Their Hidden Princess Novel

---- Chapter 120 Having to go about the beginning of my week like nothing had happened hurt me. Mona tried to help, stated that Valentin would see the error of his ways soon. | was highly doubtful, especially given how feral he'd look with Amara. 1 The horror of them hooking up was my nightmare for the week. It always started as some sort of horny wet dream, with me and Valentin hooking up in the showers. There was a mirror behind us that gave me direct eye contact with myself and Valentin's ass.

But as | tipped my head back from writhing in ecstasy, | made contact with a different person in the mirror. Bella smiled at me with her sick, sadistic smirk as Valentin ravaged away at her. | was trapped behind the mirror, banging my fists against it in a futile effort to get Valentin to notice me. | woke every morning covered in sweat just as the sun was rising. It didn't make my sour mood any better. Especially when | still had to train with Valentin and Thorne. Valentin could barely look me in the eye. My only solace was Amara had been barred from our sessions.

Maximus was also pushing me harder at our sessions. He told me I'd gotten good enough at the basics that he was going to ---- start teaching me moves they weren't getting at in Basics class. That mean toppling, turning and jumping over him as he swung at me like | wasn't a foot shorter than him. | was utterly exhausted by the time my Friday night training with Maximus rolled around. I'd had about two hours of sleep the night before and nine cups of coffee throughout the day. | was jittery yet half-awake. | almost wished Maximus had kept our session outside.

"So today | want to work on the spinning hook kick," Max said as | stifled a yawn. "It's a Taekwondo move that always you to put the full force of your weight into a kick." Max moved to stand in front of a dummy. He took one step forward then threw the entire weight of his body into whirling his foot around and kicking the dummy so hard in the head it flew across the gym. | blinked at him. "I'm supposed to do that?" "Ideally," Maximus rolled his shoulder with a shrug. "And in what world am I going to get that much space with an opponent?" | dead panned.

"An ideal one clearly," Maximus went over and dragged the dummy back in front of me. "And one where your back is accidentally to your opponent. Or your surrounded." ---- "Right," | dropped into a defensive stance. "Now what?" "You're going to step front with your non-striking foot and rotate the hip of your striking foot," Maximus said as he demonstrated. | followed his instructions then listened for the second step. A few moments later, | shocked myself with being able to strike the dummy in the same spot that Maximus had hit.

After five or six kicks, | paused to bracket my hands on my hips as | caught my breath. "Now, you're going to incorporate it into sparring," Max said as he looked at me. "Sparring?" | choked out. "Max, I'm exhausted and-" Maximus dropped into stance. "It's good to practice when you're tired," he cut me off as he started to circle me. "The opponent will never give you a chance to breathe. If you train your body to always be on, it'll never turn off." "Fucking shit," | mumbjhled under my breath as | dropped back into stance. He had a point. Plus, nothing he'd said had been proven wrong yet.

We went back and forth a few times with random jabs or punches. Then, Max found a way to slide behind me, giving me the perfect opportunity to use the new kick he'd taught me. | threw it once and he blocked it from hitting his face with a grunt. ---- "Good," he said. "Go again." So, | went again, despite the way my body was screaming for me to stop. Another few punches and blocks and Max went to a different position. | threw the kick and he gave me another nod. We kept going and going. Alll the while, by muscles were beginning to burn.

My heart was thudding deep in my chest and head was swimming with the thoughts of the last week. Amara shredding my knee. Thorne's persistence. Valentin with Bella. | kept throwing my punches, swinging my leg high and ducking from Maximus's punches. It was a dance the two of us were doing, calculated and strong. All the while, | continued to go through each event.