CHAPTER NINETEEN
CAPTAIN BATSIL IS WAITING IN the training yard after breakfast. She stands in the center of the yard with her arms crossed against her chest and a stern expression I’ve come to learn is just her face.
Her blonde hair is how it always was, slicked back into a tight bun, which gives me a headache from just looking at, while her sky-blue eyes are narrowed on me.
“It seems you’ve been keeping secrets, Solace—or should I say, Princess Pendroko,” she states as myself, Mel and Lennox draw near.
A quiet, exasperated sigh leaves me. “I go by Ravina Solace,” I state simply.
She shrugs. “I will address you by your birth-given name. Hiding behind this meager creature is pointless now. Rumors have spread about a royal still being alive, hidden somewhere among the citizens of your realm. It’s created a sort of hope.
” Her lip twitches, which I think might have been almost a smirk.
I shake my head. “I’m not that innocent princess any longer. Not after what I was forced to endure. Please respect that.”
She cocks her head to the side like she’s considering that.
“You’re right. You’re not the same as you were.
You’re a Queen in the making, and your realm is tearing itself apart while you hide out here.
Don’t worry, now that I know who you are and what you’re capable of, we will get you up to par.
No more pretending to be weaker than you are.
Not while I’m instructing you. We need a strong leader, and Lord Aemon has brought me on to make sure that happens. ”
“Why you, though? I thought you worked for Phixmery? For the Lords,” Lennox adds, mimicking her pose.
She strikes her ring against her belt and summons flames with what I can only describe as a devious grin. “Land a hit on me, and I’ll tell you. Until then, I think I’ll keep my secrets.”
I glance at Melissandre and Lennox, who in turn summon their own respective elements. Three on one? We have this.
Mel’s white-and-green hair blows in the wind as she pulls air in, throwing the blast at our instructor, but Batsil with barely a flick of her wrist pulls the blast in towards her before throwing it back, and none too gently either. Mel goes flying back and lands on her back with an oomph.
Air. Captain Batsil’s elements are air and fire.
Lennox realizes this too and tries to manipulate the fire in her own hand, but when he realizes he can’t, he reaches for the barrels of water that have been strategically placed around the yard, pulling enough to drown her in.
The water covers her, creating a sphere with her at the center.
But after a moment, the clear liquid explodes, drenching us, yet somehow, Batsil is still completely dry.
We do not have this.
“Is that seriously all you’ve got? You’ve been here for a month and not even the smallest amount of improvement? Pathetic,” she hisses. “If you expect to save your citizens then you’re going to need to get a lot better than this.”
I try not to let her words get to me but she’s right. Pushing deep inside the wells of my magick, I drop to the ground, convincing the earth to shift under her feet, throwing her off balance before tossing a blast of air and then water at her.
Batsil catches her balance and too easily swats my attack away.
“You’re thinking too simply. You each have two or more elements.
We will be working on combining them and learning to work off each other’s strengths.
You won’t be leaving this yard until I’m satisfied with today’s progress. Prepare yourselves.”
IF I THOUGHT she was brutal before, she must have been holding back at the academy. That female is ruthless and powerful. I can see why Aemon brought her in to train us, but none of us landed a hit so she wouldn’t tell us why she switched sides. I suppose I can always ask him myself.
Mel, Lennox and I all lie on the dirt of the training field panting and exhausted.
“Can you feel your limbs?” Mel groans dramatically. “I’m not sure if I have legs or arms anymore.”
Lennox chuckles and then groans. “I think I’d rather do physical training all day then whatever that was. She blocked everything. Everything. Like it was nothing more than a fledgling’s game.”
I push myself up, grimacing. “She’s powerful, that’s for sure. Maybe with her training us, we will actually have a chance at this.”
Like all her pain was forgotten, Mel jolts upright, staring at me with something akin to hope. “No running? I mean we will follow you, but you’re going to help stop the war? Take back your throne?”
“I’ve been thinking about it since my memories were recovered.
The promise I thought I was supposed to keep was a lie.
I have this sense of duty, and I remember my parents ruling with love and fairness.
Right now there’s none of that. I’ve lived it.
I’ve seen how the lower fae can be treated and I think even before my memories returned I was leaning towards helping to put a stop to how things have become.
But I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready to rule,” I admit.
“My earliest memories were of myself sheltered and raised in a castle, but the ones that stuck with me were the things I had to do to survive when it was just Nero and I.”
Nero takes that moment to swoop in from wherever he’s been. He doesn’t say anything but sends me comfort down our bond, as does Vasari.
“I want to continue what my mother started, with the treatment of the lesser fae. I’m just not sure I can do this alone, or even if I can rule.”
Mel takes my hand, making both of us groan and laugh. “You have us, Ember and Roz. Plus you also have your mates.” She wiggles her brows. “Not to mention you have a scary ass dragon queen bonded to you.”
