Liliana turned to face the guard. Demetri remained on the mats while the others moved to the perimeter of the room.

She drew her sword and tossed the sheath to the side before stepping onto the mat herself. "Sorry, Demi," she told him and got a grin in response.

Demetri moved forward without warning and she moved at the last minute, bringing the sword around with her as she did. It slid across her friend's back and he arched in pain. When he turned, he wore a look of utter surprise before he grinned again. "Oh, this will be fun."

She shook her head and braced for his next attack. All the training she'd had, that was the one thing Jasper emphasized the most with her. She was human. She was slow and weak. She had to use what advantages she had. She was small and graceful and observant. Wait for them to move and dodge. Use the sword when the opportunity presented itself. Make it more than a weapon. Make it an extension of herself.

So that's what she did. Like most vampires, Demi moved fast, which made changing direction at the last minute difficult. Once he finally realized she was using that to her advantage, he slowed. She dodged again but took a blow to her shoulder blade. Pain radiated from the spot and she threw a block up instantly. The hit knocked her off balance and she turned as she fell, slicing the blade through the air.

She landed on her back, accompanied by two thuds as Demetri's hands joined her on the mat. The only sound in the room for a stretch was her panting as she caught her breath. Finally, she sat up to find Demi staring at his hands. "Sorry, dude."

"You just removed the hands of one of the elite guard," Aro said, his voice heavy with disbelief. She shifted her focus to her mates. The three of them were standing by the wall. Marcus and Aro were noticeably ill at ease. Caius however leaned against the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest and one leg was bent with his foot resting on the wall. His crimson gaze simply moved between her and the guard she'd just defeated.

Lily got to her feet and grabbed one of Demi's hands. She held it to his arm and waited for it to begin knitting together before she grabbed the other to do the same. It wouldn't take him long to be back in fighting form. Half a day maybe. Much less if he had some blood. She glanced up to see if he was pissed at her. Instead, he was grinning. She couldn't help but grin back. "You are so weird, Demi."

"Felix," Caius barked.

Lily grabbed her sword and Demi flashed off the mat. Felix was bigger than Demetri, obviously and while he was by no means clumsy, he was less graceful than the smaller vampire. His moves just weren't quite as fluid. But what he lacked in grace, he more than made up for in strength. So, when he landed a glancing blow to the side of her face, she felt the pain through the block. It was followed immediately by a numbness spreading through the left side of her face. Well, that wasn't good.

She took advantage of his size and slid between his legs, slicing the blade across the inside of his thigh as she did so. She hopped to her feet as he fell to his knees and grinned at him. "If I was a complete bitch, that would have been a crotch shot."

Felix's eyes widened comically. "Thank you oh kind and benevolent mistress."

Lily snickered at his dramatics.

"Alec. Jane," came Caius's order before she even had a chance to breathe.

"Ass," she grumbled, fully aware the vampire in question would hear it as she turned to face the twins. Two on one wasn't exactly fair. Especially as her opponents were vampires. Vampires that had been working together for several hundred years. Time to implement Jasper lesson number two and use her environment to her advantage. Not that there was a lot here to use. But there were two large pillars in the middle of the room and targets set up on one end.

The twins were faster than Demetri and Felix had been and they played off one another strengths. They landed more blows than the others but still no full on hits. That was until Alec got hold of her and launched her into one of the pillars. Certain she was down, he turned to walk away. Jasper's voice ran through her head again. Never turn your back on your opponent.

Lily launched forward with a smirk and swung her blade once, twice, taking off both Alec's arms in the process. Okay, so that wasn't completely necessary but damn it felt good. Jane's hands fisted at her sides as her face contorted in anger. Caius and Aro yelled, "No!" at the same time Jane screamed, "Pain!" to no effect. Did they really think she wouldn't have a block up against the girl just in case?

Another three steps brought Lily within sword's reach and she swung her blade, stopping it just to the side of Jane's neck. "I understand decapitations are quite painful. Let's avoid that, shall we?" The guard was furious, but she gave a nod of her head and took a step back.

Demetri and Felix had already started the reattachment process for Alec's arms. "Alec to the infirmary," Aro bit out. "Jane go with him. We will discuss your disregard for orders later."

Lily sat on the floor, trying to catch her breath. As soon as the twins left the room, Felix dropped to one knee in front of her mates. "Masters, I humbly request to be assigned to the Queen's guard when I am in residence."

Before she even had time to process that, Demetri knelt next to his friend. "I make the same request, my kings."

The three rulers exchanged a look before all three turned their attention to her. She raised her brows in question.

"You have the final say on your guard, Liliana," Aro stated softly.

She blinked at that. "Um...I approve?"

"Request granted. Both of you," Caius snapped. "You are dismissed."

The two guards hurried from the room, Demetri sending her a wink on his way out the door. Lily laid back on the mat. "Well, that was fun." She took a deep breath. "Y'all might want to brace yourselves for a minute."

"What are you talking—"

Marcus's question was cut off as Lily dropped the block she'd had on her pain, knowing if she left it on, it would only be that much worse when she did lower it. The dull aches and twinges she'd been feeling to let her know she was injured gave way to the full fury of the pain that should have been there from the beginning. She grunted as the wave swamped her, spiking before evening out. "Ouch."

"Why did you not tell us you were injured?" Aro demanded as he knelt beside her.

She blinked up at him and swiped some of the blood from her lip before showing it to him. "I am literally bleeding. A vampire threw me into a pillar. Never mind everything else. I kind of thought it was a given without me saying anything."

"You should not have blocked this from us. We would have stopped the fight," Marcus said.

Lily lifted her head to look at him. "That was kind of the point." She caught sight of Caius's smirk before she let her head drop back to the mat. "Your guard was holding back, but this was a nice diversion. Thank you, Caius."

"We keep a doctor on call for our human staff. We will have him come at once," Aro said.

She frowned. "What for?"

There was a beat of silence before Aro broke it. "You are in pain."

She snorted and let him help her into a sitting position. "I trained with Jasper and Emmett for a good portion of the last ten years. I'm good, trust me. Nothing a hot bath and a couple of days won't cure. Nothing's broken. I promise." They still looked uncertain but she didn't want to be fussed over. She turned to Aro. "Could you escort me to my room please and I'll get started on that bath?"

"Of course," he agreed immediately and helped her to her feet. "Brothers." And with that he swept her up in his arms, ignoring her protests and carried her from the room.

***

Marcus POV

His gaze followed Aro and their mate until they were out the door. He was displeased that she had been injured because Caius was trying to prove a point. Speaking of... His volatile brother had been rather quiet once Liliana allowed them to feel her pain. He hadn't even responded when directly spoken to. And he seemed to be in deep contemplation at the moment.

"You are much more involved with the training than I am. Did they hold back as she said?"

"Of course, they did," Caius responded immediately. "I chose them for that reason. I knew they would be careful with her without making it too easy."

"Exactly how much did they hold back?" Marcus asked. He'd had to fight his protective instinct the entire time she was on the mat so he made a poor judge.

Caius frowned. "Demetri and Felix pledged themselves to her. That should tell you all that you need to know."

Marcus nodded in acknowledgment. He'd thought as much. "She was quite impressive." He paused before adding, "For a human." It was a subtle jab at his brother who was still very hung up on Liliana's humanity.

Caius stood in one swift movement. "She will make an exquisite immortal," he said before disappearing out the door.