Page 51 of Stolen Magic of the Deep

“There’s too much happening at once. My mind keeps circling back to training. I can’t focus on everything at the same time.”

His expression softens, but he doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he slides the book he’s been grasping across the desk.

“Start this today,” he says.

I read the title written across the bind: Understanding Your Magic.

Orion continues, “It’s not history or theory. It's the one lesson that matters most. We will cover it together in more detail tomorrow, but I would like you to be familiar with the opening sections.”

“Why this one?” I ask.

“Because everything else you'll be doing in The Currents of Mastery, hinges on it. Your knowledge and practice in battle lessons is important, but your magic is what matters most.” He pauses momentarily, and his tone shifts again. “Also, today’s kingdom lesson is being cut short. Nyxalene has requested you in the sparring quarters early. You won't depart until she says otherwise.”

I frown. Equally prepared and not prepared for today’s lesson.

He stands, already heading toward the door.

“Orion,” I say. “Wait.”

He stops, but doesn’t turn.

“Is something . . . wrong?” I ask. “With you, I mean. You’ve been . . . off. And I know we’re not exactly friends, but if there’s anything I can do—”

The silence causes ringing in my ears as I wait for a response. He turns to face me, and his expression is restrained. Something simmers beneath his features.

“The only thing I need you to do, Sarah, is focus on all your training.” He drifts away, gliding toward the far end of the room, leaving me alone in the quiet of the archives.

I don’t follow him right away. I should. Nyxalene is waiting, but my body stays rooted to this chair.

Why do I care so much? He’s the one who dragged me into this world. Who originally wanted nothing to do with me. Who keeps me on a schedule so tight I can barely think—and now acts like I'm nothing more than a student to him.

And still, I find myself wanting to understand him more.

Nyxalene doesn’t hesitate with training. The moment I’m spotted in the doorway, she has me start my sequences without the daggers—only adding them once I was warmed up.

“They’re beautiful,” I gasp. Each dagger has a black coral hilt. The blade is so sharp it glistens beneath the ocean’s soft hue. The first set of daggers Nyxalene gave me—back when she decided I had finally earned them—had coral hilt too, but their blades were carved from refined sea stone. Beautiful in their own way, yet nothing like these.

“Xhiphate metal. It is mined from the deepest and most dangerous chasms around Myrrhallow. Only our bravest and strongest miners venture to the depths to extract it so we may have a form of defense for our kingdom.” Nyxalene speaks like a true warrior. A faithful general. Someone who knows what it is like to be defenseless.

“They look brand new.” I state, turning one over in my hand to inspect the other side. Most metals rust when or corrode after years beneath the sea, but these blades look untouched. If anything, the ocean seems to have sharpened them with her salt and violent currents, keeping them gleaming and deadly.

"How?"

When no answer comes, I assume Nyxalene is simply allowing me a moment to admire them. I'm so absorbed in their beauty that I don’t notice Nyxalene disappear until a sharp sting explodes across my side and an unseen force shoves me backward.

“Always be on guard,” Nyxalene says from . . . somewhere. “You must always be aware of your surroundings, even the ones you cannot see. You may have mastered ocean pressure, but with that also comes knowing where that extra pressure is coming from.”

She glides out from the shadows in the deep corner of the sparring chamber.

Wait, that’s weird. Her voice sounded like it came from the opposite direction.

She swims closer and circles me as she continues to explain her endless meaning of things. “Use the ocean. She's your friend. She will tell you where things are more dense around you in the way it moves against you. Today’s lesson is understanding that pressure and using it to help you in combat.”

Without any further explanation, she swerves around and above my head. Before I can spin to keep my eyes on her, she disappears again.

“If you keep relying on your eyes to grasp your surroundings, you'll be dead in these waters before you can get to the next current for training.”

Her instructions continue to ring in my ear, the words not making any sense to me.