Nero pecks her. “She also has me, you daft female.”
She jerks her hand away and side-eyes him warily. “And you definitely have Nero, who may be the scariest creature known to fae-kind.”
I smother my laugh as her flattery makes him preen and he struts around between the three of us.
Lennox cuts into our joking. “How is training coming with Nero?”
Nero hops onto my outstretched hand. “Can we show them?” he begs, bobbing his body with excitement.
We have been working on connecting to each other so we can see through each other’s eyes.
The only thing is that when I’m in that state, my body is left vulnerable until I let go, which leaves me disoriented for a few moments.
It would be great for scouting, as long as someone was watching over me so I wouldn’t get hurt.
Laughing at Nero’s antics I nod. “Here, I’ll show you. Just, if someone else is coming, tap on my shoulder and I’ll come back.”
Melissandre claps excitedly and glances between my familiar and me while Lennox waits eagerly. “Don’t worry, we won’t let anything happen to you. You have our word,” he states seriously.
With a deep breath, I place my hands on my knees and search for the first bond, my oldest bond. When I find it, I let my consciousness drift down it, pushing past the panic-inducing dropping feeling that happens. When I open my eyes, I see what Nero does.
It’s disorienting at first. Colors explode into sight, colors I didn’t even know existed; plus my range of vision is much wider. It’s like I’m seeing the realm for the very first time. We’ve mostly stayed in my room at night while we got the hang of this, but during the day… It’s stunning.
Nero peers up at me and I nearly laugh, seeing my mouth is gaping open, before transforming into a smile.
“This is definitely strange,” I hear myself say through Nero’s ears.
Lennox leans closer to me, well to where my body sits. “Your eyes are pure black. The whites are gone and everything.”
“If he flies around the castle, would you still see what he does?” Mel asks, glancing between Nero and me like she’s not sure who she should be speaking to.
“Oh! Please tell me that I can take you for a flight? The oversized reptile always gets to take you.”
“If you don’t stop calling me that, I’ll roast your little bird brain and we can find her a new familiar. Something less annoying perhaps, like a chicken,” Vasari adds. I can feel her intrigued by what we’re doing.
“But chickens are much more annoying with all their clucking and egg-laying,” Nero states.
I can practically smell the smoke puffing from Vasari’s nostrils. “Precisely.”
He gasps in horror, so I butt in before they start going at it again. “Let’s go for a short one? I’m not comfortable staying like this for too long yet,” I tell him. Plus this would be the first time I’m leaving my body out of sight.
He ruffles his feathers, still annoyed, but he expands his wings and it feels like it’s almost my own wings that are lifting us into the air.
He circles around above where we are sitting and I see everything.
No matter how high he flies, I can see creatures moving about in the nearby trees, or fae moving about inside the castle through the windows as they go about their duties.
I can see why Nero enjoys staying at heights.
He takes me around the castle a few times before I feel this odd sensation of being tapped on the arm, even though I have no fae limbs in this form.
In a panic, I pull out of Nero’s mind faster than I should. I blink and my sight is back to normal, but nausea claws up my throat as everything spins.
“I’m so sorry, Rav. Lennox thought it might be a good idea if we tested that you could actually feel us, because it didn’t seem like you could hear anything we were saying once Nero took off.”
I roll onto my side and block out the sun that’s shining down on my face.
“It’s okay. Just a note to future me, be prepared with something to puke in.
I’ve never pulled away from our connection so quickly or at a distance.
Usually it’s not this bad, but we should practice that sometime and see if coming back slower would help. ”
Lennox nods thoughtfully. “That wouldn’t be good if we were under attack. Promise me you’ll never practice this alone.”
“The only time I’ve done it is in my room before bed.”
Mel shakes her head. “Len is right. Until you can figure out a way to be more aware of your surroundings while you’re with Nero, you need someone around you can trust to keep you safe.”
“Maybe I can make a schedule with you and the others. I need to train every ability I have, and I need to be more than just efficient at it. Is that okay? Would you be willing to help?” I ask nervously.
We may have grown close, but a part of me still can’t believe that they left everything behind to follow me here, to help me in whatever the fates have planned for me.
“Of course!” Mel grins as Lennox nods his head. “Let’s go find the others. I think Ember has been training with the Vathian warriors that have been hanging around, and if we find her we will most likely find Roz.
Watching those two is how they must feel watching my mates and I. It’s clear they have feelings for each other, but Ember hasn’t given an inch no matter how much Rozen follows her around like a puppy.
As we stagger to our feet, still sore from our torture session with Batsil, Nero comes flying in like an arrow. “Carriage incoming. I think Lady Zorn is finally back from wherever she disappeared to.”