Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

Training gear.

The shirt was sleeveless, with panels of lighter and thicker material strategically placed. And although the top’s neckline looked like it would hug Siraay’s collarbone, at the front and back, a large triangle had been cut from the material. A pair of pants also hung nearby in the closet.

Moments later, Siraay had wrapped her chest and pulled on her undershorts, and after slipping into the dark training outfit, worked for a number of breaths to lace up a pair of black boots that finished halfway up her calves.

Standing, Siraay made her way closer to the large reflection panels that lined the room’s walls. Her makeup today was far lighter than it had been the night before, but she had still accentuated her blue eyes, using the powders to darken their outline and make them appear more stunning and mysterious.

The rest of her face she had left mostly free of any powders, knowing she was going to be training hard, and her hair was swept back into a long red braid that started at the crown of her head.

But her outfit really stole the show, simple as it was. The sleeveless top showed off her toned arms, the upper section of the front clinging to her chest, displaying her shapely upper half as it curved down again to meet her sternum.

And that was where the cut-out triangle began, the top splitting away into two parts and revealing the ridges of her flat stomach at the front and the supple muscles of her lower back just above her hips. And while her stomach and back were bare, the two panels that veered away from each other didn’t stop at her hips but kept going, a sheerer material woven into the first so that the ends of those flowing side panels formed a point at the ends.

The effect was that, as Siraay moved around her room, her boots and black pants tight against her skin, the ends of the shirt panels drifted from her sides to trail behind her, revealing more of her define torso.

She looked like a dangerous wraith.

Despite moving leisurely, dressing had only taken Siraay a short time, her efficiency a learned trait from months of training that was both as much a physical memory as it was mental conditioning.

And that’s another interesting aspect, Siraay thought to herself. While this personality was her own, she still had access to all the strengths and mental lessons her previous self had acquired.

Hence, she was dressed, more than presentable, and out her door before the rays of the early-morning sun had reached much farther across the room.

***

Once out in the hallway, Siraay paused, listening for a moment. The stairwell at the end of the corridor was, as far as she could tell, empty.

If you didn’t count the guards who were still stationed outside of her room, that was. And suddenly this bothered her.

Siraay began to stride away from her room and down the hall at pace but immediately heard the footsteps of the two female guards fall into step behind her.

She spun quickly, and had a moment of pleasure as she caught the surprised and slightly fearful looks that flashed across both female’s faces as they swayed with the force of the sudden stop.

‘Why do you insist on following me everywhere?’ Siraay demanded, her tone like ice.

One of the guards managed to overcome her shock at the sudden verbal attack enough to respond. ‘We’re under orders, lady. From Lord Chezran himself.’

Instead of calming Siraay, this response made her seethe further. ‘Is that so?’ she hissed.

The guard nodded quickly.

Siraay didn’t say a word more but spun on one booted heel and continued to stride down the hallway, growling low enough so the guards couldn’t hear, ‘We’ll see about that.’

Her wrath carried her swiftly to the grand staircase and down its sweeping length, until she reached the landing at the bottom and realised she didn’t know where her intended destination lay.

Inwardly grimacing, Siraay angled her chin over her shoulder and queried more calmly, ‘Where is the training hall?’

This time, it was the other female guard who responded, seemingly keen to keep her lady happy. ‘This way, lady,’ the guard said promptly, briskly moving away and to Siraay’s left to lead her down a passage opposite from where Siraay had dined the previous evening.

Siraay followed the guards through a couple more twists and turns at hallway intersections before the pair invited her to step through an open doorway.

A large, mostly empty space, the walls were lined with weapons—staffs, both traditional and with edged blades; curved knives; short battle sticks; and throwing knives of various shapes and sizes hung from select locations around the room.

But like the dining hall she had visited the evening before, subtle touches of decadence were evident throughout the hall. Gleaming chandeliers, polished black marble floors, and gems as big as Siraay’s fist set within pairs of crossed golden swords hanging on the walls.

And then Siraay spied the rooms leading off from this one.

One room was full of training equipment—squat blocks and taller barriers—to teach one agility and balance.

A sound entered into her awareness then. A muted thudding, repeated over and over, and to no particular rhythm.

Thud.

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Thud, thud.

Siraay strolled farther into the main room until she was able to spot the source of the sound. Off to her right, yet another room opened up, containing a number of long, oblong shapes hanging from a wide beam that stretched from one end of the room to the other.

And it was into one of these hanging shapes that a muscular figure was repeatedly plunging his wrapped fists.

Curious, Siraay walked silently across the main floor and up to rest one hand on the wooden beam of the entrance to the room in which the male was vigorously sweating.

Siraay’s eyes were instantly drawn to the defined muscles standing at attention in the male’s back, his dark hair slicked back with sweat.

But as a spinning backhand blow caused the