In the meantime, I was still vulnerable. Rage rose at the very thought. I could feel it building, but I thought back to Calix’s lessons. I took a deep breath, simmering in that rage, letting myself accept it as part of myself, and then redirected it.
But not to fire this time—or perhaps, just a different kind of fire.
I let that rage fuel every swing of my sword. Every block, every parry. Being much smaller than the behemoth that was Titan, I moved around him like the wind. I darted in and out, bending back to avoid strikes, letting myself come up behind him, or jumping over to gain a flurry of hits on him.
Titan’s smile was slow but sincere. I focused all my rage on the match, letting everything else fall away.
“Good.” Titan declared as he finally swatted my sword out of my hand.
I watched it fall mournfully, knowing it was unrealistic to expect to win, but wishing I could, nonetheless. Titan had leagues of experience on me, and I knew he had slowed himself down and was hardly giving the fight his all. The point was to train me, not demolish me.
“Good?” I looked up at him hopefully, and he smiled warmly at me, clasping a heavy hand on my shoulder.
“Great.” He corrected with an approving look. “The difference was distinct. Not only from the advantages of being Fae, though that certainly helped, but your focus and drive, your technique, all of it was improved in addition to your strength and speed.”
A glowing smile lit my face at his assessment.
“But don’t get cocky. We still have a lot of work to do.” He smirked, and I slapped his shoulder as he laughed.
“You can’t give a compliment without dragging it down, can you?” I sighed dramatically, shaking my head.
He rolled his eyes, “Come on, let’s go again. We have time for more before the meeting.”
The mention of the meeting had me straightening up.
The reminder ofwhyI was doing this.
Not only of who I’d have to fight, who we’d all have to fight, but of the humans who were still unable to.
The humans relying on us, even if they didn’t know it, to free them from a would-be tyrant.
I lifted my sword, letting the resolve and rage flowing through me blend together, and trained for every single one of them who was still enslaved.
* * *
Enteringthe war room with Titan, I greeted everyone with a smile. Pretending like I hadn’t fled the bar last night after losing control of my magic in front of half of them.
Thankfully, everyone seemed to be fine with that, and I was greeted with smiles around the table. Calix nodded, directing me to the spot to his right, while Titan came around to take the spot on Calix’s other side.
“As things stand right now, we have feelers out to Sunrise and Sunset Kingdoms. Eryx is working on gathering information and seeing if alliances can be made. With Dusk, Dawn, and Day allying, we need more numbers and the strategic advantage of their location for this fight.” Calix announced, looking out around the room.
My heart sank hearing it spelled out like that. That all three kingdoms surrounding Night were allied against us was a definite blow. I could see on the faces surrounding the table that they all knew it as well, and ruminating over what I knew of the complicated politics of those kingdoms and Cyrus himself, I forced myself to speak up.
“They may be allied now, but those alliances are shaky.” I leaned over, looking at Dawn’s sigil on the map laid out in front of us. “Cyrus and Zerlina are constantly at each other’s throats, and he treats her horribly. She’s only putting up with it because she wants to be queen. But if that betrothal fell apart…”
“Astraeus and Tariq are too close of friends.” Eryx shook his head. “They’ll remain allied regardless.”
“Only if they’re the ones in power,” Calix spoke up. Eryx looked back at him with his eyebrow raised. “Cyrus’s plans seem increasingly unhinged. It’s only a matter of time until Astraeus realizes his heir is going behind his back, using blood magic and making plans he hasn’t approved of.”
“We hope, anyway.” Eryx shook his head again, looking over the map with a critical eye. “Do we have a better chance of swaying Day Kingdom?” His eyes landed on me.
I breathed in, still unable to truly fathom any connection between myself and Day Kingdom. I shrugged my shoulders, “Your guess is better than mine, honestly. I’ve never interacted with them at all.”
Everyone went quiet for a moment. The truth that everyone in this room knew my birth family better than I did was disquieting. The fact I knewnothingabout them, even more so.
I felt the table rumble under my hands and realized with wide eyes my magic was causing it. I looked up to Calix, who grabbed my hands, bringing them to his lips. He pressed small kisses to my fingers, and I bowed my head, hiding my face with the curtain of my hair, taking deep breaths so the magic wouldn’t burst out again.
When I calmed down, I lifted my eyes to meet Calix’s. He was smiling softly at me, and I could swear I felt a foreign sense of pride fill me before it was gone as quickly as it came.
