“Fine,” I said. “Shouldn’t you be on your way to the Winter Court?” I tried not to sound hurt, but failed.
He shrugged. “I told Queen Lilliana that I would be right behind her. I wanted to stay back a bit and see how you were.”
That was very sweet. My heart softened toward the tutor whom I had barely gotten a chance to know.
“I’m … ready to do my duty and give this my all.” I tipped my chin high.
He grinned. “So you’re still going?”
I scoffed. “Why wouldn’t I? These are my people we’re talking about.”
He clicked his tongue. “Your mother made a very compelling case for this weak heart you’ve had since birth. She claims going through the portal will kill you before you even have a chance to fight.”
I growled. “Mother!”
No wonder Queen Liliana had left.
“She loves you very much. Parents will do anything to protect their children.”
“Well, I want to protect my people,” I told him.
“Good. I was hoping you would say that. I think I can delay one or two more days before the Queen wonders where I am and sends a search party.”
I stood straighter at that. “You’re going to help me?” Hope bloomed in my chest and he gave me a warm smile and nodded.
“Dawn was a fearsome warrior. She could wrestle a man twice her size, blind you with a blast of light, cut you in half with a sunbeam, and she knew over fifty poisons that would end your life.”
My eyes widened. “She sounds like the perfect champion.”
He shook his head, reaching up to rub his chin. “I’ve gone over and over the scenario in my head. If Dawn had landed in front of an Ethereum lord she’d have come back with the heart in a matter of minutes. I’m sure of it. She was one of the most powerful champions we ever had record of when it came to magical ability.”
Chills raced up my arms. “What do you think happened then?”
He sighed. “Dawn’s mind wandered often: it was her one weakness. I think she went through that portal and landed elsewhere in the realm, and succumbed to the many dangers of Ethereum.”
I blew air out through my teeth, shaking my head. “Poor Dawn.”
He grasped my shoulders and I peered up into his gaze. “We can learn from Dawn’s mistake. You have a sharp mind, you are focused. We should have started training you to go through the portal weeks ago, but Queen Liliana was focused on your combat training, so it got pushed off. But if we start now, you can master the meditations needed to pass through the portal and successfully land at the feet of an Ethereum lord.”
I felt determination rise up inside of me. “Let’s do it.”
* * *
“Now imagine the river you are sitting next to has red water.” Master Duncan’s soothing voice infiltrated my mind and the vision I’d been holding of sitting next to a bubbling, clear blue brook was changed. The water was now red.
I nodded to indicate that I’d done as he asked.
“Good, now in that water are hundreds of fish all fighting to swim upstream.”
Immediately the fish entered my mind’s eye and I saw them flip and flop, thrashing against one another and fighting for purchase to get up-creek.
I nodded again.
“You can open your eyes now, Aribella,” Master Duncan said.
I snapped my eyes open to see him beaming at me. I’d grown fond of our little sessions. They were calming and I was good at meditating, able to easily imagine what he described and nothing else. We’d been doing this for two straight days and I’d gotten good quickly.
“Incredible,” he said. “After years of training Dawn I forgot what it was like to have a focused student.” That last part was said with a smile, and so I knew he was being playful.
