Page 138 of Rebellious Royals

I grunted. "Going to promise you aren't going to use it against me?"

"No." And she grinned impishly. "I plan to use it against you in class every chance I get. Now out in the real world? As long as you don't become the enemy, then I think we'll do better if I'm as good as you."

So I lifted my sword and nodded at her. "Slowly. We're going to do this at half speed, but start when you're ready."

I saw her eyes narrow, yet she moved in. Sure enough, Rain came at me slowly, focusing on her muscles and technique the way either Bracken or Keir had taught her. I wasn't sure who, but I could see it had happened.

So I moved to block, allowing her to watch exactly what I was doing, when I'd begun my move, and how to recognize it next time. Rain's lips parted as she immediately understood the point of this exercise, yet she also shifted her attack.

"Did you feel the magic hit you?" I asked, altering my own sword in response to hers.

"Yep," she said. "It didn't push me back, though. Why not?"

"Morrigan," I replied, stepping around her slowly. "Wild magic negates seasonal. That means it feeds you instead of harms you."

"Yeah, but..." She dared to glance back, checking the others. Then she lowered her voice. "Hawke?"

"Different," I assured her. "Jack wasn't pushed either. That's the thing about crows. The less sidhe a wildling appears, the more Wild it really is. Crows seem to be the pinnacle, hence their leader being the authority for all Wild magic users."

And she stopped the half-speed movements. "What? But that doesn't make sense. I mean, either Wild magic is or is not anti-magic."

I made a little circle with my finger, enclosing our sound for a moment. "Rain, Hawke is filled with Winter magic right now. Not converting it, but holding it. That's why his conjurations are grey. Half black, half white. Sometimes dark green, because half Summer. Occasionally olive."

"Black, green, and white," she said, proving she was keeping up.

I nodded. "And the seasonal magic inside his reserves? It's reactive to other seasonal magic. He doesn't absorb magic the way you do, through your skin. He must consume it."

She nodded. "Ok, that makes sense."

"My bigger question is why Pascal was Summer and is now Winter."

Rain paused to look back at where Pascal was working with Hawke. "Is it safe for him to be sparring now?"

"As safe as we ever are," I assured her even as I lifted the sound barrier.

No one else had noticed. Then again, they were all busy swinging their sticks at each other. Turning a bit, Rain moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with me, so we could both watch. Oddly, I liked that. She wasn't deferring to me or pushing. Somehow, this girl had a way of simply making me feel comfortable around her.

"So what do you think about him?" I asked softly.

Her head twitched as she shot me a confused look. "Me?"

"You tend to understand more than you should," I reminded her. "That whole fae-whisperer thing, right? So I'm curious what your gut says."

"It says he didn't mean to, didn't know he could, and he makes me think he's a little desperate about all of this."

"Because manifesting this late is rare," I told her. "He probably thought he was going to be completely mundane, like you were before coming here."

"Human?" she asked.

I shook my head. "He will never be human. He could be powerless. The first gets the benefit of ignorance. The second makes one feel like a failure."

"So worse than human," she realized, just as Pascal missed a block.

Ice crackled on Hawke's stick, dropping thick pieces of it onto the floor, but my best friend had been ready this time. A murky shield had appeared in front of his face and chest, just behind his weapon. I wanted to call it grey, but there was the slightest hint of green in his power still.

"Ice," I called out.

"Looking more and more like Aspen's got another one," Wilder said.