Page 64 of Wings of Darkness (Daughter of the Seven Circles #2)

Chapter

Forty-Two

LUCILLE

A lexei pulled Oliver and me from the last training day with the Tormentors. We luscelered to the Shard Field, but this time we had company.

MJ leaned against a line of sharp icicles, arms crossed and a dry expression on her face.

Her fiery red hair lay in two perfect braids over her Hell Squadron uniform.

She stood when we approached and scrutinized me from head to toe.

She didn’t look at Alexei or Oliver—only me, like she was attempting to delve into my soul.

A couple feet away, she removed an arrow from her quiver while keeping that unrelenting stare on my face. I had the strange urge to flee but refrained, stepping forward with the guys. Without warning, she whipped up her arrow and pressed it to the pulse point at my neck.

“MJ,” Alexei warned.

“So you’re her,” she said, ignoring him .

I held up my hands.

What did that mean? I’m her?

“Sure,” I breathed. I’d be anything she wanted me to be, as long as she didn’t impale me.

“What she means,” Alexei said, giving MJ a pointed look, “is that you’re the one who challenged your squad leader, Moira, to a no-rules fight.”

I raised my chin. “Yep.”

Alexei gestured to MJ. “And that’s why she’s here. You need every advantage. And so does Oliver, because he’s been challenged too.”

“What?” Oliver and I said in unison.

“I’m surprised you didn’t have anyone challenge you,” MJ commented, digging in the arrow to the point of pain.

“It was bad enough placing you two in an elite squadron. But then little miss here had to flaunt her unearned uniform to Hell’s military.

Although I’m guessing everyone assumes Moira is going to kill you, so there’ll be nothing left to challenge. ”

I gritted my teeth, her hard smile strumming the cord of my Infernus. “Ronen gave it to me.”

“On a first-name basis with your general? And he gave you a highly coveted uniform? What did you give in return to receive all this special treatment from him?”

“I didn’t fuck him, if that’s what you’re insinuating.

” Itches spread up my arms, and pressure strained my eyes.

I didn’t care if MJ was Ronen’s third or part of his Dreads.

My emotional stability was hanging on by threads, my Infernus wanted an outlet, and I had half a notion to give in. Exposure be damned .

MJ’s smile widened. “I want to see if you can prove yourself worthy of the challenges to come.” She dropped the arrow from my neck and unhooked a bow from her back. “Then,” she said, turning her attention to Alexei, “I’ll do what you asked of me.”

She luscelered to the edge of the Veil Forest, notched an arrow, and aimed it at me.

“Is our lesson starting now?”

“MJ!” Alexei snapped. “What are you doing? This is my lesson.”

MJ released her arrow, disregarding him, and I dove to the ground.

“Our challenges are ruthless. They’re unfair.

Moira will fight dirty and use any means necessary to kill you.

No one’ll help you. No one will rescue you.

Of course, you can forfeit and be placed in the Bowels.

You can give up entirely and ask the king for a different area to work off your debt.

Or you can see what you’re made of. Understand? ”

She notched two more arrows and waited for me to decide.

The fiery warrior wasn’t playing around, but she didn’t know who I was or what was going on.

My father wouldn’t allow me to give up. He wanted me trained, as did I.

And despite the shit I kept going through, and Ronen unwilling to help us, I still wanted to rank.

I wanted to prove to myself I could beat the blonde who had somehow caught Ronen’s eye.

I wasn’t weak anymore. And it was time I showed them all.

“Release it.”

A sliver of respect glinted in her eye, and she nodded, letting go of her drawstring. I had expected the arrows to fly toward me, but they veered toward Oliver. I reacted without thought, tackling him to the ground, and was up a second later, dodging more.

MJ didn’t let up—and neither did I.

“Alexei, stop babying them and throw those daggers you love.”

A moment later, an arrow came at me from the front and a dagger from the left. I dropped, but unlike the last few times, MJ didn’t let me stand. She shot arrow after arrow, and I rolled. Snow and ice sprayed my face, the tips of her arrows skimming past my head and driving into the ground.

I couldn’t roll forever. Alexei’s dagger sliced my cheek, and I stopped just in time to miss an arrow that would’ve sunk into my side. MJ was ruthless.

“Don’t stop! Stand or roll the opposite way, Luce!” Oliver shouted.

MJ tutted. “Nephilim, that’s helping. Her opponents may very well come after you in retaliation.”

I hissed as Alexei’s dagger cut my other cheek with precision.

The fact that he could wound me without injuring me severely was a testament to his skill—and our budding friendship.

Ignoring the sting, I moved to help Oliver, but I didn’t need to.

