Page 27 of Ava’s Love of the Dragons (Of Dragons, Love, and Destiny #2)

The next day, Ava fought against Magg from sunrise to sunset.

Kilian had given them brief instructions in the morning before he'd mounted Thalara and soared into the sky.

It took all of Ava's willpower not to watch him go, but Magg would have mercilessly exploited that moment of distraction, and her opponent was already landing enough hits as it was.

It was frustrating to fight against her.

No matter how Ava defended herself or attacked, she made no progress.

She tried to imitate the tricks, attempted to memorize and mimic movements and strikes, but however she held the daggers, Magg always knocked them out of her hands and landed one hit after another.

Ava probably didn't have a single patch of skin left that wasn't blue or purple.

In the evening, Kilian returned with Allan, and they circled above the arena and the surrounding area.

Magg glanced up at them furtively, admiration in her eyes, which Ava tried to exploit.

Her ego would have welcomed landing a hit.

But even this strike failed. Instead, Magg skillfully dodged her and delivered such a powerful blow that Ava landed flat on the ground.

Dust and sand filled her mouth, and she wiped her face.

Only the fear that Magg might immediately pounce on her made Ava quickly scramble to her feet, when suddenly Master Clark appeared between them.

"Walk with me for a moment, Ava."

Caught off guard, she wiped her forearm across her forehead to clear away the sweat and dirt. Meanwhile, Magg was already pummeling the punching bag as if she had only been warming up until now.

It was frustrating!

She wiped the dust from her face and struggled to catch her breath. "Can't you finally show me some tricks? I don't feel like I'm learning anything."

The Master leaned on his cane and looked at her with his head tilted to one side before slowly setting off. "You're focusing on Magg. That's wrong."

Frowning, she looked at him. How else was she supposed to win? "What should I focus on instead?"

"On yourself. On your progress, your strengths, your feelings."

"My feelings?" He couldn't be serious. Her emotions were in absolute chaos.

There was Draco's heartbeat connected to hers, there was her anger over her lack of progress, her fear of confronting Elora, her frustration with Magg's blows and stabs—and the cherry on top, of course, were the feelings for Kilian that she wasn't supposed to have.

Master Clark smiled in amusement, as if he knew exactly what was going on inside her. "Why do you think I had you fight against the dragon rider?"

Caught red-handed, she lowered her gaze. He shouldn't think poorly of her. "I know he has to marry the princess, and I know what's at stake. I'm really trying to stay out of his way."

"No, Ava, wrong, you must go to him. You must face your feelings, for they are your strongest weapon."

Did this have something to do with her inner demons again?

"But I'm making it harder for him too, and I don't want that." He already had enough burdens to bear. How much could one person tolerate?

"It's not about him, and it's not about Magg, Elora, or the dragons. If you want to follow your destiny, you must face your feelings."

"Because they are my strongest weapon."

He nodded.

She of all people preferred to suppress her feelings... But if he was so confident, she should probably trust him. She raised her hands holding the daggers. "Will I then be able to wield my weapons better?"

"That remains to be seen."

A typically cryptic answer. Heavens, she needed more information!

"What advice can you give me to win against Elora?" She pointed at Magg, who was relentlessly pounding the punching bag. "Or first against Magg. She's so good that I wonder if she wouldn't be more suitable to fulfill the prophecy."

The Master didn't follow her gesture but looked at her instead. "Don't direct your thoughts to others, stay with yourself. Find your center and fight against yourself."

Uncomprehendingly, she raised her eyebrows. "I don't understand."

He stopped, leaned on his cane, and looked at her with a relaxed smile.

"If you set out to be better tomorrow than today, and better the day after tomorrow than tomorrow, you will grow stronger every day.

You must compete against yourself to achieve the greatest success.

" He nodded to her and wandered over to Magg as if he were an old monk and not a notorious combat trainer.

Lost in thought, she watched him leave, his words echoing in her mind. He was probably right. As long as she constantly compared herself to Magg, she would never be satisfied, for it was impossible to catch up with her. Moreover, Magg was pursuing a different goal than Ava.

If, on the other hand, she compared herself to herself—for example, how she had unintentionally stumbled into the dragon world and carried Draco in his egg, and who she was today—she found something to be proud of.

She was learning to fight, had a goal in mind, and a dragon by her side.

The progress was clear and evident, although it was not yet sufficient to face the mages.

But she had to and wanted to, because the longer she stayed in this training facility, the more she put others in danger.

Most of all Lilly, who would not hesitate to fight on the front lines.

For the rest of the evening, she worked on the punching bag and ran her laps until Kilian whistled from the air, signaling that their training for the day was over. She looked up at him as he circled the area on his huge fire dragon. Magg suddenly stood beside her, her head also tilted back.

"It must be a great feeling to fly on such a large dragon."

Surprised, Ava looked at her. Was the cadet actually making small talk on her own? "If you want, you can fly on Draco sometime."

Magg frowned. "Don't think we're friends just because we train together every day."

"I don't think that. I'm offering it to you anyway."

Her gaze flitted to Draco, who at that very moment was looking over the walls into the arena at them. He had grown so large by now that he no longer fit in the combat area along with the mountain dragons.

"I don't know if I want to carry her. She's not exactly nice to you." His eyes narrowed aggressively.

"But she's opening up."

"You used to be more suspicious, Ava."

That was true.

"Maybe tomorrow." Magg looked at her haughtily, as if she were doing her a favor and not the other way around, before turning back to the punching bag and resuming her training.

Ava was tempted to ask if she wanted to take a break and join her for dinner, but it didn't make sense. So she turned to leave. "See you tomorrow."

Just before she reached the exit, she barely heard Magg's response: "See you tomorrow."