I opened my mouth, closed it.
She smiled at me, a large, gumless grin. “Now go and prepare for your party, and no more back talk.” She browsed through Ula’s books again, a beatific expression on her face. “Didn’t I tell Mykaela that she would be such an asset to the Valerian?” she asked Ula, and I was almost sure she believed her own words.
? ? ?
It was surprising to find how easily things fell into patterns, how a schedule that had at first overwhelmed me could become a matter of course in just a few weeks. I worried that I would be too exhausted to manage, but I wound up adjusting better than I had thought.
Life also had a way of balancing out. I now met with Instructor Kaa only four times a month for my meditation class. Some of my other lessons had also been scaled back. I still had singing lessons once a week to keep my voice from getting rusty. I was expected to do my own research when it came to the guests I met in the evenings but no longer needed history lessons. My dance classes and fight training remained as grueling as ever, but cutting back on the other lessons helped me focus on them better. I was approaching second tier in combat, and everyone seemed happy at how things were progressing.
Lady Mykaela tired easily, and when she couldn’t teach me as often as she wanted when it came to my rune lessons, Instructor Hami took over. While she couldn’t draw the Dark, she had mentored enough Dark asha to know enough to guide me, and her sense of magic was strong enough that she could pinpoint any mistakes I made.
I wasn’t allowed to take part in Runic exhibitions with the other asha because I couldn’t wield elemental runes, but I could now participate in standard combat sessions with those more skilled than I. My first opponent was a lithe young girl named Tella, who was as deadly as she was pretty. Five seconds into my fight, I found myself knocked to the ground by a well-placed kick that left me stunned for several minutes. I never even saw her move.
“Always strive to do the unexpected,” she told me kindly, extending a hand out to me to help me up.
“I think it’s a bit difficult for me to be unexpectedly half a foot shorter, weigh no more than ninety pounds, and have a mean right sweep,” I said, and she laughed.
Tella was first tier as it turned out and, despite her youthful good looks, also ten years my senior. I could beat most of my other fellow combatants, but I knew almost as soon as my name and hers were paired up that I was in for a hard time. Instructor Hami knew this; she called our names together frequently.
I had the same trouble with Kalen. I received more bruises from him than from all other opponents put together, including Tella, but he still never once offered any word of encouragement and only pointed out my mistakes. He never made small talk and left as soon as our sparring had finished, always leaving me feeling both irritated and useless.
There was one match where I caught him off guard. I was tired and cranky after nearly an hour of nonstop sparring, but he was unrelenting. “Is this the best you can do?” He taunted, delivering a swift blow to my shins, forcing me down on one knee. “You’re not good enough, Tea. You won’t be good enough. You’re only going to get the prince killed.”
He’d never used the prince to insult me before, and that triggered a sudden spurt of rage and, with it, a rush of energy. I ducked to avoid the wooden blade about to strike my shoulders, dove to my left, and threw my sword at him. He was quick enough to deflect the blow but didn’t expect me to tackle him about the knees, sending us both to the floor.
I rolled to my left and scrambled to my feet. He did the same. From across the bamboo mat, we stared at each other.
“I won’t,” I said once I had recovered my breath. “I’ll be good enough.”
He looked at me, and for a moment, I thought he might say something. But he only gestured at me to begin again, and the fight resumed like it had never stopped.
Fox came to watch and often competed in his own matches against other asha and also against a few soldiers of Empress Alyx’s army. I was amazed at his skill, at how quickly he could take down his opponents.
“I need to be strong enough to protect you,” Fox said simply after I had pointed this out. “I knew you weren’t going to like me fighting, especially on your behalf. That’s why I didn’t tell you I joined the army. It’s not just about me owing you my life. It’s about being a brother. You’re not going to cry, are you? Your eyes are getting misty.”
“Shut up,” I said and hugged him. “Your match’s starting. Go beat the crap out of that other guy.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I laughed, ignoring the guilt bubbling up. I was keeping secrets from Fox. And though I knew it was for his best interests, I didn’t like it one bit.
? ? ?
“I promised you information, didn’t I? Let me run through my list. There’s been a nasty spate of sleeping spells in Tresea—it’s gotten hold of a few of the nobility, so I assume it’s not natural, politicking being a cutthroat business everywhere. But that’s not something you’d be interested in, I suppose. There have been sightings of the azi at the Odalian border. The man I got that information from claimed he’d seen it rise from the lake. Hightailed it out of there as fast as he could, considering he’s eighty if he’s a day and stricken with gout.”
We were at one of the smaller rooms of the Snow Pyre, and the quiet Darkness lodged within my head stirred with discomfort. “Is there any way he was mistaken?”
The Heartforger glared at me. “I can read heartsglass better than you.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that the Deathseekers have been looking all over for it—”
The forger cackled. “The average Odalian won’t talk to authority, much less Deathseekers. They’re just as much afraid of them as they are of the azi. Not one for asha and magic, the typical Odalian. Got too many things to hide themselves. More than likely you won’t be believed. Your old asha are as stubborn as they come, and they will never believe that you know better than they do. They dislike me even more to give credence to any news I bring. But your three-headed dragon’s hiding in Lake Strypnyk in Odalia. I’d stake my reputation on it.”
I planned my escape that night; in my quest to listen to her tale, I had neglected to realize my own danger. A lifetime of stories was not enough payment for what I knew she would ask me to witness, for the only reason she would raise such monsters from their graves stood out to me as plain as the sky was dark.