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It helped that there was another bright light in the darkness thanks to her friends. And that was because something had happened with Jordan early on in the week. Alex wasn’t surewhat, exactly, but the shadows under his eyes were fading, his overzealous appetite had returned and, most notably, his smiles weren’t as fake anymore. It was as if a weight had been lifted from him, like he’d found some inner peace to act as a balm against what he’d been through.

That balmmayhave been in the form of a fiery red-headed princess, because the one thing Alex did know was that Jordan and D.C. had finally admitted their feelings for each other—toeach other. The two of them were now joined at the hip—and the lips, more often than Bear and Alex cared to witness. A hint of pain still swirled in Jordan’s eyes when Alex looked at him sometimes, usually when he didn’t know anyone was watching, but for the most part, it seemed as if he had begun to recover from his time with Aven, inasmuch as he could.

Alex had no doubt that D.C.’s continued devotion was largely responsible for the change in him, for helping him step out of the darkness he’d been so determined to make them all think didn’t exist. It helped Alex feel less guilty that her time and attention were divided elsewhere, knowing that her friends were there for each other just as much as they were for her.

The second reason she was able to maintain her sanity was because of her daily training with Niyx. While his sessions were more ruthless than ever before, every morning when he hauled her out of bed and whisked her up to the top of Mount Paedris was another morning where she increased in strength and skill—which meant one more notch of confidence in her ability to go up against Aven and his Claimed warriors when the time came.

Noticeable improvement or not, Alex still had to rely on a steady supply oflaendrato survive their workouts, as well as to provide the energy she needed to get through a full day of classes afterwards. But ingesting the sweet flower was hardly a sacrifice given how pleasant it tasted and how good she felt afterwards. That, and having her own personal stockpile meant she spent less time in the Med Ward with Fletcher after some of her more injury-prone classes, something for which both she and the doctor were grateful.

The third and final reason she was able to stay relatively sound of mind was due to her nightly training with Athora and the fact that he claimed she was already making discernible progress.

She had feared after their first two encounters that his continued tasks would all be just as extreme and time-consuming as the lake and air-platform tests, but that wasn’t the case. The challenges he set her were varied and, to Alex’s thinking, utterly bizarre, but she stuck by his one rule and didn’t question him.

She didn’t question him when he had her stand on one leg with a banana resting on her head for as long as she could hold her balance, and then made her repeat the task but while hopping.

She didn’t question him when he had her roll what had to have been at least a hundred balls of yarn, before unrolling them and then re-rolling them once again.

She didn’t question him when she had to spend hours putting together a jigsaw puzzle where the seemingly unending pieces were all completely blank with no distinctive marks whatsoever.

And she didn’t question him when he gave her a book and told her to read aloud, but ordered that she do so by shifting the letters of each word to be spelled backwards.Thathad been an arduous task, and by the end Alex had been very tempted to mumble, “Ereht dah retteb eb a tniop ot lla siht, uoy suoiretsym, ylkcirp nam.”

Eccentricities aside, Alex found an unanticipated kind of comfort in Athora’s presence. She was a curious person by nature, so having to stifle the urge to ask questions was frustrating but also oddly liberating. If he wanted her to know something, he would tell her. Full stop. He was the teacher and she was the student. All she had to do was follow instructions and forget, at least for a time, the outside world and all its demands.

Her hours in the Library were like a sanctuary, a break from the pressures that smothered her as soon as she stepped back outside. And so, along with her friends and Niyx, her time there with Athora somehow made its way onto the list of reasons why Alex was able to get through her week without losing her mind.

She could only hope it would last.

But when Friday night rolled around, something happened at the end of her session with Athora.

… Something that smashed her carefully maintained sanity to pieces.

“Before you leave, there’s someone you need to meet.”

Alex looked up at Athora in question. She was sitting cross-legged on the rug in front of the blazing fireplace, back in the same darkened room where she’d been transported after her experience with the lake. He was once again seated in an armchair that had materialised from nothing, and he’d remained unmoving the whole time she’d been sprawled out across the floor attempting to assemble the frustratingly blank jigsaw puzzle.

Now that it was done, she knew they should be finished for the night. Normally, Athora wasted no time in dismissing her, so she was intrigued by the delay to her departure.

“Someone I need to… meet?” she repeated, her voice full of curiosity.

“Another student of mine,” he said, and her brows rose with surprise. “Myonlyother student. And someone who I have been working with for much longer than you.”

Sitting up taller, Alex couldn’t help asking, “You have another student?”

“Regardless of what some might allow you to believe, Alexandra, the universe does not revolve around you.”

Alex chose not to feel stung by his words or his uncharacteristic acerbic tone. She was actually somewhat proud of herself for prompting him to break out of his near-constant monotone.

“Who is it?” she asked. “And why do you want me to meet them?”

“I have business to attend to this weekend, so I’ll be unable to continue our sessions until next week,” Athora said, not answering her questions, though she was relieved by this news given the busy weekend she had planned.

“You need to meet him now,” he continued, “because from Monday’s session onwards, you will be training together.”

That, Alex thought, was unacceptable. And she couldn’t keep from immediately saying as much. “That’s not going to happen.”

She actuallyfeltthe air in the room change, right along with Athora’s mood.

“Ibegyour pardon?”