Say the Word
The weeks turned into two months after I decided to stay and give the rebellion and this cause my all.
I was no longer in private lessons with Garrick and Bramick and Kaelor—thankfully, when it came to the latter—I had finally joined group sessions.
I did combat magic with the other fire elementals led by Nythera, a female with raven hair that reflected slightly red in the sun.
She was an absolute genius with fire, making it move and transform more like water than the temperamental element this group sought to control.
The whole base now knew, too, of the “golden touched crow that was always with Naci”. Our bond had become common knowledge, even a thing of awe for some. It made me smile anytime anyone asked about it.
I still strength trained each morning with Garrick, but now I ran, weight lifted, sweat and pushed to exhaustion with other soldiers.
I found quickly that the more weight I could lift, the better I felt.
Over the weeks, the transformation of my muscles impressed even Aerie, and she was lean and strong for such a small female.
Then there was physical combat and defense with a squadron of other army soldiers led by Kellan.
These sessions were quickly becoming my favorite.
Who didn’t love kicking ass and taking names, especially among those that had openly stared, criticized, questioned, and threatened me?
I’d have been lying if I said I didn’t enjoy that part.
I’d grown somewhat comfortable with the basics of handling a sword and throwing daggers, but I was downright awful with a bow.
But as bad as I was with a bow, I was equally good at fighting with no weapons at all. I was fast, nimble, and dead accurate with a fist.
Noxie always watched, encouraging me and insulting those that he—we—didn’t like.
Drayce had finally let me into the strategy meetings he held with the captains and order leaders about a month ago. This was mostly because of my insistence, but the group felt my unique abilities made me an asset.
I shuddered every time they referred to me as a “weapon.” It had also become common knowledge that I could see more of glythyrs than just their existence.
After helping find a horse-sized hole in our wards and a nearly dead glythyr that was supposed to prevent animals other than our Veythryn and messenger birds from entering the wards, they felt like I was useful.
I did not, however, like being seen and referred to as a tool. I’d done that for Caedryn, and I’d never do it again.
We also had near-daily “meetings” at Drayce’s house with Aerie and Bramick, laughing, colluding, and discussing the future of the rebellion over home-cooked dinners and wine. Occasionally, Kellan would join too—who knew he was such a party animal when he shed the all-work demeanor.
We did this when they weren’t all away on missions, that is. I had yet to be allowed to join.
Sevrin and I had been focusing on the shadow dampener daily and were getting close. The glythyr I was working on was evolving every day, but required extensive raw and shadow magic from me, often leaving me exhausted and depleted.
Two weeks ago, Drayce had handed me the magic-blocking ring I’d requested from the blacksmith—Brennor, I’d finally learned, was his name. I’d nearly forgotten about it since I decided to stay. Maybe he had been staying away from me after his apprentice was taken care of…
Like Drayce all those years ago, I finally had a real purpose. It was fitting that my mother had given him his, and he had given me mine.
Since we had company nearly every night he was on base, the tension had continued to build, but nothing had happened between Drayce and me. I caught the looks he gave me sometimes, the flirty remarks, or the sultry tone, but still, he held himself back and retreated to the couch each night.
I’d spent exactly one day with each of the other orders, and while I didn’t want to admit it at first, I knew I belonged with the Arcanum order.
It turned out I was one of only a couple of Umbrathren at the base.
But we quickly learned that my place among the scholars who studied magic—the unnatural, the raw, the unknowable—was just natural.
Each of the Arcanums gave me the same sense of unease that Sevrin had, but I’d learned to tolerate their…
offness in favor of learning from them. There were only two mortals in our order, as most that didn’t have umbra magic avoided the place completely.
The one place I’d made no progress was deciphering other people’s glythyrs. We’d tried and tried and tried again in various ways, but I still couldn’t see anything but colors and pulses in each glythyr.
The open and outward hatred toward me had finally mostly stopped.
Sure, I still got uneasy looks sometimes, but I hadn’t been attacked outside of sparring sessions since the night I was jumped all those weeks ago.
I wore the magic-blocking ring on a chain around my neck at all times but had yet to need it.
It seemed the shadow beast in my heart was placated for the time being.
Maybe the explosions had been enough to satisfy it for a while. But I couldn’t bank on that for long.
