Bebbenel openly stared at me. “Where… where did you learn that? I thought you said you never took defensive magic.”
“Just because I never took it doesn’t mean I didn’t read up on it. I’m a teacher, remember? I not only teach, but I spend my life learning as well.” Those words were full of more bravado than I felt.
Master Argo’s reaction terrified me.
“You couldn’t have read that in a book.” He traded looks with Master Dorian.
A cruel, pleased look graced Master Dorian’s face. “No. She could not have. Not the way she executed it. Was that instinct, my dear?”
“Instinct.” I was desperate for space from him but couldn’t move. “He could have broken Tymon’s neck, and I’m not sorry I stopped him. Punish me if you will.”
Stuck in place, I raised my chin, determined not to back down from his glower.
Lunella chuckled behind me. “Spitfire. You all forget that we womenfolk are not to be trifled with. Good luck, Dorian. Argo, you’ve made an enemy of the very woman you wanted to break.”
I narrowed my eyes at the master in front of me. “Break me?”
“You’re nothing but a pup here,” Master Bebbenel said. “You need to be broken and reshaped to be useful, to understand what your place is.”
Inching my head around to Master Bebbenel, I stared at him. Hard. “Excuse me. You want to break me? I am not a horse nor am I a tool for your use. I am not conforming to some ideal you have for the Breaker of the Spine.”
Moving deliberately, I inched toward him. “If I am the Breaker of the Spine, I will break it on my terms, in my time, in my own good, goddamned way!”
Tymon threw his head back and laughed, and I could see Master Dorian and Lunella holding back a laugh, as well. I didn’t move from where I was—staring at Master Bebbenel.
“You’re too stubborn for your own good.”
“I will break the Spine as I see fit!”
Master Argo folded his arms. “You need to be broken.”
I glanced around at the men in the room. “You all want to break me?”
“I would train you,” Tymon said.
“As would I.” Master Dorian nodded.
Master Bebbenel stepped forward. “I would break you. I would take you down to your bones and rebuild you into something that might someday resemble a master. I would have you understand and obey the rules—”
“And you would destroy all that makes Kimber, Kimber,” Mistress Ophelia said.
All of us turned. Mistress Ophelia, rare as it was, spoke. A silent observer, a deep thinker most people at any gathering forgot was there.
But not this time.
The tall, lithe temple master rose from the chair to stand next to me. Her skin was like dark chocolate. Her gold and red caftan fluttered in the morning breeze, and the long rows of her braids ended in little metal beads that tinkled pleasantly as she moved.
“The Breaker will face challenges the likes of which none of us, save perhaps Master Dorian, have seen. And you, Bebbenel, Argo, would break her to conform to our way of thinking, our conventions for magic use, when what we are going to need is utterly unconventional.”
Her clear green eyes pierced them. “I expect that you will allow Tymon, Lunella, and Dorian to teach her. You wouldn’t consider her untrained talent an asset at all, while it is the very thing that makes her invaluable.”
She leveled a finger at the two of them, and even I was terrified of it. “You will let them alone. They will train her. And you will both make a trip to the cave, soon.”
Master Argo narrowed his eyes. “You are not the leader of this—”
“Shut up, Argo!” Mistress Ophelia’s eyes sparked in anger. “I am not the leader, you are correct. Neither are you. Apparently, though, I am the only one who can manage to think around here.”
Turning sharply, she assessed me from head to toe.
I shivered under her scrutiny.
“Move her in. Soon.”
The silent master marched out of the garden. Master Argo watched her back and then lifted a hand in a rude gesture.
The smack across his cheek was audible, and Ophelia’s glower from the doorway was clear. Argo turned red with anger instantly and stalked off, away from the training space.
Master Bebbenel shook his head and left as well.
Lunella let go of her laughter and doubled over, holding her stomach.
Seemingly unaffected, Master Dorian walked over to me and stared down. “Get used to the bruises, girl. There are a lot more of those to come.” He twisted his lips into a sadistic smile and left us there.
Tymon burst out laughing. “She smacked him!”
Lunella leaned a hand on Tymon’s shoulder, still chortling. “That was the best use of magic I have ever seen.”
I looked between the two remaining masters. “Are they always so angry with each other?”
Taking a moment to compose herself, Lunella flicked her hand, unconcerned. “They’ll fight it out between the sheets.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. “What?”
Tymon’s smile was indulgent. “The masters are quiet about their…interpersonal relationships. Argo and Ophelia are mates.”
I didn’t know I could be more shocked, but I was. “They’re mates?”
“Yes,” Lunella said, sitting on a bench nearby. She patted the seat next to her. I sat, and she set about fixing some of the injuries Dorian had given me.
Tymon stood in front of us. “Child, did you think we were all celibate?”
“I think most of S’Kir does.”
Carefully wiping the dried blood from my lip, Lunella giggled. “Oh, Kimber. No. We are far, far from celibate. Sometimes, I wonder how we ever get anything done for all the bedroom antics that go on. Take, for example, Tymon there.”
Tymon grinned.
Lunella rinsed the cloth and wiped more blood from my cheek. “Tymon there will be tied to his bed in the next twenty minutes, letting his mate take pleasure from him and giving it right back.”
She opened a small jar of salve and put it on a few of my wounds. “And about an hour after that, his mate will be the one tied up.”
Tymon waggled his eyebrows. I couldn’t stop my own giggle.
Walking around the bench, he wrapped his hand around Lunella’s neck and leaned her back. He kissed her, hard. Thoroughly.
Well.
“I’ll have the ropes ready, my love.”
Lunella purred, and Tymon winked at me as he left the garden.
There was no mistaking where her eyes strayed as he walked away.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing again, but when Lunella turned back, she was grinning.
“Your cuts will heal quickly with this salve, but you can join me in the spa later to help the bruises. The water in there is perfect for healing the body from strenuous exercise.”
Smirking, I cocked my head. “I can imagine you’ll need it as much as I do.”
Her grin matched mine. “You have no idea.”
A moment passed, and she sobered, very much the master again. “Danai’s funeral is in two more days. I know you don’t want to go…”
A heavy sigh escaped me. “The Breaker should be there. The person who caused her death should have the decency to show her face.”
“No, Kimber. You didn’t cause her death. The temple was attacked. There was nothing you did to cause that.”
I tried to protest, but she cut me off with a twitch of her finger.
“No. They would have attacked us even if you weren’t there. Go to be there for Danai and for your own heart. Not because you feel like it’s your fault. If you feel that way, stay home.”
For just a moment, I thought about staying away.
I shook my head. “No. For Mistress Danai, I will be there.”
Chapter Two
Kimber
I shivered in the cavern, even though it wasn’t the least bit cold. My terror chilled me to the bone.
Desperate to leave, the same something that had called me there so many weeks ago held me in place.
There was so much turbulence flying through the magic in the cave. It felt a bit like I was in the middle of a stampede of spooked horses. It wreaked havoc on my nerves.
Pacing from wall to wall, all I wanted was to leave.
And find Elex. He was hurt, and I couldn’t bear that.