I groaned and dropped into a sitting position, dust flying up. “Maybe I was never meant to have this metal calling power.”
Askel made a tsking sound, taking a seat next to me. Though it had been hard to talk with him when we’d first started this training session, the more I worked with him, the more I was beginning to like him. He was one of those people who was likean onion—with many layers to peel back. “That’s not how magic works, and you know it.”
That drew my attention. I peered at him through my fingers. “I actually don’t know, enlighten me.”
Askel rested his elbows on his knees, resting his chin in his hands. “The Seid believe that all magic is available to everyone who is willing to welcome it into their life tapestry. The books, the reading, it’s all about choosing what magic you want to bind to your soul. Anyone can bind to any power. There is no such thing as a magic that isn’t able to be used by a specific person.”
That was more than I’d learned from the books in Leif’s library. But it still didn’t tell me how to call the knife to me. “Ugh, I hate this.”
Askel’s hand came to rest on my back. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe the Seid were supposed to learn magic like this.” I sat up straighter. “I think we were meant to be raised with it—read powers at a young age with our coven. Everything you are doing now . . . you’re trying to shove years of learning into a single day.”
I sighed. It made sense. Another failure of my parents.
“But listen,” he continued. “We have time. You don’t have to master the calling of metal today.”
Even as he said those words, the sounds of metal meeting metal flowed in our ears. We weren’t that far from the battlefield, which was just over the hills. “It doesn’t feel like it.”
“I know,” he agreed, standing and brushing off his hands, extending one to help me to my feet. “Let’s try again? This time, call the wind first, before trying to call to the metal, because you have better control over that power.”
I nodded, clenching and unclenching my hand.
“Force me back!” Askel shouted, and then he was running at me, a scowl on his face.
I raised my hands, releasing a puff of air, enough to ruffle Askel’s hair, but not enough to slow his run. “Good, but not enough!” He was almost to where I was standing, “More!”
I jumped out of the way, allowing him to run past, recomposing myself as he ran in a half circle until he was facing me again. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, trying to remember what I had felt the night I’d made a windstorm at Cal’s house.
I had been scared and angry.
I called those emotions to me, working to direct them into the energy I felt brewing behind my palms.
Remember, Adis’ father killed an entire generation of your people.
Flames licked beneath my skin, and I forced the feeling behind the energy in my outstretched arms.
“Good!” Askel called. I opened my eyes to dust whirling around me, nearly obscuring him from view. “Now we just need you to direct the dust storms toward the enemy!”
The words reached my ears, but I didn’t tear my gaze from Askel’s belt, where the knife, while not flying through the air, was wiggling. I narrowed my eyes.Come to me.
“What are you?—”
He was interrupted by the slap of his knife landing in my upturned palm.
The windstorm died as I stared at the way the metal reflected in the sunlight.
“You did it!” he shouted, jogging up next to me.
I flipped the knife over, observing the face on the hilt, which was also inlaid with gold. It was a beautiful knife, unlike anything I had ever seen before.
“It was a gift from my parents.” His voice was barely a whisper in my ears; I hadn’t noticed him approach. I moved to hand it back.
“Thanks.” He turned it over in his own hand, letting out a breath before tucking it back in its sheath.
Askel stepped back again, but before he could ask me to repeat what I had accomplished, I decided to ask the question that had been bothering me all morning.
“Do you have any magic?”
His face froze, as if I had struckhim.
