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With a frustrated growl, she abandoned the mirror and marched up the stairs.

The mezzanine level sprawled into a variety of different training areas. There was a forest climbing wall, cabinets packed with wands and other magical weapons, also a platform for dueling, all arranged beneath a vaulted glass canopy speckled with morning rain.

Talya was in the far corner, surrounded by weights and other strange metal contraptions. A low, thumping growl vibrated up through the floor.

“Talya!”

No answer.

Aimee stormed over and snarled, “Hey!”

That got her attention. Talya clicked a remote, cutting the volume to a dull hum. She stood inside a kind of metal cage—four vertical steel posts framing a hanging metal bar, already half-loaded with weights.

Aimee had avoided this section of the training hall so far. She stopped outside the perimeter, not wanting to stub her toe on any of the array of unfamiliar machinery scattered about.Every surface flickered with crystals. She had no idea what any of it did.

“What?” Talya asked.

“What?” Aimee echoed, incredulous. “What is that?!” She waved at the speakers mounted to the ceiling. Even muted, the sound coming out of them was pure aggression.

Talya grinned. “It’s rock n roll. Human music.”

Well. That explained why the words were all gibberish. And the thumping, rabid bass line. Aimee had suffered through her mother’s records as a child. She wasn’t a fan.

“Can you turn it down?” she asked with the same sweetness she used on those old biddies at court.

Talya’s grin widened. “Say, please.”

Aimee stared, eyes simmering. “Please,” she said flatly.

“No.” Talya clicked the remote.

The music screeched—a wailing guitar riff so loud it rattled her molars. Aimee frantically motioned to turn it back down, shrieking over the din, “What is wrong with your ears?!”

Fey had sensitive hearing. Shadow mages were especially susceptible to high-pitched, unpleasant sounds. As were water mages whose sanity was barely holding on by a thread.

“Turn it off, Talya! TALYA!”

With an irritated sigh, Talya clicked the remote again.

The silencerang.

Aimee pressed her fingers to her temples. “I thought you were supposed to have Earthlung. Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, resting?”

Talya raised the mouthpiece of the airbalm to her lips. A soft click. A flash of violet. She inhaled, slow and steady.

“It’s been two days,” she said, a thin wisp of medicine curling from her lips. “I’m rested.”

Aimee resisted the urge to throw a water whip at her stupid, smug face. “Well, can you take your miraculous recovery elsewhere? Please?”

Talya didn’t move. “Aimee, I don’t know how to explain this to you, but this is my time.”

No.

No, thisnuisancedidn’t understand.

Aimee folded her arms. “Listen here, you—” She was going to sayspiteful bitch,but caught herself. “—you.”

Nice save.