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Chapter Fourteen

RAIN

O n Friday, the six of us settled into our new schedule. Wilder, Torian, and Aspen headed to the gym when they were done with their other magical classes in the Never. That meant they passed the rest of Bracken's students, who were headed to their dorms for the evening.

Then we got to work. Mostly, we tried to find a way to make this mess of abilities work for training.

Naturally, they tried putting me with Aspen.

I was doing pretty well with my weapons, but magic was still something I had to focus on.

She was the other way. Together, we just kept thwarting each other. Whichever of us attacked first won.

Keir and Hawke worked with Wilder and Torian.

Surprisingly, Wilder could hold his own with a blade.

Torian didn't even bother. Instead, he wrenched magic around like it was a part of him.

And yet, watching the way he worked made me realize I'd been doing this all wrong.

I kept thinking of magic like spells instead of an extension of who I was.

And over the weekend, we rested. Mostly, that was because all of us hurt.

I'd dodged in weird ways to avoid Aspen's lack of skill.

The guys weren't any better. Oh, Torian was fine, but he had no problem with everyone hanging out in one of our rooms or another.

It kept any assholes from sneaking up on us, or so he said.

Yet when I made it to the gym again, I felt like everyone was staring. Bracken ran through our self-defense class fast enough that I had to ignore the looks, but when offensive combat rolled around, we paired up. Like usual, I planned on working with Keir. Sadly, my zez had other ideas.

"Rain, go work with Pascal. Hawke, you're with Bran. Keir, I'd like you and Axel to work together."

"Sentinels, unite!" Axel joked. "But what about Daivon?"

Daivon was one of the other sentinels. I'd met him in my first semester here, when Keir had introduced me to his friends. Daivon hadn't said much, but he'd been at the table. Then again, Fin had done his best to be the center of attention. That arrogance had ended up getting him killed.

"Daivon has his own partner," Bracken assured us.

"Sucks," Pascal said, but it sounded like he wasn't all that concerned about it.

Bran rolled his eyes, but Pascal grabbed his things and moved across the room to where I'd been working out. My father continued to mix up the other groups, so pretty much everyone was moving around. Hawke took it as an excuse to make his way over, putting all of us side by side.

"I want each pair to spend ten minutes warming up.

Then, you'll spar with the pair beside you," Bracken said as he paced in front of the class.

"Ten minutes of that, then switch to the pair on your other side.

I want to see each of you blocking for your partner as well as using their blocks to attack. Begin."

Swinging my arms to stretch them out, I turned to Pascal. "Just don't make me look too bad?" I asked, hoping it would come out like a joke.

In truth, I was a little serious. Pascal was one of the main sentinels.

Bran and Axel were too. Along with Keir, they'd been defending the school since they were in eleventh grade.

I was pretty sure all of them were college juniors now, so right around Keir's age.

Give or take a year, of course, because in this class, we were mixed up based on our ability, not our school year.

"You're fine, Rain," Pascal said as he stretched out his own arms. "I mean, you're the one who's been taking the extra classes."

"Detention, mostly," I admitted, finding my position.

So he lifted his practice sticks, dipping his head to show I should start. "Still counts," he said as I took my first swing.

Naturally, his stick moved to block mine. The wooden clack was loud, but it wasn't alone in the room. Beside me, I could feel more than see that Keir was also sparring. From the sound, I knew Hawke started right after.

The room began to turn into a cacophony of crashing sticks, students grunting, and a few gasps of pain when someone missed a block.

The sticks wouldn't kill us, but they could leave a bruise.

Typically, we were expected to pull the shot, but that only worked if we realized we were going to hit.

Luck happened on both sides of combat, it seemed.

Then Pascal began to move, making me work my feet in a circle as well as the normal forward and back. "Saw the court's been coming to the gym after class," he said. "Does this mean our princess is learning how to use a real weapon?"

I flinched back to avoid his hit, but my mind was spinning. He meant Aspen, but she wasn't a princess. Ok, the court had said they were done hiding, but I didn't think they'd made an announcement about their titles or anything.

So did that mean I should tell him? The intensity of our combat kept me from answering, working as a convenient excuse to keep my mouth shut while I worked this out. Then, just to avoid having him wonder about my silence, I pushed in to get him on the defensive.

Was telling him Aspen was the Winter Queen the same as outing someone for being gay? Since I'd recently had to figure out my own sexuality, I knew I wouldn't have liked it if someone had done that for me. At the same time, I wanted everyone to know, but on my terms, not theirs.

Then Keir answered for me. "No princess here, Pas."

"I meant Aspen," he clarified. "I mean, since that's what everyone's calling her."

"They're wrong," I said, adding another flurry of hits to keep him moving where I wanted. "But if you want to know about it, you should try asking her instead of hinting about it to me."

"Ok," Pascal said, dodging hard to avoid a swing that nearly connected with his cheek. "Fuck, you're getting nasty, Rain."

"Yeah, she is," Hawke agreed. "I'll add that I'm a duke."

Pascal's head snapped over. My stick was moving, so I jerked it up to keep from knocking him out cold. "Pascal!"

He lifted a hand. "Sorry, but what?"

"Duke," Hawke said as he gestured for Bran to relax a moment. "Summer, if you're wondering."

"No shit?" Axel breathed as he waved Keir off. "Like real royalty?"

"So the court isn't a bullshit name?" Bran asked.

"Oh, it's complete bullshit," Hawke assured him. "The jesters dropped it on us thinking it was a joke. Not my fault they weren't completely wrong."

Keir bent over his knees to stretch out his back. "I'm a knight now."

