Standing in a training room below the manor the next morning, one of the many they had down here, I was stuck wearing a damn black sports bra and these tiny black cotton shorts and tennis shoes with my short hair pulled up in a tiny ponytail. Just like Aria. Brann and London were only clad in loose, black cotton capris and tennis shoes. And while the three of them seemed to be used to the attire—they had told me it was identical to what they wore during their combat classes at King Hall—I was decidedly…not. Especially as the four of us were placed in front of the Rulers and Elders where they sat comfortably in their own work-out attire on wooden bleachers against a wall of the small sterile drab square room, the wall gray rock, the center of the floor covered in a neon blue mat, and that was it. Like a damn jail cell.
I crossed my arms over my chest, standing between London and Brann, feeling much tinier than I should, since I did know how to fight, but God, it was like every single Elder and Ruler were roaming their gazes over us in calculation, peering for any flaw they might find to use against us, and I swear, most of their gazes lingered on me the longest, some of them damn near staring blatantly. I knew I wasn’t…the average…size Mystical, but then, neither was Queen Ruckler. I tried to remember that, then belatedly, I remembered she also had a Shifter’s strength, making her deadly in a small package…whereas, I, without my weapons…was just a small package.
“Christ, we should have done this sooner,” King Collins muttered under his breath, running a hand over his face, again, glancing to me.
Elder Kincaid mumbled quietly, “I hope I’m not picked for her.” He shrugged when he glanced at King Collins glare. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
I kind of wanted him to get picked now. If he didn’t want to hurt me…I was game.
Queen Ruckler sighed heavily, and then stated loudly, “Alright, I’ll explain again. We’re drawing names out of a hat. Shifters and Vampires in one. Elementals and Mages in another. London and Caro, you’ll be facing a Shifter or a Vampire. Brann and Aria, you’ll be facing an Elemental or a Mage.” Blue eyes flicked to me, and I swear she almost appeared apprehensive, before she cleared her throat. “No rules here, anything goes, with the exception of killing blows.” She cleared her throat again, glancing at Queen Cooper. “You know, call Bindi. Tell her to get down here, just in case.”
I swayed a bit.
London gently nudged his bulging arm over, covertly steadying me.
Names were drawn. London got Elder Kincaid right off the bat—dammit. Brann got Elder Jacobs. Aria got Elder Fergus. And, I got…oh, God…King Zeller.
Hell, even he looked a bit nervous, asking Queen Cooper to call Bindi again, and telling her to hurry the fuck up. I went last in this first go round, as I was sure they were waiting on Bindi to arrive. It didn’t calm my nerves any either, as every single one of my Prodigy companions were taken down within five minutes each by the more trained Elders. And then, it was my turn…and Bindi still hadn’t fucking arrived, my Prodigy companions heaving with a smidge of drying blood on them from the sidelines.
So, I stood on the mat and moved as far away from my opponent as I could get, knowing he would come at me with speed I wouldn’t be able to see, and tried not to piss my pants, trying damn hard to pull that inner bitch from deep inside me, but hell it was hard, seeing spring green eyes stare at me across the mat, seeing the fact he wasn’t going to give any quarter, even if he knew he was going to hurt me.
I inhaled shakily, glancing to my King, smiling a bit since he seemed damn near frantic, his legs bouncing where he sat. And I let myself flare brightly, glowing brilliantly inside the room, and as Queen Ruckler started counting down from ten, I tried to remember frantically how those frantic sparking stars had sizzled off my skin back in the past. I wiggled my arms, staring at them, but time was too short when nothing happened, so I went with another trick they hadn’t seen, something I had learned from Sin’s maneuvering, and started flicking tiny stars in a hurried frenzy from my palms all about my frame in small domes, not time enough to make it large, blowing out hard, making them spin in circles about me so I could pluck them as I willed.
The countdown was done.
If he was stunned by the show I was producing, he didn’t show it, because I didn’t even see him move. Suddenly, there was a blast of dark and seductive Vampire power I had never felt before, slamming into me from behind, and I grunted heavily, muttering, “Oh, dear God.” My knees weakened, and I stumbled forward, hearing him shout a curse when he tried to break through my wall that moved with me. Another blast of power hit me, and I stumbled, placing a hand on the mat, hearing him purr in song, “Come out, come out, and play with me.”
I shook my head hard, keeping my eyes at mat level, not about to glance into his orbs and get trapped any worse than I was. I inhaled heavily and rolled, grabbing a fireball and chucking it at him. And God, I breathed free for a moment as he fell to his knees cursing up a blue streak from the fireball that had hit his leg. I hadn’t made them deadly, but it was aimed to debilitate. And I instantly started throwing more at him, his power level heady and quickly recovering. I needed him weak, otherwise nothing I did would work, his power overriding mine.
Two more hit him before he wised up and started moving in blurring speed around me, actually hovering off the damn floor, crooning on a quiet hiss, “Come out, little spirit. Come out and play.”
I swayed inside the swirling stars that were beginning to dim as a breeze of green started to infiltrate my mind, and before I fell I quickly floated into the cosmos, floating, searching, and praying I had enough power, never having attempted this before. I let the dimming stars floating around me lash out all at once…and one hit him.
My power caught him.
And from a distance as I fell to my knees protection vanished around me, I grabbed onto his black and red tether, hastily reaching for it a few feet away from me in the cosmos, gripped it and pulled it to my lips, whispering, “Be at peace.”
I only had a second, I knew that much as I came back to myself, King Zeller stopping in a breeze not even an inch from me, and I inhaled heavily, jerking upright, and slammed my palm against his chest as he swayed, eyes closed. I grunted heavily, thrusting a bolt of stars fire out of my palm just as he opened his eyes, fangs—long fucking fangs—bared, eyes glowing fiercely. He flew backward with the force, stars exploding like a shower between us, hitting the rock wall hard, slipping limply to the ground, but as he landed he was already shaking his head, waking and his Vampire growling deeply in his chest.
I slammed my hands together hastily, the ground shaking under us, settling him off balance, the room vibrating as I shouted, floating in the cosmos, pulling on the closest stars power, blinding white light erupting between my palms, growing, cascading in a shimmering globe, and I breathed into it at the last second for peace, my legs buckling under the power I held as he flew at me. Fangs pierced my throat as he gripped my head. I bowed backward, screaming as agony such as I had never known erupted in an intoxicating cascade, just as I smashed my hands together, the power I wielded exploding between us against our bodies.
The lights went out.
“Wha’z hap’nen?” I mumbled as someone shook my shoulders. “Mu’z sleep.”
“Caro! Wake up!” King Collins shouted loudly.
“Ezra!” Queen Ruckler’s voice was frantic next to me. “Open your damn eyes or I’m going to kill you myself!”
I rubbed my eyes, blinking them open in a hurry, hearing multiple shouts around me, and a vibration on the soft, but cold, ground I lay on. I stared up into the worried faces of multiple different Mysticals, Royals who hovered over me, but I tried focusing on King Collins face, smiling at him sloppily, asking, “What’s wrong?”
He blinked. “Are you alright?”
I laughed giddily, waving an absent hand from where I lay, patting his cheek. “It’s all good.”
Another blink. “Caro?”
“It’s like she’s drunk,” Elder Venclaire murmured, his head cocking oddly as he stared at my neck. “She’s still bleeding. Maybe he took too much.”
“Ezra!” Queen Ruckler shouted next to me.
“I think he’s alright,” Elder Zeller muttered, also, to the side of me. “His heartbeat and Core are operating like he’s sleeping.”