Lucas threw a crudely carved practice sword at Eva. She barely managed to catch it before it hit her in the face. She moved the sword into the position that the knights had taught her.
Lucas moved her arms into a different position. His breath felt hot on her neck.
'No, I must ignore these feelings.'
Lately, it felt like he was doing it on purpose. She knew that he was only trying to help her train, but she was more aware of his presence than ever before.
Days had gone by since she had comforted Lucas. Locking her heart away was impossible, but she had managed to keep her distance from him all this time.
Then in moments like this, when he managed to invade her space, his closeness made her heart beat wildly inside of her chest. It would have been infuriating if she didn't like it so much. She was hopeless.
'He probably realizes my feelings by now.'
She sighed internally as the distinctive scent of Lucas got closer to her again. Stopping herself from leaning into his body was difficult.
The feeling of surrendering herself to her desires was slowly chipping away at her sanity. Adjusting her grip on the practice sword she refocused on her drills with Lucas' sharp eyes on her.
"That is enough for today."
Eva's arms felt heavy and she almost immediately fell to the ground. Today's practice was a lot more difficult. She leaned heavily on the sword as she caught her breath.
Lucas was already across the small meadow putting more wood on the fire that had started to burn low while they were training.
'How much stamina does he have?'
She was always the first to fall asleep and the last to wake up. He would always have something made for breakfast before waking her before daylight even broke.
Lucas was currently doing all the hunting and cooking while she trained her body all day long. Eva was too exhausted to even remedy this situation. She knew it was not fair, but she could not bring herself to even move after training for the day.
As if on cue, her stomach growled loudly in her ears. She was almost embarrassed by all the food she had been consuming recently. However, Lucas would just smile and pile more food into her bowl as he settled near the fire.
Eva thought she had gotten used to living life on the road, or rather in the forest. This new training regime dissuaded her from this line of thought.
They would spend a few days in one location and then a full day of walking before arriving at their next location.
When she struggled to maintain this pace Lucas would just pick her up and continue until they had traveled a considerable distance.
"If we stay in a location too long, we will attract beasts."
She remembered him telling her when she questioned why they moved so much. Everytime they stopped they seemed to be in a different kind of forest or environment that she had never been in before.
The tall mountains that she was used to seeing off in the distance were nowhere to be seen and it made her realize just how small her world had been before.
Nobles that lived so far away from the Capital hardly ever needed to leave their lands. She remembered her father telling her that the Count would have to travel to the Capital once every five years, but he had confessed he had only ever been once himself.
Finally catching her breath, she slowly walked over to the now large fire that had some kind of animal roasting over it.
"It will still be a while before it's ready. You can wash up while you wait."
Lucas' attention remained on the cooking meat as she picked up her small bag filled with bathing supplies.
"I will be at the river then," Eva replied almost dully.
She dragged her feet to the somewhat large river. There were less trees here and a grassland could be seen sprawled out in the distance.
Eva glanced around to make sure no one else was around before wading into the cool river. It was hot here and so she had sweat a lot while they were training.
The air felt heavier and moisture stuck to her skin. She missed the cool air of the mountains. She fanned the skin around her face before fully submerging herself in the water, clothes and all.
She was too tired to bathe normally. She floated up to the surface of the river and used a rock sticking up from the surface to keep herself from being washed downstream.
The cool water washed over her body until she felt her muscles finally relax. It was only then that she stood up and carefully changed out of her clothes.
First she needed to wash the lighter set of clothes that Lucas had gotten for her. The cloak and heavier set of clothes had long since been packed away at the bottom of her bag.
Occasionally, Lucas would disappear with all the pelts he had managed to obtain from hunting and he would come back with supplies for them.
Everything he brought back felt soft to the touch and much different than what she had seen or worn before. She suspected that he would disappear off to elven villages.
He could probably disguise himself in a human village by covering his head, but a heavy cloak would stand out in this hot environment.
In fact he had taken to wearing loose open shirts as the heat became unbearable. It was another distraction that she tried not to think about.
She longed for the days where she could hide under the large cloak he had given her when they first met. When Lucas was gone she would take it out and stroke the strange fabric of the elves to somehow stave off the loneliness.
With great reluctance she finished her river bath and dressed in her second set of light clothes. Gone were the days of frilly dresses and uncomfortable blouses.
The clothes she wore now were more simple and practical. Her mother would probably shudder at the thought of her in common clothes such as these.
To Eva, it was like a sign of freedom. Freedom from a long past of trying to conform to unreasonable standards.
The wind whipped around her causing her hair to violently twist around her face. Sighing she used her brush to restrain it and tie it securely behind her head.
Pulling her boots back on she went back to where she knew Lucas was waiting for her.
******
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