Page 95 of In Between Death and the Devil

From his expression, I suspected it hadn’t been that simple, but I didn’t press for more details. “So, what now?”

“Now, you train.” Titus rubbed his hands together.

“Why do you look so excited about this?” I asked with a frown.

“Because he lives for this type of thing,” Fen said. “And he thinks it will get him out of laundry duty.”

“Maeve needs me,” Titus said innocently.

“Don’t use me as an excuse.” I crossed my arms as Marcus chuckled. “What kind of training?”

Both Marcus and Fen looked to Titus, like he was calling the shots.

“Basic power manipulation, like you were doing at the beginning,” he said. “It seems to be pretty easy for you. You can build on that. Offense and attacking.”

I shifted uncomfortably.

“We’ll start without powers and work our way up. Try some different methods to see what works best.” He nodded to Fen.

“And you’ll work with me to deepen our connection,” Fen said, “and strengthen our Death Chord so you can draw more power from me.”

My stomach tightened at the thought of channeling more power.

“We’ll find a way to test it that feels safer,” he said.

All I could do was nod. I couldn’t find my voice.

“Marcus and I will work with you in the mornings,” Titus said, “And you can work with Fen in the afternoons.”

They all looked so satisfied, relieved even to have a plan. They didn’t seem to doubt that I could do this.

I didn’t have the heart to tell them I wasn’t as optimistic. “Great.” I forced a smile. No one needed to hear that I might very well be the end of the realms.

CHAPTER 26

The next two weeks I fell into a steady rhythm—training in the morning with Titus on offense, and then with him and the others on expanding what I could do with my powers. Then I spent time with Fen in the afternoons deepening our bond. One session with Titus was enough to make it clear that I didn’t have a problem attacking with my body.

“Ow,” Titus said, bending over and rubbing his stomach. “Your elbows are sharper than they look.”

“Sorry. You told me to hit you hard. I thought you’d be prepared.” I hovered next to him, unsure of what to do.

“I’m just messing with you. It’s a good thing, Maeve. The fact that you can do this tells us it’s not attacking that you’re afraid of.”

I grimaced. “I’m not that strong. There’s a limit to how much damage I can do to someone physically.”

“But your powers can do a lot of damage.” Titus nodded. “Are you conflicted about injuring or killing Death?”

I flinched, even though his question held no judgment, only curiosity. “No. I’m not thrilled that I have to, but she deserves it for everything she’s done.”

“But you don’t want to hurt me or any of the others.”

I shook my head. “There will always be a possibility that I might. No matter how careful we are.”

He thought for a moment. “We can work on aim, accuracy, and the strength of your attacks without using any of us as targets. A stationary target is not the same as a moving one that can think, but better for you to have some practice than none.”

His declaration didn’t make me feel better. They needed me to be strong, not hung up on a small thing like this. It was foolish to not practice with real targets, but I couldn’t. After the debacle with Bea, I had a hard time even calling up my power if anyone aside from Fen was in the room with me. Despite the fact that my ability to manipulate my powers in other ways was rapidly expanding, with every offensive training session my confidence that I would be able to take on Death fell a little further. It wouldn’t matter what I could create if I froze when the time came.

It didn’t help that my sessions with Fen left me confused and wanting. He took me all over his castle to heal whatever cracks had recently formed. He’d stand behind me, close enough for me to feel his breath on my neck and his heat at my back without touching me, and murmur instructions and encouragement in my ear while I pulled power from him, a little more every time, wrapping my light around his shadows, and pouring it into the wounds of the In Between. We talked about mundane things—things we liked and disliked, how the Tempter trainees were progressing.