“Master Tor. You and your apprentice come at Princess Aribella from opposite sides,” Queen Liliana said, snapping me out of my wandering thoughts for the millionth time this afternoon.
When I glanced over at her it was obvious by the pinched look on her face that Queen Liliana knew I was distracted, and didn’t approve. I’m sure she understood the stress I was under, but as a ruler herself, she expected me to be able to compartmentalize, just like she did.
And if I’d learned anything about Queen Liliana over the last several weeks, it was that she never left room for failure.
It wasn’t that Queen Liliana was cruel, per se, but no part of her was soft. I could only imagine what it was like for Princess Dawn to have grown up with a mother who was so single-mindedly focused.
I didn’t believe Dawn had been unloved. Whenever she was brought up, a flash of true sorrow darkened Queen Liliana’s eyes. She loved her daughter, that much was clear. But still, the pressure the Summer princess must have lived with day in and day out had to have been intense, and so my heart went out to the fallen Summer champion.
“Aribella, be ready this time. You’re waiting too long to take down your first opponent, giving your other attacker the opportunity to overwhelm you. You need to be fast and decisive. Don’t give your enemy the time to reach you. Bring them to their knees before they know what has hit them.”
I nodded and kept my mouth shut against the excuses that wanted to spring free. It wasn’t as easy as she was making it sound. Using my powers on multiple people simultaneously was taxing and left me physically exhausted. Which was dangerous for my condition. But she didn’t know that.
My magic was rooted in the Fall Court, specifically the changeability of our season. Our weather could one day be as balmy as a summer night, and the next a dusting of snow would coat the early morning grass. In some ways our season was volatile, but I embraced and loved the unpredictability of our court. Unlike the Summer and Winter Courts, where every day was pretty much the same, the Fall Court went through transitions. There was nothing stagnant about the Fall Court, and that made life exciting.
My magic was similar in nature, but rather than shifting weather patterns I could shift emotions and feelings. With a push of my magic I could calm a rage-filled fae,or settle an anxious heart. But on the flip side, I could also fill a fae up with so much hopelessness and despair that they couldn’t function beyond falling to their knees and wailing.
Although I would never do that. I loved my people and only used my powers to protect and nurture, never to harm. In truth I’d never explored the limits of my magic, and had no desire to do so, but that was exactly what Queen Liliana was demanding of me.
My power was like a muscle I hardly ever used. In many ways it was weak and atrophied. It would take time to grow in magical strength. Time I didn’t have. But I’d seen improvement over the last several days that we’d focused on using my magic as a weapon.
We’d been at this for hours already today though, so I wasn’t sure how much more I could take before my body gave out on me. But even so, I dug into a wellspring of strength inside me I hadn’t known existed until recently, and lashed out as soon as the pair attacked.
First I pushed hopelessness onto Drake, Master’s Tor’s apprentice. He was a young man, brown-haired and only a few years older than me, but he had the stamina of a work horse. Even after hours of sparring, he hardly looked winded. The moment my magic pushed into him, he faltered, his blunted sword dropping from his hand immediately.
Satisfaction filled me, but rather than revel in my success I pressed a wave of grief toward Master Tor. I hoped to overwhelm him as I had Drake, but even though tears started to drip from the aged fae’s eyes, he didn’t lose his grip on his sword or halt his attack.Instead he came at me with weapon raised and I was forced to drop to the ground and roll out of the way to avoid his blow.
I felt the swish of the blunted practice sword as it narrowly missed my head.
Mustering my last bits of energy, I pushed more sadness into Master Tor as I popped to my feet and backpedaled, but my repeated assaults that day must have damped their effects because he didn’t let up. Not even through his tears and the obvious sorrow I hammered him with.
He took another swing at me and I dodged out of the way.
Panicked from not being able to stop his attack, I pressed anger on the master, which was a fatal mistake.
Anger only fueled his violence and he came at me so fast the tip of his weapon slid across my leather corset as I twisted away. Had the material been anything other than hardened leather, I had no doubt, blunted blade or not, it would have left a mark on my flesh.
I was shaken, and I tried to pull back the anger I’d set upon him and pour more of the sadness, but his attacks were coming too quickly for me to focus on my powers.
Beyond exhausted, what little energy I had left went toward dodging and weaving his blade. He wasn’t softening any of his strikes, which meant that if one of his attacks landed, I’d be seriously injured.
“Stop,” I yelled, throwing my hand up to signal an end to the sparring session, but filled with enraged grief, the sword master wouldn’t back down.
This was the downside of my magic. I had to be careful what I filled people with because their reaction to specific emotions could be unpredictable.I could change how they felt, but I couldn’t control what they did with those feelings.
Sometimes, like now, it backfired on me.
Shouts rang out around us and I had a vague notion that other fae were running toward us, but my attention was acutely focused on the man now trying to take off my head.
I’d never been so glad for practice swords in all my life.
“Stand down, Tor!” Queen Liliana screamed, but it was no use.
I dipped low to avoid another one of his slashes, but when I looked up, the blade was arching back toward my head on his downswing. It may have been blunted and therefore incapable of taking off my head, but it still could break my neck from the force of the impact.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to twist away fast enough, so in desperation I did something I never had before and flung out my power with no planned emotion, just a wild burst of raw magic with zero direction.
The magic left me in a rush and shot out in all directions. I didn’t even have the time to aim at Master Tor. Instead, the burst hit every single fae in the room, draining me immediately.
