Pirate Princess by Catherine Banks Read Free Book Online

you’re made of today so I can figure out what you need to improve on and then when we reach Markleville I will give you your first real lesson,” Jared said.
    “I’m going to go find Esmeralda,” Faxon said, “Good job today, Tilia.”
    “Thank you,” I called to him as I followed Jared.
    “So, what’s your unusual ability?” he asked me as we walked.
    I rarely had time alone with my uncle and it was actually nice. There was something about him that just made me feel comfortable and safe. I looked around the orchard to see if anyone was near and said, “I can unlock anything.”
    He stopped walking and turned to me. “Anything?” he asked.
    I nodded my head. I wasn’t sure how he would take it, but I figured it was best to let him know now. “I’ve unlocked your vault before,” I admitted, “but I didn’t go inside and I immediately locked it back up and I made sure no one saw me,” I added quickly.
    His brow furrowed and he started walking again. “I appreciate your honesty with me and would appreciate it if you didn’t do that again.”
    “I won’t,” I promised, “I only did it the once to see if I could. I would never take anything.”
    He didn’t say anything, just kept walking. We entered the training arena and there were still a few trainees there. Some whispered excitedly when they saw the King was here, but others were whispering about me as well. “Did you do a demonstration today?” he asked me softly. Marcus kept Jared up to date on all the trainees’ lessons and told him whenever I was used for a demonstration, which happened quite a bit.
    I nodded my head. “Dagger throwing.”
    We stepped into the arena and I let my feet slide in the sand as we took the first few steps in. “Dagger throwing, huh? Well why don’t you show me what you can do?” he asked, motioning towards the targets that the trainees had not put away. I started to walk closer to them and he grabbed my shoulder. “From here.”
    “Here?” I asked in shock.
    He smiled. “Yes.” He pulled out a dagger, threw it sideways without looking, and it stuck in the center of the target.
    Show off. I faced the targets, pulled out two daggers, one in each hand and threw them at the same time into two targets, their tips in the exact center.
    “Not bad,” he said, “But show me what you did that made them so enamored with you.”
    I retrieved our daggers and then took two more out. I faced my uncle with the targets behind me and threw them one at a time over my shoulder so that all five targets had a dagger sticking out of the center. “That’s what I did, but I was closer when I did it,” I told him.
    He walked to the targets, examined each one and then pulled the daggers out. “Well you certainly don’t need my advice on dagger throwing.” We put our daggers away and he pulled out his sword. “Draw yours.”
    I did as instructed and then took a ready stance as I faced him. He smiled and struck. I blocked and tried to strike him. He blocked it easily and pushed hard so that my blade and arm were swung away from him, leaving my body wide open. I grabbed a dagger with my left hand and used it to block his next strike. He stepped back, and began circling me. I followed him, keeping the dagger in my left hand in case he tried a similar move like the last one. He lunged forward, sword above his head for a downward strike. I rolled to the side and attempted to strike his back, but he spun faster than I had ever seen a man, aside from my dad, move before and blocked my strike. He had given me a false opening on purpose.
    “Nicely done,” he said as he circled me again.
    I dipped my head in acknowledgment. “Most would go for the stomach since it was left open, but I could tell that was a trap,” I told him.
    He smirked and I felt pleased with myself for having figured that out.
    I threw the dagger at his left shoulder so he had to block it with his sword, grabbed another dagger, and then tried to cut his right