Chapter 15
Rani
“I still don’t see why I can’t keep practicing from right here,” I argued.
I was this close to screaming. This. Close. But no matter how hard Cova shot those eye daggers at me, I was not going down to that beach. He couldn’t fucking make me. I would kick and bite and claw to keep away from that scorching sand and the waves that reached so far upon it.
The ocean was dangerous. There would be no saving me when that undertow caught hold of my presence. I’d be sucked out faster than I could scream for help.
No. My training would continue on my terms, and I said the pool was good enough.
The fact that I was standing next to it was a damned miracle.
Mixed with a heavy dose of desensitization.
I spent the entire day in it yesterday—and by in it, I meant as far as the first step.
But I never would have been able to even go that far if it weren’t for what happened in the bathtub the day before, with Ezra.
Something changed between us. Something I wasn’t quite ready to take a closer look at, but I felt it every time he was near.
Like there was a small part of me ready to jump out of my chest and go after him if he wandered too far away.
Even now, I knew he was watching my latest outburst from the bay windows.
It was like a string of molten lava stretched between us, through air and glass and mortar, and no matter where I moved, it stayed attached to him.
It was why I could stand to be this close to the pool and why I was able to go ankle deep on the first step.
Ezra was here. Nothing would happen to me while he watched.
I felt it in my bones.
“You can’t very well talk to fish in a pool , Rani. They’re out there.” Cova flung his hand in the direction of the cliffs. “Must everything be a battle with you?”
The smile I gave him was anything but kind. It was razor sharp.
“If I have no intention of ever going near the ocean again, then I have no need to talk to Flounder and his friends.” My arms were crossed, hiding my clenched fists in an attempt to not mash them into his face.
“It’s not that simple.”
I threw my arms up. What was with this guy? He wasted the entire morning yesterday arguing with me about training by the pool, wasting what he called “precious time”. It made his attitude even worse when it took me an embarrassing amount of hours to actually learn what he wanted me to.
The whole day, he lectured me about how the saltwater of the ocean was easier to manipulate and how I was only making things harder for myself.
Or, that I wouldn’t have to strain my magick so hard if I actually submerged myself in the pool.
Apparently, working with a large body of water was difficult.
More difficult than the bathtub, that was for sure; my mini whirlpools did nothing to impress my stern tutor.
He actually rolled his eyes and mumbled something about child’s play.
The dick.
Now here we were, starting the day with the same formula. Goodie. Cova pinched the bridge of his nose, beyond exhausted with my arguments. Tough shit. There were plenty more in my arsenal.
I glared and pointed up at my window. “You got saltwater all the way up there, into the bathtub, just fine. Why can’t you just do the same with the pool and drop a few fish in?”
Sure, it was a lot more water, but at least then he wouldn’t have to fill my bathtub from so far away anymore.
“I am not some errand boy who performs tasks at your whim,” his tone was laced with more than annoyance this time.
It was threaded with hints of exhaustion, desperation, and pure fury all woven together.
“I am the heir of my people, now your people, and you will damn well listen when I give you an order.”
Wrong fucking thing to say. I took orders from no one.
Not the bastards who killed me. Not the being in the sea who made me what I was now.
And sure as hell not from an oversized troll doll who didn’t like being told no.
. To my right, the surface of the pool turned choppy.
A giant whirlpool, large enough to suck down, say, a blue-haired tutor, formed in the middle.
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Cova dared, his own hand rising, and a column of water lifted from the pool behind him. “Parlor tricks won’t protect you the next time the djinn come calling.”
Magick churned in my gut, ignited by my outrage.
It was easier to call upon now and easier to set to tasks.
I pushed the water to do what came natural, into what my instincts said the molecules could become or control.
More often than not, it wasn’t what my tutor wanted me to do.
Too damn bad. That whirlpool grew with a single thought and the pissed-off waves splashed over the sides.
Cova only shook his head in disappointment.
“It’s like you want them to take you again. I guess drowning isn’t such a worry this go round, but what will they do next time?”
