Their Hidden Princess Novel

---- Chapter 86 | thoughts about that for the rest of the day. When I'd first come to this world, my mother had put four men in front of me and asked me to marry one. Did she know that | would be potentially fated to all of them? Something about it was fishy but | couldn't put my finger on it. Plus, there was no fucking way | was mated to Kairos. The man hated me, and | loathed him. Maximus sat with us at every breakfast that week. | was beginning to enjoy his silent, looming company. So much so that when he was late to breakfast one morning, | started to worry.

However, he eventually showed up looking like he'd just rolled out of bed and complaining that his alarm didn't go off. He even gave a half laugh when Loren made a joke about his appearance. It was very clear something about Maximus was changing, softening him from the hard douche he'd been my first month at Alpha Academy. I'd also trained with him most afternoons on the outdoor track. The weather had taken a wintery turn so I had no more skin to skin incidents.

But there was still that dark, possessive look in his eyes when we'd get too close or I'd bend in a way that was seemingly provocative. ---- That Friday, he had me doing more resistance work on the outdoor track. The exercises had become easier with repetition, and | could feel my muscles building within me. As | finished, Max held his hand out to me. | knew that look and slid the band off. "| still have the knee jumps," | protested as | handed him the resistance band. "We're moving on to combat," Max stated.

"I want to see if my theory about your core and legs is true." "So you're gonna punch me and see if | fall over?" | joked Max tilted his head. The teeniest, tiniest smirk worked its way onto his lips. "I'd like you to block them but | understand if you can't. I'm an excellent fighter." "Ill see about that," | teased as | dropped into a defensive stance. Then Maximus truly laughed. It was like the honey of his eyes had melted into his voice and coated it. It was the most beautiful sound I'd heard in months. | immediately dropped my stance and stared at him. He raised an eyebrow in question.

"What?" "Your - your laugh," | stuttered. ---- "What about it?" Max said "It's nice," My voice was small. Max stared back at me as he registered my tone. His eyes grew dark as his pupils dilated again. He shook his head, and it was like the facade had breached. Both of us returned to normal. "Let's do this off the track," he said. "In case you fall." We both moved over to the patch of dry grass on the side of the track. | dropped back into my defensive stance and Maximus followed. He gave me a curt nod, which | returned, and then started throwing punches.

The first few he threw, | blocked easily. It was after the fourth block that he seemed to realize he wasn't going hard enough at me and picked up his force. He threw two smaller jabs then sailed his fist towards my shoulder. | wasn't quick enough to block it so | absorbed all of it with a grunt. But | didn't fall down. | blinked and looked up at Maximus. His lips were set in a hard, unreadable line. Then, he nodded. "Good," he said. "Seems like my theory was accurate. Now do it again." ---- He continued to sail punches towards me. Unbelievably, | absorbed each one.

Though | felt the brusies beginning to blossom on my skin, | stayed standing the entire time.