Chapter 37 #3
A smile tugs at my lips. The result isn’t what I intended, but it’s better than it has been in the past.
Stefan’s only response is a grunt. ‘If you can’t form an adequate shield, let’s try weapons. Spears.’ He creates one and throws it into the ice just to Kyor’s left.
‘Shame you missed,’ Kyor taunts.
‘I never miss,’ the Issen snaps back.
I dig deep and try to create my own spear of ice. I quickly discover that what I’ve got today is a lot of force and no finesse. Do I create spears? Yes. A whole forest of them thrusting up from the ground like a deadly trap at the bottom of a pit.
Sadly, it feels as if the only prey here is me.
‘This is a waste of both our time.’ Stefan sighs. ‘Control, Princess. That is what we need. Look, I heard you made the wolf after meditating. So get yourself into that same state of mind.’
‘I was meditating for ages before I made that sculpture,’ I snap, stung by his constant disapproval.
The man looks down his nose at me so often, it must be his favourite feature.
‘It’s not like I’m going to be able to do that every time.
It’s not practical to grab twenty minutes’ meditation and fill my body with light before I actually have to do some magic. ’
‘Fill your body with light?’ Stefan questions, appearing genuinely intrigued.
I shake my head. ‘Figuratively speaking. It doesn’t matter.’
‘It does. Tell me. The light. Where was it filling? Here?’ He places a hand on my chest. ‘Or here?’ He places another on his abdomen.
‘Fucking hell!’ The static that hits him is so strong that even I can feel it as he jumps back and spins around to face Kyor. ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’
‘What the fuck is wrong with me is that one minute you’re making Rose feel like shit, and the next second you’re trying to grope her.’
Stefan scoffs. ‘I’m trying to teach her.’
‘The fuck you are.’
Stefan’s muscles turn taut as he strides towards Kyor. ‘If you can’t keep your hands and your powers to yourself, then you coming to these training sessions is going to need a serious rethink.’
‘I’d like to see you stop me,’ Kyor replies.
‘Would you really?’
Within a heartbeat, two massive swords appear in Stefan’s hands as a dark, snow-laden cloud swells above us.
‘Kyor, please, you know I can handle myself.’
‘I’m well aware of that, Thorn. But our little ice wielder seems to have a problem remembering that he needs a little thing called consent before he puts his hands on someone.’
Stefan snarls. ‘What I have a problem with is you. And perhaps if you were a little more secure in your relationship—’
Mirroring the earlier spear throw, Kyor’s lightning bolt lands barely an inch from Stefan’s feet, but he doesn’t flinch, almost as if he was expecting it.
Goading Kyor into it, a small voice says in my head.
‘Kyor! That’s enough,’ I bark. But he’s not even looking at me. That steel in his gaze, the absolute fury… I remember seeing it at the beginning of this trip, when he and Ruben were beating each other to a pulp. ‘Both of you need to stop this now!’
‘I’m just standing here, Princess, waiting for Korvane junior to leave.’
Of all the insults Stefan could fire at Kyor, I know that one’s going to strike the hardest, which means his lightning might not miss this time. As I watch the fury consume Kyor’s expression, I draw on my own magic, trying to use it to keep them apart somehow.
The effect is instant. As Kyor’s thunder rattles above us, ice erupts from the ground beneath us, and ten-foot-high spears of ice encircle the men.
Holy hell. I’ve put them in cages! That’s one way to keep them apart, I guess.
‘Well this is new,’ Stefan says from within his newly appeared cell. He reaches out and kicks the spear, but it doesn’t shift an inch. ‘Better, much better. Now bring them down.’
I did it before, with the remnants of the chandelier, but they were smaller pieces – does that make a difference?
Before I start, I take the time to call Ruben’s light to my body, inching its way up me until I feel steady, calm. I do the three breaths, just like Stefan taught me, and I visualise the spears receding into the ice, then dissolving into flakes, and finally into vapour.
I pull on the cold magic within me as I do so, and when I open my eyes, I’m delighted to see the last vestiges of the spears melting away.
‘Better,’ Stefan grunts again.
‘I did it!’ I run to Kyor and leap into his arms, wrapping my legs around him as I crow in delight at my success.
His blues dance with pride and amusement. ‘Never doubted you, Thorn.’
No, I think, he never has. I press my lips to his.
He eventually pulls back and beams at me before setting me on the ground and lacing his fingers through mine. I stifle a wince as the black lace marks throb at his touch, but I say nothing.
‘Now.’ Kyor turns his attention to Stefan. ‘I’d say that’s enough training for one morning. You’re done.’
There’s something about the way he says those last words that causes a nervous shudder to ripple down my spine.
Because if I can’t complete the Veil soon, I truly am.