Fuck. This. Guy.
The air around us grew heavy and thick with moisture.
It weighed on me, pushing against my skin like a signal; an answer to my silent call of rage.
I sensed the individual droplets, each sodden atom hovering around us, and wished for them to do more.
For them to hurt . To slice and stab and explode.
The back door to the house opened and rushed footsteps sped across the grass toward me. I didn’t need to turn to see who it was. My chest was burning, in complete contrast to how the air felt around me.
“Rani, don’t!” Ezra shouted.
But he got to me too late. Shards of ice appeared out of nowhere. Thousands, millions, of tiny slivers hung suspended around Cova, their little points resting against his skin. If he moved, if he swallowed, they would slice him to ribbons. His eyes widened, but he didn’t take back his words.
Ezra eased his way beside me in slow, calculated movements. He was in no danger from the ice, that was his domain, and I was pretty sure my magick wouldn’t hurt him. He wasn’t the one who pissed me off.
“You need to get control back,” he warned, his breath a pant near my ear. “Quickly.”
“Who says I’m not in control?”
He snorted, and some of my rage loosened. “You are a badass, a terrifying badass, and I will admit that every day for the rest of your life. But this wasn’t intentional, it was a loss of control, and if you don’t rein it in…”
A part of me didn’t want to listen. I was tired of my feelings and boundaries being overlooked because someone else thought they knew what was best for me.
Cova didn’t think I had it in me. He thought I was only good for parlor tricks and refused to listen when every single part of me fought against going near that beach.
If I could cut him, just a little, maybe he’d pay attention next time.
“ Rani ,” Ezra warned.
“Fucking fine ,” I grumbled, releasing the tenuous hold on my magick. No one needed to know how close I was to completely losing it.
Ezra definitely didn’t need to know; his head was big enough already without me telling him he was right. But from the arrogant look in his eye, he knew it anyway.
I spun around and stomped back toward the house without another word.
I slammed the refrigerator door harder than I needed to and leaned against the counter to sip my bottle of water.
Using magick was exhausting, and using it like that was enough to have me shaking where I stood.
I knew I’d have to spend another evening in the bathtub recharging, but this would do for now.
A warm pulse in the center of my chest warned me a second before the back door creaked open. Both Ezra and Cova stormed in, the latter having gone back to his usual emotionless state, despite the faint scratch marks along his neck.
I hid my smirk behind another sip of water. Perhaps he would finally stop underestimating me.
“So, training is moving right along, I see.” Ezra’s attempt at a joke fell flat in the tension-fueled silence.
Cova and I locked glares and held them, each daring the other to admit that things weren’t going according to plan. Their plan, obviously. Not mine. I was living each day as it came, exploring my magick in whatever way felt natural while still staying within my boundaries.
“Things are going great,” I said, with only a half-fake smile.
Right at the same time, Cova grumbled, “She’s impossible.”
I rolled my eyes. I may be stubborn, but I was probably the best damn student he’d ever had. How many new sirens did he know that could freeze the atmosphere like I did out there? By the shock in his eyes, I was willing to bet that it wasn’t many.
“She refuses to listen to anything I suggest—”
“That’s because it's not a suggestion , you tyrant.”
“—and I’m unsure how she expects to be trained if she won’t even try—”
“I am trying!”
“Bullshit!”
Ezra’s head whipped back and forth, his expression alternating between outright amusement and serious consideration of our bickering.
I didn’t see what the damn point was. It’s not like I was trying to go for the Olympic medal in being the best siren.
I only needed to learn how to access and control my magick so I could function like a normal person and go home.
Cova looked to Ezra, but pointed his finger at me. “She does the bare minimum, and sometimes not even that. I can’t get her into the ocean to save her life. Which is what I’m trying to do! ” He was glaring back at me now.
I ignored his outburst, and the obvious satisfaction it gave Ezra, and simply lifted a brow. I wasn’t going to explain my trauma to a man unwilling to even acknowledge it.