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Chapter Sixteen

RAIN

B ecause there were now so many of us, and because Bracken wanted us working in smaller groups, we had to head back to the main area of the gym. The practice room we'd been using wasn't big enough for that. At least, not without all of us crashing into each other.

My group took a spot on the upper half of the main room.

Aspen, Keir, and Bran claimed the main training area - because there were mats there.

Torian, Axel, and Daivon were over at the side.

We didn't even need to talk about it. Keir and I shared a look, Torian saw, and we all simply moved to where we needed to be.

And Bracken meandered between us.

"Rain," he said as he paused to check on us. "Hawke has some knowledge of what Wild magic can do. I want him to help you devise a few attacks you can use while fighting."

"Shit, how'd you learn about Wild magic, Hawke?" Pascal asked, heading over just as Bracken wandered away. Clearly, he'd overhead that.

Hawke glanced over to Wilder. "Uh..."

"On Faerie," Wilder said calmly, as if this was no big deal at all, "some wildlings live among the sidhe. Few are in the courts, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Most nobility simply thought they were lesser, good only to be servants. Most is not all."

"Ah." Pascal nodded. "Had a wildling friend you weren't supposed to, huh? Cool." And he began swinging his arms again.

"So, does Faerie look like here?" I asked as I began to do the same.

Hawke shrugged. "How do you mean? Our plants are different."

"But the landscape?" I asked. "Blue sky. Those things?"

"Blue sky," Wilder agreed.

"The continents are shaped different," Hawke explained. "The grass is usually green, but not always. There isn't industrialization, although there are cities."

"Like medieval?" Pascal asked.

Wilder snorted. "No."

"More like fae," Hawke told him. "Civilized, but focused on elegance. Horses instead of cars."

"Or deer," Wilder added. "A few other things too. The Mad Queen rode a bear for a bit."

"Damn," I breathed.

"But there are carriages that run on magic, so like cars but with more style," Wilder clarified. "Modern, just magic instead of science."

"Get to work!" Bracken yelled at us from down by Aspen.

"Ok," I said, moving to the center of the open area we'd claimed. "So what do I need to know, guys?"

"Your sword work is good enough," Pascal assured me. "You need more experience to predict shots, but that's about it."

"Where you're lacking is adding magic," Wilder said. "So why don't you spar with Pascal, and we'll see where you can add some?"

"But my magic seems to be revitalizing the Hunt," I countered. "I don't want to use it on them - and it doesn't even hurt them."

"Hurt, no," Hawke agreed as he moved to my side, gesturing for Pascal to step up like my opponent. "What you need to do is distract, confuse, or obscure. I also have a feeling the Hunt won't be our only problem."

"And your magic does work on the sidhe," Wilder said, moving beside Hawke. "So let's teach her to be terrifying, hm?"

"Oh, you like terrifying," Hawke teased flirtatiously.

Which made Pascal smother a chuckle, yet he kept his eyes on me. Tipping his head, he showed he was ready, so I tapped my practice stick against his.

"Let's go," I breathed.

Immediately, Pascal shoved in. Ok, this guy was good. Not Keir levels of good, but still good enough to make me work for it. Within seconds, I was completely focused on blocking his next attack.

"Shadows to obscure," Hawke called out.

"She can do better than that," Wilder said, but it sounded like he was talking to Hawke.

"Let's start with what she knows," Hawke countered.

Before me, Pascal just smiled. He also didn't slow. My sticks were moving fast, but he kept up easily. I really didn't want to smother us in shadows, because that meant I wouldn't be able to see either, but there had to be an answer.

Wait, I had it!

Dodging back, I pushed out just enough shadow magic to allow it to form into a beast. Something terrifying, but I wouldn't try to control it. What I needed was help, and my magic was much more sentient than the seasonal kind.

Immediately, a wolf sprang up at the side, lunging before it was fully formed. Pascal yelped and spun, allowing me to get a good touch on his back. I won - and was already out of breath. A wave of my hand dismissed the magic, but Hawke was nodding at me proudly.

"Nice distraction," he said. "Consider tricks like Aspen was using too."

"I have a question," Pascal said, straightening up like he was stretching his back. "So if the court is now admitting their titles, does this mean Wilder's going to have problems?"

"What? Why?" Wilder asked.

Pascal wiggled a finger between them. "Because you're flirting with a duke now."

