The vitriol stung. Hedda had been kind to her, grateful for Baldrir.
And she was probably thinking every one of these things while you were over here admiring her like an eejit.
“Because I can,” Hedda answered. “What are you going to do about it?”
You should smack her. Orun-heal her. Is that a thing?
Lunara drew in a ragged breath. “I’m not quite sure what you’re doing, but please stop.”
“‘Please stop?’”Hedda laughed. “Sisters, your parents taught you such good manners. Oh, wait.” She leaned in closer. “I forgot. Thad told us you don’t have any parents. My mistake.”
Something unhinged swept over Lunara. Fuming. Burning. Shattering. It clawed at her skin and screamed to be set free.
“What did you just say to me?” Her voice was hardly her own. A crackling rasp that held the fury flooding her body.
“Poor little orphan Lunara can’t even seem to use her ears correctly.”
Lunara couldn’t control herself. She lunged, her lips peeling back as she hissed, her fangs an inch from Hedda’s face.
The Demon grinned, a savage look of approval that stretched across her features as she gripped Lunara’s arms and gave her a good shake.“Thereit is. That is all you need,Sorcerit. The rest is just practice.”
The adrenaline pumping through her veins fizzled with Hedda’s flip in mood, turning her stomach. “What just happened.”
Hedda straightened and gave her a once-over. “Shite talking, to get your blood pumping. I wanted to see if you had it in you. You do.”
“Had what in me?”
“Rage.”
That one word lit a fire somewhere within her. A spark that had merely been waiting for kindling.
“We Demons use it to feed our power, to give it direction, but it can be a tool for anyone.” Hedda nodded, her eyes narrowing. “You have it in droves. I’m sorry for what I said. Truly. And for dragging it out of you so harshly, but I had to know for sure.”
Lunara was buzzing, her head too light. “Why?”
“Because I can’t train you without it.”
“Train me?”
“I know a look of longing when I see one.” She threw her hand up when Lunara opened her mouth to argue. “I don’t need to know why you are probably the only Nachthellian I’ve ever heard of above the age of twenty who doesn’t already know how. Though I am intrigued…” She raised a brow. “No? Not yet? Ah, well. Fine. Someday. Besides, I have selfish motives for wanting it done.”
Maybe thisisa dream. It’s the only explanation for how bizarre this is.
“Selfish motives?”
Hedda reached her arms up to re-knot her hair around her horns, eyes on the battlefield. “Lyriat’s told me what he asked you to do. The thing with my cousin, though, is that one idea tends to give him another. Then another.” She loosed a heavy sigh. “Assumption, on my part, but it probably means you’ll be around for a while, whether you intend it or not.”
Um. No. Absolutely, definitely, assuredly not. Montrealm, Westrealm, home. Within a week.
But… Hedda was promising her something she’d wanted for most of her life.
“What does that have to do with me fighting?”
“If your job is to help keep everyone safe, then you need to be able to do it in more ways than one. A healer is useless if she’s lying dead in the grass when the fighting is over.”
An excellent point.
No. Not an excellent point! Have you lost your mind? Besides, there isn’t time.
