“Solathair be with you, Diar,” I said. “You’re going to need it.”
The younger woman nodded, mind a thousand years away.
Grabbing Cierthine from where it leaned against the table, I followed Reese out the back door into the inn’s little yard. My hand quivered on the hilt as I stepped out into the frigid air.
Would he want to train my magic? What if I created shadows again?
I’d had no time to slip away and practice alone. To see if it happened again. To learn if I could control it.
I needed an excuse—a reason why magic wouldn’t be possible tonight.
Reese drew his blade and turned around. “I’d like more space, but we don’t have many options.”
A flurry of snow blew through the yard. I was freezing. Our encounter with those Solhearts had left me shaken.
Maybe that was excuse enough to avoid training.
No. I’d resolved not to let Reese see my weakness, lest he decide I was not worth the effort.
Drawing Cierthine, I stood opposite him.
He didn’t give me any time to speak. The next moment, he flew across the yard and brought his sword down toward my head. I blocked it, throwing my focus behind training, behind this moment, to shut out the rest.
Reese attacked me with a newfound fervor. My stiff limbs protested, and my knees buckled under his relentless assaults. Magic was woven into his attacks, flurries from a twin blade ofgolden light that swirled at Reese's side, as though brandished by a ghostly master.
I could hardly keep up. I’d block one blade, and the other would strike my back, throwing me to the ground. Ice sank into my clothes, numbing my body. Then he’d tell me to get up, and we’d do it again.
For a while, I pushed through. I envisioned Galasvar and the people I’d watched be torn apart, powerless to aid them. I thought back to our brush with the Solhearts, how they'd nearly killed Liam, and how close I'd come to being raped.
My voice had failed me. I had not fought back. Never in my life had I questioned the way things were. Solhearts reigned because they were our betters. Women waited on the sidelines to support their men. I’d been born into society ruled by the sun god and his priests, and never considered if it wasright.
Frustration boiled up within me. It had been all too easy to look away and pretend when my father had sheltered me from the worst. A better woman would never have allowed them to hurt Liam, would have ripped from the lecher’s grip.
I fell to the ground again when Reese's golden blade slapped across my arm. Stinging pangs rang through my bones, and I gritted my teeth. When I rose to my feet, my vision blurred.
I saw the dragon with butterfly wings. Its head bowed, as though beckoning me to stroke its neck.
It nuzzled me, affectionate and warm, moments before I murdered it.
This time, I didn’t even move when Reese attacked me. He noticed my frozen stance and pulled back on his assaults. The golden rapier whizzed past my chin, narrowly missing.
My legs gave out, and I dropped to my knees. Driving Cierthine into the snow, I grabbed its hilt to steady myself.
Reese knelt beside me. “I know you’re exhausted. But coddling you will get you killed.”
I nodded. My enemies would not stop to let me breathe.
Inhaling, I strained to picture the monsters as the mindless killers they were—and not the gentle dragon who’d approached me like an old friend.
My hatred turned inward, toward myself. For letting that brute hurt Liam. For allowing everyone to believe I’d saved them, when I was welcomed among the shadows that hunted them.
Wrapping my hands tightly around Cierthine’s hilt, I swung upward at Reese. My blade clashed against his. A grin flashed across his face—exhilaration—and pride.
He had no idea who I really was.
I threw myself at him until my limbs had fully numbed and my mind had gone blank. The training became a blur, instinct taking over thought.
The adrenaline fled my body when we finally stopped. Exhaustion slammed into me like a charging elk, and I doubled over, breathing heavily.