As the weather grew warmer for spring, the smell of blooming wildflowers wafted in on the breeze during a particularly surprising physical combat session where we fought hand to hand.
Drayce showed up. That never happened.
He watched from afar at first, walking the perimeter of the group surrounding the dirt ring, drawing glances as he passed from the twenty-something group of fae and mortals alike.
I avoided catching his eye at all. It felt weird to be friendly out in the open. It was different from our private evenings with Bramick, Aerie, and Kellan.
The sparring pair ended their match when the larger male tapped out after the smaller pinned him to the ground, arm bent behind his back.
Kellan pointed out mistakes and missed opportunities as they stood, slapping each other on the back and then retreating into the crowd. Before Kellan could call another pair into the ring, Drayce stepped in, and whispers started.
He was up to something. I just knew it.
“Up for a fight, sir?” Kellan asked as Drayce just looked around at the group.
Then his eyes found me. Surely, he wasn’t about to ask me to fight him…
“Two best fighters in the ring,” he finally said.
It was Kellan’s turn to look around. “That would be Torin and Naci.”
I hadn’t fought Torin yet, but I’d watched him enough to know his strengths and weaknesses. He was a strong male and massive compared to me, and his punches were brutal.
He also despised me. Openly. He wasn’t one to pull his punches, definitely not for me, female or not.
We both stepped in, Drayce’s eyes on me as he backed to the edge of the ring, hands behind his back. Torin gave me a wicked grin, putting his irritating dimples on full display.
“Scared, Naci?” Torin asked, his deep voice barely above a whisper.
“Of breaking a nail? Maybe. Of you? Not at all.”
I caught Drayce’s smirk out of the corner of my eye before he said, “You know the rules. On my go.”
The rules of combat here were simple: no magic, no whining, no killing. Match ends when someone taps out.
I’d never tapped out.
Drayce hadn’t even said “go” before Torin was swinging at my face. I leaned back to dodge, but the foul play had been unexpected. Before I even had my hands up, he grazed my chin, the hit hard enough to snap my head to the side.
“Torin!” Drayce yelled.
“Sorry, sir, thought you said go.”
Motherfucker.
I put my hands up and started bouncing on my toes in my fighting stance as he continued to smile and taunt me.
We circled each other for a minute, then he lunged, arms open, intending to wrap me up and take me to the ground.
I’d been waiting for this. He was predictable. I sidestepped toward my right, using both hands to shove his arm away from me and drive my knee into his stomach, using his momentum against him. The hit stole his breath and his smile, but he quickly righted himself.
The next time he came at me, he kept one hand up to guard his stomach while the other swung at the left side of my head. I ducked under and landed a jab to his exposed ribs, earning me a grunt.
This was too easy.
“Too soft, Corren. You won’t take him down with dainty punches,” Drayce said.
Did he just call my punches dainty?
I turned to look at him, outraged, and Torin’s fist connected with my cheek, knocking me to the ground and sending stars across my vision.
“You got distracted, Corren. Can’t lose focus,” Drayce chimed in again.
Was he serious? He caused the distraction that resulted in the hit!
I got up, rubbing my tender cheek, and resumed my fighting stance, jaw clenched.
Torin’s smile was back.
This time I came at him. He blocked the first punch I threw at his head, then the second at his stomach, but he wasn’t expecting the uppercut that followed and connected underneath his chin, knocking his head back and making him stumble.
I looked at Drayce with a smug grin.
“Didn’t finish the job, Corren. Missed opportunity.”
I dropped my smile. He was more infuriating than the fight itself.
Torin was quickly pursuing me again. I ducked under his first punch, and he pivoted, landing a punch on my already-bruised cheek.
“Too predictable, Corren!”
“Fine!” I yelled through the pain. My shadows were stirring, adding a new distraction to the mix. I wanted to throttle both these males with my shadows, but I knew better than that.
Instead, I ran at Torin, drawing a block from him at my fake punch. I kicked the inside thigh of his front leg, then planted my foot and spun in closer, landing an elbow to his nose and a punch to his gut before spinning back away.
But not before he punched me square in the middle of my spine, sending me flying forward.
“Too slow, Corren, come on!”
With a scream of fury, I ran at Drayce. If he wouldn’t shut the fuck up, I was going to shut him the fuck up.
I saw the shock on his face as my bloodied knuckles met his cheek.