my knees until you shot." He walks around yanking each arrow out of the bark. "And of course I need to trust you to some extent. We are going on a mission together so, we're going to need to trust each other."

I nod before asking, "What if I don't trust you?"

"You will eventually," he pauses and looks into my eyes deeply, "you have to give it to get it."

In silence we travel back to the Fide Clan, the sun acting like a spotlight as we pass under its warmth. Tomorrow I go to the Bellator Clan with Alaric to murder a man who no longer deserves to live, who lost his right to his life when he took thousands of others. It's my time to prove I am a worthy warrior who can be trusted, and maybe... just maybe I will catch a glimpse of Luke.

After a while we enter the beautiful land belonging to Alaric's people. We walk through the super market on the backs of our horses while people stare at me trying to judge if I am a worthy candidate to be at Alaric's side.  They do not stare wondering if I am going to hurt their family or simply hate me because I'm from Stratis city.

I clench my bow as a little girl points at me before stealing an apple from her mother yelling, "if you are so good with that bow... shoot this!"

Instinctively, I snag an arrow from my quiver and load it as the red, shinny ball of fruit wobbles through the air. I release the string and cluck my horse into a gallop as the arrow hits the apple in the centre of its core. I run underneath the red sphere just in time to catch it. The crowd remains silent and the little girl gasps as I rip the arrow from the forbidden fruit before handing it back to her.

Alaric walks to my side and smiles before loudly announcing, "There is no need to test Jean, she can be trusted." Shifting his gaze to me his voice softens and lowers so only I can hear him, "I should know that now."