"Sentinel," Pascal corrected.

"That too," Keir told them. "Knight's my title. Sir Keir Delaney. Official and everything." Then he used the end of his stick to gesture to me. "Benefit of being the Morrigan's assistant."

"Damn," Bran said. "I wouldn't mind being a knight."

"Hell, we could all be royalty if you think about it," Pascal said. "I don't have a clue who my parents were. Maybe they were some big-shot nobles."

"One was human," Keir reminded him. "Makes you a mongrel at best, and I don't know how the real deal thinks about that."

Axel gestured in a circle in Keir's direction. "Considering you're the real deal? How do you feel about us mongrels, Keir?"

"I am not the real deal," Keir assured him. "Pure fae, yes. But by 'real,' I actually meant the type who is considered nobility."

"And don't ask me," I told them.

Pascal just lifted his weapons again. "I think I'll ask Aspen. She's coming here after class again, right?"

"Yep," I agreed. "And Torian. Wilder, too." Then I nodded to show he could start.

Pascal rushed me. His practice sticks moved fast. They were all aimed at my head, but I'd gotten used to that.

Twisting one blade sideways, I could block all of it and still attack with the other arm.

Not that I'd have this luxury in battle, but Bracken liked us to use two weapons in practice so both arms were worked equally.

And I was definitely starting to get good. I could tell, because Pascal went from pushing in to backing up. Twisting a bit, I shifted around him, angling his back towards Keir. Unfortunately, Pascal noticed, and just when I was sure I had him, he turned to lock his shoulder in beside Axel's.

That put the pair of them against Keir and me.

Without a word needing to be traded, we engaged.

Keir blocked. I attacked. When I felt my stick thump Axel's arm, I knew that would leave a mark.

The trick would be to keep up the speed without using so much force.

Even better, no one stopped me to make the correction.

Instead, I was allowed to work it out for myself.

And we sparred. When I started to get winded, Keir turned to help Hawke, leaving Pascal to work with me again. Bran turned to help Keir, and Axel fell in on my other side. Three against three, we kept going, pushing ourselves harder than I had in a long time - and it was nice.

I could feel sweat trickling down the back of my neck, but my arms weren't tiring. Granted, a wooden practice stick was a lot lighter than the steel sword I used against the Hunt. These men also moved slower, if more consistently, and that was what I needed to increase my own endurance.

"Break!" Keir called, stepping back. "I think we forgot the instructions."

"Mhm," Bracken said from behind me, proving he'd been watching us. "But I think you're doing more, not less. Bran, you need to push Rain harder. If you let her get you on the defensive, she'll keep you there."

"Which means I need to work on getting out of it?" Bran asked.

"Sure," Bracken said as he stepped closer. "The Hunt won't give you a second chance. They won't let you fumble for a correction, so none of you should allow it either. You want to make all of your mistakes here, where you'll live through it."

"Is that what you're doing with the court?" Axel asked.

"Ask them," Bracken said, gesturing to me, Keir, and Hawke. "But catch your breath, then do it again." And he turned, walking away from us to check on the next group.

"Is it?" Bran asked Keir. "I mean, since Rain won't talk and Hawke will kick my ass for asking."

"I won't," Hawke huffed. "And yeah. We're trying to figure out how to use their magic and our weapons, because the Hunt has come after them a few too many times."

"Because you're a duke?" Axel asked slyly.

"Shit," Hawke said. "I can guarantee the Huntsman isn't after me. I'm more of an addendum."

"He wants Rain," Keir said. "Keeps asking her to ride with him."

"And Torian?" Pascal asked.

"He's not on the Huntsman's list," I said, relieved to have a truth I could actually say.

Pascal's eyes just narrowed as he looked me over, weighing that for some sort of evasion. "Interesting," he finally said. "Well, how's this? I'm more than willing to hang out after hours if the group of you needs some help."

"Same," Bran said. "Mostly because I want to know how Torian Hunt fights."

"Magically," I told him. "I'm trying to figure out how to stop him."

And again, Pascal gave me a measuring look. "Which means the lot of you aren't trying to prepare for another Hunt attack."

"Exactly," Hawke said. "We're also not trying to hide it."

"I'm just trying to figure out how much my friends want to say," I explained, thankful for the excuse. "I know they said it was ok to talk about, but I don't want to speak for them either, you know?"

"What?" Axel asked. "So this is a big deal?"

"The biggest," Keir assured him.

"But I thought you hated monarchies?" Pascal asked, clearly reading between the lines well enough.

"I do," Keir told him. "I'm willing to fight for a few other things, though. My friends are at the top of the list. My girlfriend, my partner, and so on."

"Who's the partner?" Bran asked. "I'm guessing Rain's the girlfriend?"

"I am," I agreed.

"Aspen's my partner," Keir said. "Now, good luck figuring out how that tie works." Then he lifted his practice weapons. "You three ready to go again?"

"Wait." I shifted over so I'd be across from Hawke. "Ok, now I'm good."

Pascal jerked his chin at Keir. "You know I don't suck. If you need someone who won't break the ice queen, I'm your guy."

"Getting closer," Hawke said as he set up in his guard position. "Axel, call it when you're ready."

"Losers help Torian," Axel said. "And go!"

Immediately, the six of us rushed at each other. This time, Keir and Hawke weren't going easy on us. The first clack of wood against wood said enough. By the second, I was sure of it. Axel had just thrown down the gauntlet.

Sadly, I was pretty sure my side was going to lose. I also had no intention of giving up easily - because I really didn't want to work with Torian yet. Especially not with these guys hanging around to see him destroy me easily.