"Shit," Wilder chuckled. "I'm a duke too."

Pascal tensed. "Really?"

"Winter," I said, pointing at Wilder. "Summer." Then at Hawke.

"And I'm going to guess being nobility means the staff can't exactly make you move rooms? I mean, since they have issues with dating your suitemates and all."

"We're over eighteen," Wilder said, ignoring the rest.

But Hawke bumped his shoulder. "Just the facts, huh? But I mean, he's right. We could use that as a reason not to move."

"They'd just swap us and Keir," Wilder pointed out. "Well, one of us."

"No," I said, "they won't. Keir's keeping Torian from blowing up the school."

"And that ," Wilder chided, "is not public knowledge, Rain."

Pascal just mimed zipping his lips. "Not going to say shit to anyone else," he assured us. "But I will point out that Torian blowing up the school isn't exactly a secret. His temper and power are well known. That Keir can stop him is also known - ever since Harper, I mean."

"True," Hawke agreed.

"So I say go for it," Pascal said. "Besides, the cross-season thing might actually help diffuse some anti-Winter sentiment."

"And how do you feel about the Winter Court?" Wilder asked pointedly.

"Guys!" I groaned. "Pascal helped Aspen."

"Doesn't mean he did it for Aspen," Wilder said.

"I actually did," Pascal told them. "Look, she's always been nice to me. Torian? Not so much. The Summer Prince is a dick, and more like his mother than I like. As far as I care, the Winter Court got the better sibling."

"He's a Legacy," Hawke told Wilder. "No magic either way."

Pascal just shrugged. "And speaking of that, I need to go share my one skill with the other groups before Bracken yells at me. Or worse, says we're not helping."

"Which means I get to spar with Rain," Wilder said, stepping up. "Babe? Give her some pointers, and stop holding back, since no one else will be listening in."

"I..."

"You can always blame a friend's abilities," I pointed out.

"Can't," Hawke said. "Rain, I still can't lie, and the only wildling I've really known is Jack."

"He was raised as one of us," Wilder whispered. "Kinda why he has the manners of a gentleman."

"But not a lord," Hawke said.

"Wouldn't be fucking a lord," Wilder said slyly.

I giggled, because they were cute. Now that I was in on the secret, I caught a lot of the subtle flirtation between them.

The obvious stuff was easy, but they didn't hold hands or make googly eyes at each other like most couples I knew.

Then again, most couples I knew were the boy-girl kind, or the girl-girl.

I wasn't really sure if guys got all mushy like that.

"Ready when you are," I told Wilder as I took up my position.

"Wait," Hawke said, moving behind me so he could whisper in my ear.

"Rain, when you call your magic, have a plan.

Use it to assist you. Make his weapon hard to hold, destroy his footing or make him stick in place.

Hide yourself. That can be making you hard to see or making so many moves, he can't keep up. "

"Stop thinking in simple terms," Wilder clarified. "Be more inventive. Believe it or not, your magic can work like ours."

"Really?" I asked, turning to look at Hawke - only to find our faces a little too close.

He smiled and his eyes dropped to my mouth. "Um..."

"And stop distracting him," Wilder joked. "Seriously, if you're going to kiss him, then do it so he can think again."

"Shit, I'm not that bad," Hawke grumbled, stepping back.

"You're that cute," Wilder told him. "And this is me trying to make Rain realize I'm good with it."

That made me look back at him. Wilder was smiling softly, but not in a flirtatious way. He was looking at me like we were sharing a secret. Like the way my friends at other schools had when we all thought the same guy was cute.

Because we did. Ok, that was actually nicer than I'd expected.

"So," I said. "Do you even go for girls, Wilder?"

"Sometimes," he said. "I just happen to like butch."

"Like Tag?"

He shrugged. "I mean, sure. Not that I'd want to be tied that closely to Ms. Rhodes, though."

"I like pretty," I said, lifting my weapons to get ready.

"Which means I'm out," Hawke huffed, sounding like he was trying to make a joke but honestly believed it.

But I kept my eyes on Wilder. "He's pretty."

"He is," Wilder agreed, matching my pose. "I have a weakness for his abs."

"I like his ass," I said, reaching out to tap Wilder's blade.

And Wilder surged in. "Nice thighs too."

I barely got my block up in time. "I love his eyes."

