“I was pretty deathly sick,” I explained casually, busying myself with putting away my clothes. “I fainted after the ball and spent the rest of the time in quarantine with healers. They weren’t allowing visitors, or I would have asked for you.”
“I’m just glad you’ve recovered.”
“Me too,” I sighed.
Elle bounced up from her bed and leaned on my dresser. “What’s got you so down in the dumps, then?”
I fumbled for a lie that was close enough to the truth to be believable. “I’m worried about the number of lessons I’ve missed lately. Most of the Mages are already far ahead of me. Taking allof this time off is going to put me even farther back. I’m starting to question why I’m bothering with all of this.”
“Nairu, you have amazing potential.” Elle frowned. “You know I’ll help you catch up. We can practice together when we have free time. It’s not like you to give up.”
“It’s becoming… a lot.”
“I know what will cheer you up.” She grinned. “Come with me.”
I had serious doubts that there was anything Elle could do to cheer me up after everything I’d learned from Alandris, but I followed her anyway. Dwelling on what felt like an inescapable situation would not do me any good. I’d spent enough days rotting underneath the covers, and I’d promised myself long ago I wouldn’t let myself get to that point ever again—the point of giving up and letting the darkness swallow me whole.
Fingers laced with hers, I let Elle lead me to one of the larger training rooms. The sounds of raucous chatter, laughter, and blades striking against one another echoed through the halls just outside of the door. Before she’d even pushed the door open to reveal the culprits, I recognized a familiar voice, and my heart went into a frenzy.
“Lorian!” I called out, spotting his red head of hair immediately. “You’re back?”
He turned to face me, a beaming smile on his face as he caught me in a hug. “A captain keeps his promises.”
I only let him go to throw myself into Kaelias’s waiting arms. “You’re all back?” I asked nervously.
Kaelias patted my head, releasing me and pointing to the center of the room where Makatza was sparring with, unexpectedly, Kaz. “They’ve been at it for a half hour now, and neither of them has broken a sweat,” he signed.
“See?” Elle cooed. “I thought you might be happy to see your crew.”
I nodded gratefully. “I am. And I have more questions for you all than I know what to do with.”
“Soon, over a meal,” Lorian said. “First, why don’t we enjoy the entertainment? I have my bets on Makatza, of course, but Kaz has been quite the contender. I’m thinking of asking him to join the crew. Imagine the two of them on a battlefield together?” His brows flicked up, and he shook his head in amazement. “We’d be unstoppable.”
Kaz dwarfed Makatza in sheer size, but a wealth of lean muscle packed her lithe form. Her agility and flexibility compensated for her lack of brute strength. Each time Kaz swung his sword down at her, she dodged out of the way in the most impossible of angles, never making a strike at him. Her method was obvious. She intended to beat him through a battle of stamina, though so far, Kaz hardly looked winded at all.
Kaz chuckled following her latest block and said, “You're not bad. I haven’t had this much fun in a long, long time.”
Makatza growled, bearing her small tusks. “Don’t get cocky. Not over.”
His only answer was another blow towards her midsection, easily dodged. I supposed she didn’t expect what was coming next because none of us onlookers had either. A collective gasp filled the room as Kaz dropped his sword, grabbed Makatza’s waist, and hoisted her up into the air over his head.
“Yield?”
“As if,” she spat back, struggling against his iron grip.
He laughed brightly. “Alright, then. I did ask.”
Kaz threw Makatza down with such force, I was certain he was going to break every bone in her body. The sound of her crashing into the wooden floor was enough to make me wince and avert my eyes, and I nearly missed her swinging her body into an upright position with nearly impossible feline grace—as if it hadn’t hurt at all.
In an instant, she pointed a knife drawn from her thigh belt at Kaz’s throat. “Yield,” she repeated his words back to him.
His eyes sparkled with humor. “As if.”
“You have a knife to your throat, idiot.”
“And you have one to your heart.” Without her noticing—without anyone in the room noticing—he’d pulled a hidden blade of his own.
The pair stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity before Lorian cleared his throat and spoke. “Why don’t we call it a draw?”