He luscelered out of the way, smiling, and brushed imaginary snow off his shoulder.

“Don’t ever be persuaded by the taunting words of your opponent, beautiful. If you have help, trust them to take care of themselves, or suffer the consequences.”

Before I could ask about the consequences, an arrow sank through my hand, and I screamed .

“MJ!” Alexei shouted, flinging a dagger at her. She moved aside, giving Oliver time to lusceler in front of me—a barrier between me and the fierce redhead.

“She’ll heal, Alexei. You know Moira. If she can kill her, she will. You want her to survive? Stop coddling her. You know who I’m doing this for. If they choose it, she’ll need to know how to fight while in constant pain.”

Who was MJ doing this for?

Oliver glanced down at me, analyzing the arrow in my hand and the blood slowly dripping onto the snow. “You okay? We can stop and go to Sam,” he said.

I reached out my good hand so he could help pull me up. “No, we can’t. Can you hold your own, though?” I asked, knowing the answer, but it was hard not to worry about him.

He grinned and let his fear power flame in his emerald eyes. “I’ve been holding my own longer than you’ve been alive. Do what you’ve got to do. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” I clenched my jaw and held back a scream as I pulled the fletching through the hole. I knew it’d make me bleed more, but if I had to roll or drop, I couldn’t have anything slowing me down. Which meant I had to end this soon. Angels heal fast, but not that fast.

I slid out from behind Oliver and found even more respect in MJ’s amber eyes. “Let’s go again, Redhead,” I taunted.

She notched two arrows. Alexei palmed two daggers, surveying Oliver and me.

We dodged the projectiles and attempted to go on the offensive.

But it seemed every time we tried, the next knife or arrow would stop us.

Alexei aimed for the head; MJ for our limbs.

I tried to avoid the arrows more than the knives, mostly because Alexei kept going easy on me, which meant my face continued to sting with cuts.

But MJ didn’t care how I fared with Alexei. If I avoided all her arrows, she came faster. It took all my focus not to get impaled, but I did. Then I gave her a cocky little smile.

That was a mistake.

Her arm blurred as she luscelered to notch more arrows and release them. They flew toward me and Alexei. It happened so fast—too fast.

Alexei crouched to retrieve his daggers, his back turned to MJ. I knew she wouldn’t kill him, but she was testing me. I didn’t have the time to reach him. I had a choice to make.

Right or wrong, I called to my Glory and gave it one command— protect.

Perfectly crafted spheres of flame covered both of us.

The arrows hit and burned instantly.

Oliver turned to me with a giant grin. “Hell yeah!”

I smiled back. I’d been working hard on those.

Alexei shot up, taking in his flaming protection and the ash on the ground, then glared at MJ. “Were you trying to kill me?”

She formed a red fireball. “I had a backup plan.”

Alexei scoffed. “You are insane , MJ.”

“And it seems you two have been holding out on me,” she said, looking over my shoulder.

I released my Glory, and a shadow tickled up my nose. My pain vanished, and pressure descended on the hole in my hand.

Ronen was here .

“Leave, before I do something I’ll regret,” Ronen bit out, his words sharp and cold.

Goosebumps scattered down the back of my neck, and I stepped forward, away from the wrathful energy he exuded.

MJ smiled. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Leave. Now!”

A beautiful pair of auburn wings burst from her back, and she shot into the air.

Ronen came around me and surveyed the cuts on my face. His shadows brushed my wild hair back, and his expression narrowed.

I didn’t think Ronen’s energy could get more menacing—but it did. The pitch black of his irises writhed with barely restrained rage.

“Did the Archangel do that to you?”

“Do what to me?”

He grazed my tipless ear with a shadowed finger.

Oh .

Self-conscious, I pulled my hair in front of my ear. His shadows didn’t seem to like that and pushed it back again.

“Who the fuck did that?”

“A fallen angel named Brockalian,” I whispered.

Ronen’s nostrils flared, but he released me and stepped back.

“Oliver, take Lucy to Sam,” he said, dismissing us and turning to his second. “Alexei, I thought I banned the use of powers in her lessons. Has she been using them all this time?”

Alexei’s silence answered for him. We’d started these trainings to practice my Glory. Alexei and I saw no reason to stop, so we ignored Ronen’s unusual order. Of course, I probably should’ve questioned using my power with MJ here. But as Ronen’s third, I assumed she was as trustworthy as Alexei.

Ronen’s large black wings expanded as he drilled his gaze into Alexei. “Inform MJ to meet me tomorrow.”

He shot into the sky with those parting words, taking his pain-reducing shadows with him and leaving me unsteady.