"My weakness," Wilder said, spinning to come at me from the other side.

Because Wilder knew how to fight too. Fuck!

Swordsmanship was a noble skill, Torian had said.

Well, I was pretty sure he'd called it royal, but I had a feeling that was just about the same.

In the courts, it seemed learning how to keep oneself alive was basically mandatory.

Either that, or I simply had badass friends.

So I stopped trying to pick on Hawke and focused on Wilder. When I was just about to lose, Hawke stepped in beside me, offering a block. That put the two of us against Wilder - which was when the magic began to flow.

Wilder dropped one of his practice sticks and shoved his open hand toward Hawke. He blocked with a burst of silvery-grey power. The pewter color of it was like a wall, eating up Wilder's conjuration. I saw, but I was moving in to get Wilder's attention back on me.

"Show me more?" I begged. "Give me a few ideas?"

"Fuck me," Wilder groaned as Hawke began to use his magic liberally.

The wooden floor turned into arms to grab Wilder's legs. He magicked those away, freeing himself just as Hawke lit Wilder's blade on fire, mostly the hilt. A glance froze that over, and Wilder kept going, yet I was quickly getting the idea.

We both began to throw out Wild magic, and Wilder evaded, blocked, or countered all of it. When I sent a shadow harpy at him, he stabbed upwards, exploding the shape into dark mist. Hawke reformed it and sent it back as a spear, but a shield of ice blocked it, shattering at the impact.

And we fought. Over and over, we hammered each other, but two against one wasn't fair at all.

Just as Wilder began to falter, Keir rushed in to lock in at his side, blocking a volley of grey arrows from Hawke with an iridescent shield of magic.

I turned the floor into an oil slick, but Wilder had that.

He grew moss over it, regaining their footing.

Then Wilder started attacking with his magic. A glamour sprang up around me, turning the world into a beautiful meadow filled with fae flowers. That threw me enough that I paused. I couldn't see the guys!

"Morrigan!" Jack cawed.

And through the glamour, he flew into sight, landing on my shoulder. Immediately, the glamour shattered, but Keir was already mid-swing. Hawke got the block, proving glamours were more dangerous than I'd realized, but I was right back at it, and Wilder was clearly the bigger threat.

Which meant Hawke and I needed to take him out first.

I spun, giving Hawke the better position, and tried to make Wilder's weapon impossible to hold. I saw a smile flicker across his dark skin, but then he was locked in and serious again. I couldn't see what he'd done, but he'd clearly countered it.

Yet Keir wasn't about to make this easy.

As we focused on Wilder, he tried to take out Hawke.

That meant I needed to use my magic on him to even this up.

I called a pack of wolves, sending them at him, then followed up with an explosion of shadows in his face.

Keir tried to swat them away, but it was just enough.

With Hawke focusing his magic on Wilder, and Wilder once again spending all his power to block, I saw my chance. Thrusting hard, I twisted and bent low enough to get under Wilder's guard, earning myself a solid touch on Wilder's waist.

"I'm out," he said as we both turned to Keir.

And with the two of us, Keir didn't stand a chance.

Hawke hammered him with all the magic he could think of: lights, projectiles, shields, and more.

The conjurations were sent out quickly, as if he barely had to think about it, and Keir was doing his best to block with both his sword and his magic.

Then Keir stopped playing nice. Grabbing Hawke's arm while still holding his sword, he slung my ally over at Wilder before hacking at me. Jack took off, flying out of the way just in time to avoid the sword that walloped my shoulder.

Wilder managed to catch Hawke's back against his chest, but Keir just wagged his sword that way. "Can we call this over?" he panted.

"Fuck, yeah," Hawke agreed. "I'm almost empty."

"And our Morrigan learned a few things," Torian said, proving everyone in the room had stopped to watch.

I just nodded, breathing too hard to get a word out. Jack didn't have that problem.

"Morrigan!" he declared. "Court!"

Aspen caught my eye from across the room. "Yeah, the court's Morrigan," she said. "An amazing one."

Jack slung his bill up and down, proving that was what he meant, or at least close enough. I'd take it too, because I'd won. Maybe not alone, but I didn't care about that. I'd still won against people who'd been doing this a lot longer, and Torian was right.

I'd learned a lot more than I'd expected. I'd finally figured out that the limits on my magic were all me, not it.