Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (positive books to read .txt) 📕

neck all the way down to my toes, dozens of muscles worked in tandem as I drew back the string and aimed an invisible arrow at the tree. It was easier than before. As easy as breathing.

“Okay, carefully release tension on the string, but do not let go. Never dry fire your bow,” Evelyn commanded.

I released the string and let out a breath. Tension flooded out of my muscles as I lowered the bow.

“Good, now staying in position, nock an arrow and draw it back.”

I did exactly as she ordered, never faltering as I plucked an arrow from my quiver at my back and drew it back.

“Don’t release it just yet. Hold it, and just breathe, listen to the world around you.”

My hearing was better than most, and I picked up the sounds from a hundred different sources. The horses, grazing in the plains, and the dozen of men and women milling about, cooking, talking, and drinking. Gil and Makenna, off by themselves, whispering sweet nothings to each other away from most everyone’s prying ears.

Adam was in the field, playing with his shades, trying to better control them.

And Evelyn was next to my ear. Her sweet breath tickled my nose, her heartbeat loud in her chest.

“There’s too much noise. I can’t concentrate.”

She nodded. “Of course there is, but you have to focus, eliminate the unnecessary noise and focus of the one sound that truly matters.”

“Which is?” I asked, straining from holding the arrow back for so long.

“Your heartbeat. It’s the most important sound to an archer. Listen to its rhythm. Feel it pulse in your breast, down your veins and in your fingertips. Feel it pulse through the bow, and in the space between heartbeats, release your arrow.”

I focused, ignoring my screaming muscles to listen to the beat of my heart. It was just as she’d said. It pumped loud in my ears, flowing through my chest toward my hands, and it thumped against my bow again and again.

I waited until I knew exactly when the beat would end, and I loosed the arrow.

It sailed through the air, uttering a soft whistle as its war cry and slammed home in the center of the paper target fifty feet away.

A cheer rose from a group of bandits who’d stopped to watch Evelyn train me. And despite them being bandits, scum of the earth, I couldn’t help the little bit of pride that welled up inside from their cheers.

Evelyn clicked her tongue. “Not bad, not bad.”

I wanted to keep practicing, keep the momentum going, but my aching muscles and screaming stomach said otherwise. We’d been training for so long, and we’d neglected to eat anything, so I was ravenous beyond compare.

Gill and Makenna made room for me on the log next to them and offered me a bowl of charred meat and vegetables. It was bland, the chef not having half the cooking skill of Sam or the others, but food was food, and I was starving. I scarfed it down while watching Tegen and Cheira as they scampered around the woods.

We’d spent hours training and wasted most of the light we’d had left. So we set up camp here for the night. I helped where I could, carrying huge armloads of firewood and helping to set up our tents, but we had more than enough manpower, so there wasn’t much for us to do. Evelyn ran the bandits ragged, and they were too scared of her to argue.

I was weary from the training and called it a night early and headed to my tent to get some rest. As I lay down, though, my mind began to wander. My body was bruised and aching, but my thoughts raced like birds through my mind. Calm down and get some sleep, I told myself, rolling over and shutting my eyes tight.

But it was to no avail. I was awake despite my protests.

All right, well if I can’t sleep, then I guess I’ll keep practicing with my magic.

I sat up, crossed my legs, and closed my eyes, feeling for the magic in my soul. It came at my call, spilling from within my chest to crawl its way toward my mind. It submerged me in a pool of verdant mist, and I was no longer in a tent in the woods. I was home.

A tidal wave of thoughts, emotions, and spirits flooded around me, drowning me in their need to be answered, but they weren’t what I needed, not tonight, at least.

There was a specific spell that my mother used often, her chitin sword, but I knew there was more than that lurking below the surface, I just had to find it.

“How may I assist you, my queen?” the warm voice asked next to my ear.

I need spells, Aspect. Weapons.

With a subtle tone of acceptance, the presence of the Aspect faded away. I floated in a sea of warmth for a time until a tug pulled my soul deeper in the mist. I was pulled further and further in, when I suddenly slowed, and a dozen thoughts floated past my face. Each one was a spell, but I needed to find the correct one and pull it out with me.

It took some time, but I found the one I needed and reached out my hand. It dissolved into nothingness when I closed my hand and filled me with insight. I had what I’d come for, and I’d stayed too long. I couldn’t linger in the Hive Mind, or I risked not being able to find my way out again.

When I came back to myself, I was weak. My body shook with fatigue, and sweat poured in rivers down my face and neck.

But resting in my hands was a glossy black bow comprised of chitin, gleaming even in the darkness.

“Beautiful,” I said,