When the morning came Alexi woke to find himself alone in his large bed. He placed a hand on the side where Ro had slept, and he could still feel the warmth her body had left behind which told him that her being here with him was no dream. He smiled as he inhaled her sweet scent that still lingered in the air. When she was his, he would make sure she never left his bed until he was ready for her to, he thought as he gazed up at the canopy.
A noise on the stairs made him look up. There she stood in her tight tank top and loose linen pants. Her loose blond hair was pulled to the right side of her neck and was a long mass of damp curls. Her green eyes met his and he felt desire course through his veins. He didn't understand how she could look so good in just a pair of plain old pajamas.
"Come back to bed." He ordered, his voice deeper from sleep. Her expression clouded.
"Actually, I wanted to know what we would be doing this morning, so I could figure out what to wear." She replied.
"Come back to bed and I'll tell you." Ro's expression darkened further.
"Alexi." She said with disapproval. He sighed resignedly and swung himself out of bed. She blushed as she took in his bare chest. All he was wearing was his boxers.
"After breakfast we will be doing combat training." Alexi told her as he crossed to the dresser. He began pulling out fresh workout clothes. Ro nodded and quickly crossed to her suitcase. She too pulled out workout clothes. "You can change in here. I am going to take a shower." He said before disappearing down the stairs.
When he came back up, Alexi took her to the massive kitchen for breakfast and then they headed to the outdoor practice courts where they spent the rest of the morning training. Ro once again sparred with Tiny while Alexi worked with a group of ten crows in black and gold uniforms.
For a while Ro held her own against Tiny but he soon noticed the patterns she was fighting in. After a half hour, he stopped her.
"Why are you fighting like that?" he asked. Ro felt confusion.
"What do you mean?" He cocked his head to one side and fixed her with a hard stare.
"You are fighting in easily predictable patterns. Why?" Ro shrugged.
"That's how I know to how to fight." Tiny's expression became harder.
"Well stop. This is sparring. I am sure you know where to aim attacks. Just go for those spots. It is too easy to fight you otherwise because I already know what your next attack will be." Ro felt surprise. She had wondered about that too but had assumed that she was just being silly since Laine and Zephyr hadn't told her about it being a problem.
"Okay. How do I do that?" Ro asked. It was Tiny's turn to be confused.
"You just attack me. Here, try it. You can go slow if you need to." Ro nodded feeling uncomfortable, but she slowly began to attack him aiming for all the spots on his body that corresponded to the x's on her dummy. It felt weird and it was hard not to fall into one of her chains, so she had to go slow, but as she became accustomed to fighting like this her speed increased. By the time Alexi called a halt she and Tiny were really sparring. They were both covered in sweat and breathing hard and Alexi had to physically separate them with magic before they realized he was talking. Tiny complimented Ro on her fighting before he went to join the other crows reentering the palace. Alexi looked at Ro with desire in his eyes.
"You're getting very good." He told her. Ro blushed.
"Well I am certainly better than I was." She replied. Alexi smiled slightly in response. "What's next?" she asked him. Alexi pulled her into his arms.
"Now, we go back to our room to change into our swimsuits. Then we go to the lake. The servants are bringing a picnic lunch there for us."
"Alright." Ro said slowly. She was thinking with embarrassment about the skimpy swimsuits her mother had sent. Alexi took off and flew them to the room.
Once there, Ro found the most tolerable swimsuit of the bunch and put it on. Then she threw on a large shirt over it. Alexi said nothing as he looked at her but there was disapproval in his eyes. He grabbed her once again and launched them off the balcony.
When they arrived at the lake, Ro was surprised to see a beach blanket with two chairs, an umbrella, two towels, and the picnic basket already set up. It must be nice to have servants, she thought with a sigh. She and Alexi spent the afternoon swimming, lounging, and talking. Ro was surprised to find that she enjoyed herself despite being with Alexi. He in turn was more relaxed then she had ever seen him and was more talkative and friendlier than he was at school.
They returned to the castle in time to change and go to another family dinner. Once again, Lady Alexandra did most of the talking for herself and her husband. As she forced Ro to open up more about her life, Ro found herself liking the lady.
After dinner, Alexi took Ro and their library books to the outdoor practice courts where they spent even more time than the day before practicing magic. Still Ro showed no signs of tiring. Then they went back to the entertainment room and finished the day off by watching movies.
When it came time for bed, Alexi had to threaten Ro with force to get her into his bed again, but she at last she went. This time she turned over onto her left side, so her back was to him, but she was still in his bed and she went almost willingly. Alexi felt that this was progress and he went to bed satisfied.
The rest of the week followed the same patterns. Combat training in the morning, lunch and the afternoon at the lake, dinner, magic practice, and then movies. Alexi kept extending the time they spent on magic practice, hoping to see when Ro would finally get tired, but after they got up to three and a half hours he gave up. Ro never got tired.
Ro was surprised at how quickly the week went. By Saturday night she was comfortable enough with Alexi to make jokes, and to get into the bed without threats. She was also surprised at how much she enjoyed herself. Alexi's movie collection was extensive, and she got to see some movies that she had always wanted to see but had never gotten around to seeing. Her time at the lake was also fun. She read a book, swam, and laid out in the sun. Surprisingly, Alexi never made her feel uncomfortable about her swimsuits and she was grateful to him for that. Overall, she had had a good time, she realized.