Chapter 206: I’m Not Weak

Sometimes, the biggest changes start small, and sometimes we tend to miss the signs. This was the case with Orion — but rather than missing the signs, he noticed them and chalked it up to being a coping mechanism for Sophia ever since she had that dream.

A dream that left her restless. He did not understand why she was so shaken by it. She only stabbed him — that was all — and he was certain that was very unlikely to happen. Sophia wouldn’t stab him. Not that she wouldn’t hurt him, no. He was sure if he annoyed her enough, she could get physical, but not to the point of stabbing him — he was sure of that.

But the fact that she had been behaving strangely since she had the dream made him suspect there was more to it... more she wasn’t telling him. He wanted to ask why she was keeping it from him. He wanted to push her — surely, they had passed the stage where she would be distrustful of him, right?

But he didn’t want to push. One thing he had learned about Sophia was that if he pushed too much, she’d push back — and not in a good way. So, he decided to let her speak freely and not pressure her.

Even so, Orion had no idea how long he could hold back. The next morning, she had woken up extremely early and was the first to arrive at the training grounds. Orion didn’t see anything wrong at first — not even in the way she pushed herself to train after the trainees had left. He thought perhaps she just needed to clear her head, to focus on something else.

Even Tobias had been worried before he left, but Orion had explained that she was trying to get rid of the image in her head. If Tobias suspected that there was more going on between Orion and Sophia, he didn’t say anything before leaving.

It had been two days now, and Sophia showed no sign of stopping. She trained harder than Orion had ever seen her train — extremely so.

Every day, he tried to convince her to stop — to leave the training grounds when the other trainees did — but she refused. One conversation still remained stuck in his head.

The other trainees had left that morning on Orion’s insistence that they take a break. Training had been short too, because everyone was catching up and correcting their errors. Soon, they would start training with real weapons.

Sophia moved through her drills like a machine wound too tightly to stop. Sweat gleamed along her temple, her breathing even but sharp, controlled. Her movements were quick, deliberate — each strike with the staff, each pivot, each defensive turn was a mark of focus bordering on obsession.

Orion had stood a short distance away, arms folded, watching. His expression was calm, but there was a line between his brows that hadn’t left since that night — the night she’d woken shaking and pale, haunted by a dream she refused to speak of again.

He waited until she finally slowed, her breath escaping in a rough exhale.

"That’s enough, Sophia," he said, stepping closer. "You need to rest."

She shook her head. "If I rest, then I risk getting weaker. I’m not weak, Orion."

Orion paused. "I never said you were. But if you push yourself too much, it will hurt you."

"Better me than someone else," she replied.

Orion didn’t understand what she meant.

"I’m not going to see you get hurt, Sophia. I’d rather not imagine it," he told her firmly.

She only grunted in reply and continued.

Orion sighed deeply, crossed the distance between them, and took the swords from her hands. "I said that’s enough, Sophia," he said, his voice firm.

"I’m fine," she said between breaths, eyes fixed on the dummy in front of her. "Just one more round."

"Sophia—"

"Please," she told him desperately. "Just one more round. One more round and I’ll stop."

Orion stared at her. He wanted to be firm — to tell her no — but in the end, he gave her back the weapons.

She parried, spun, and struck again — the wood cracked under the hit. Her hair clung to her forehead, her skin flushed from exertion. Orion sighed quietly and waited. He made sure it was only one round, and true to her words, she stopped after that.

He had made sure she got food into her stomach and made her promise not to pick up the wooden swords again that day before going about his duties.

Truly, she didn’t pick up the wooden swords — but she picked up a dagger in the evenings and trained until her hands became sore.

Nothing Orion said could convince her to stop pushing herself so hard. She was getting better — better than most trainees — but at what cost?

For the past nights, she had always collapsed tiredly on the bed. Orion had even gone as far as begging her to stop putting a strain on herself, but she was determined to get stronger. She told him she wasn’t weak, that she was going to get stronger. At some point, she even told him she would protect him too.

Orion was very close to just tying her up and asking her directly what was going on — what really happened in the dream and why she was behaving this way. He was extremely close to doing so, but given how stubborn Sophia was, he doubted that would work.

By the third day, Orion was determined to make Sophia stop the act of destruction she seemed bent on doing to herself.

His words had fallen on deaf ears — she didn’t listen — but there was no way he was going to give up, because just as she was stubborn, he was stubborn too.

There was a reason fate had made them mates after all. If just talking with Sophia and suggesting she stop wasn’t going to work, then he was going to have to do it another way. A roundabout way, yes — but a way he was sure would convince her to rest. He’d make it seem like it was training too, but he’d convince all the trainees.

The next morning dawned bright and warm. The sky was streaked with peach and gold, and the training grounds buzzed with chatter and anticipation.

The trainees — both old and new — stood gathered, waiting. Sophia stood among them, hair tied back, her expression composed but tired. She was flanked by her group and new friends.

Orion had noticed that Sophia had the tendency to make friends with people of different ages — and she made friends easily. Even though she was far ahead of Laia and Nia in training, they all remained close. They helped each other, and Sophia’s stubbornness had even influenced them to the point that they stayed behind for extra training.

Cat, Joren, Dren, and even Micah — who, in a way, was like Tobias and didn’t make friends easily — were part of her group. He trained with them even though they all used different weapons. The group was a mismatched set, but Sophia brought them together.

She wasn’t weak like she thought she was. Being strong didn’t just come from being a good fighter. Orion was going to make her see that, because she was too blind to it — but first, he was going to have to make her rest.

Orion stepped onto the field, his presence commanding immediate silence.

He scanned the group slowly, his gaze sharp but measured.

"It’s been almost a week since we started," he began. "And you’ve all done well. You’ve learned to hold your stance better, to listen, to observe your surroundings. But training is never complete — it evolves. Which is why, today, we will be doing something different."

He paced before them, hands clasped loosely behind his back.

"What do you mean by different?" Dren asked.

"I’ll be sparring with all of you," Orion said as he picked up a weapon.

A ripple went through the group — surprise, curiosity, even a bit of apprehension.

"You’ll face me not to win, but to learn," Orion said. "Every encounter will be like how it always is. I’ll watch how you fight, how you react, and when we’re done, I’ll tell you what to improve on — what to strengthen, what to unlearn, what to do to be better."

Orion’s gaze passed over the crowd and landed briefly on Sophia before moving on. His expression didn’t change, but something flickered behind his eyes — something deliberate.

"This isn’t a test of strength," he added. "It’s a test of control. Of how well you can think when you’re under pressure."

"I’m confused," one of the trainees spoke up. "You’ve been sparring with us and telling us how to improve..."

"Yes, I have," Orion said. "But this time, it’s a bit different. It’s a task — and it will also determine those who will be able to take the test at the end of this training session."

The trainees gasped in shock.

"It’s a simple task, really," Orion said with a smile.

"When you say simple, how simple exactly?" Sophia asked.

Orion smiled. "Simple enough."