Chapter 59: You Call That Training?

Naya headed toward the training grounds the morning after the Moonrise Gathering expecting a quiet walk, maybe a few minutes to herself before the day’s obligations swallowed her whole. Instead, she found Kael already there, watching a cluster of younger wolves run drills across the open field.

“You embarrassed the King yesterday,” he said, without preamble. “I think you’re obligated to do it again.”

Ronan’s voice came from behind him. “You’re very brave for someone standing within my reach.”

Kael grinned, entirely unbothered. “I’m your younger brother. It’s my greatest protection.”

Naya laughed, and Kael immediately proposed a short training competition.

“She doesn’t need to prove anything,” Ronan said.

“Who said I’m proving something?” Naya asked, looking at Kael. “Let’s do it.”

The training that followed looked nothing like the sword drills she’d practiced in her earlier weeks at the palace. This combined speed, balance, scent tracking, dodging, controlled claws easing out and retracting without a full shift behind them. Naya assumed, at first, that it was purely about physical strength, throwing herself into each exercise with raw effort.

“Don’t fight the wolf,” Ronan told her. “Listen to it.”

She closed her eyes on the next round, letting her attention drift beneath the surface of conscious thought. Footsteps. Breathing. Leaves shifting somewhere to her left. A heartbeat closer than she expected. She anticipated the attack a half second before it came and dodged cleanly, the motion feeling less like effort and more like instinct finally given permission to lead.

Ronan’s expression shifted into something close to surprise.

“I taught her that,” Kael announced loudly from the sideline.

“You absolutely did not,” Ronan said.

Serena joined the training not long after, and Naya watched, genuinely impressed, as she moved through the drills with a precision entirely different from Naya’s own instinctive speed. Every motion economical, nothing wasted.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Naya asked.

“I trained with the royal guard before moving into court service,” Serena said, resetting her stance without any visible effort.

Kael immediately tried to recruit her for his side of the competition. “You should join my team.”

“I’m not joining whatever ridiculous competition you’ve invented,” Serena said.

“That’s exactly what someone on the losing team would say.”

Once the others drifted off toward a different exercise, Ronan took over Naya’s training directly, correcting the way she leaned too heavily on raw speed rather than combining it with her instincts properly. He stepped behind her to adjust her stance, his hands settling briefly at her waist, his voice low near her ear as he talked her through the shift in weight.

Naya lost her focus almost immediately.

“You’re deliberately making me lose concentration,” she accused.

“You’re the one thinking about me,” Ronan said.

She turned to face him. “You’re standing very close.”

“You haven’t moved away.”

The kiss that followed was brief, unhurried, something that had become easy between them in a way it hadn’t always been.

“If you’re finished flirting,” Kael’s voice called from across the field, “some of us are trying to train!”

Ronan closed his eyes briefly, visibly irritated, and Naya laughed against his shoulder before finally stepping back to rejoin the exercise.

The final challenge of the morning involved scent tracking, several trails laid through the surrounding woods leading toward hidden markers. Naya followed the first trail that caught her attention, then stopped abruptly, something about it feeling too deliberate, too easy to find.

She backtracked and picked up a fainter scent instead, following it deeper into the trees until she found the hidden marker tucked beneath a fallen log.

“How did you know?” Ronan asked, catching up to her.

“The other trail was too obvious,” she said simply.

It wasn’t anything mysterious, nothing tied to bloodlines or hidden identities. She was simply getting better at trusting her own instincts, something that felt earned rather than inherited.

Ronan looked quietly proud of her, and Kael, arriving a moment later and finding the marker already claimed, threw his hands up dramatically.

“I’m offended,” he announced.

“Why?” Naya asked.

“Because you’re becoming good enough to beat me.”

“Only a matter of time,” Ronan said, not bothering to hide his satisfaction.

“Don’t encourage her,” Kael said. “She’s already insufferable.”

“She earned it.”

Naya rolled her eyes at both of them, though the warmth of it stayed with her longer than she let on, the quiet pride in Ronan’s voice settling somewhere she hadn’t expected.

Naya was still laughing at that when Serena appeared at the edge of the field, a familiar look of gentle exasperation already settling over her expression.

“Your Majesty,” Serena said, “you have a formal meeting in twenty minutes.”

Naya groaned.

“You could always run away,” Kael offered helpfully.

“Don’t encourage her,” Ronan said.

Naya glanced toward the trees, the shade and quiet of the forest suddenly far more appealing than another formal luncheon. For half a second, she genuinely considered it.

Then she sighed. “Fine. I’ll be Queen.”

Ronan smiled. “That’s my girl.”

She gave him a look. “Careful.”

He corrected himself immediately, something warm settling behind his eyes. “My Queen.”

She smiled at the distinction, letting it sit between them for a moment before turning to leave.

Before she could walk too far, Ronan caught her hand, pulling her back gently.

“You were good today,” he said.

“As a Queen?” she asked.

He shook his head. “As Naya.”

The words landed somewhere deep, unexpectedly significant given how much of her life had been defined by what everyone else needed her to be, Elara’s replacement, Godric’s leverage, Ronan’s unwanted wife. Here, finally, someone was simply telling her she’d been good as herself.

She kissed him, brief but certain, and he kissed her back without hesitation.

“Naya,” Serena called from the path, her tone carrying the particular patience of someone who’d clearly done this before.

Naya pulled away reluctantly. “Duty.”

“Unfortunately,” Ronan said.

She walked away smiling, the training ground fading behind her as she fell into step beside Serena, already bracing herself for whatever the next formal gathering demanded of her. But the morning stayed with her anyway, warm and easy, something she carried into the rest of her day without quite meaning to.