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I’d never have answers to these questions, and with a heavy sigh, I accepted that there was nothing I could have done in the past to change the present. But the future? That I still had control over.
The three of us parted ways before we reached the castle, not wanting to be seen together as we re-entered. A little-known servant’s entrance provided me entry, and I hoped I’d remained unseen. When the High House Wing came into view, I breathed a sigh of relief.
My mother and father didn’t even wake during my absence, and I thanked the Goddess for her assistance as I crawled back into my lukewarm bed. Tucking my hands beneath my head, I stared up at the ceiling, mind swirling with possibilities and plans to do what had to be done, until finally, my eyes grew heavy and I could keep them open no longer. And when I slept, I dreamed of my sister and a life where she was safe and happy.
44
The bitter cold of the depths of winter in the Iron Realm drove me and Zuriel to train indoors, in the arena beneath Ryza Citadel. The familiar walls greeted us as we lit the tall chandeliers where my cousin had first taught me to fly. We faced each other, magic swirling around our swords. It had been too long since I’d completely depleted myself, and I itched for a serious spar.
“You’re not going to read my mind to defeat me, are you, cousin?” I teased, stepping cautiously to the side and trying to bait him into striking.
A sly grin crinkled the corners of his icy blue eyes. “Where would the fun be in that?”
“Winning?” I quipped, feinting a strike and flinging magic from the end of my blade.
With a grace and ease I could only dream of, he sidestepped the ball of white energy and fired back with one of his own. It dissipated over my shield like smoke in the wind, and I used the opportunity to ready my swords for a strike. Lunging forward, I popped the protective bubble of my own making, only to meet air when I swung.
Snapping my head up, I barely managed to roll and dodge Zuriel as he dropped down from above. “You have more than magic and swords at your disposal, Izidora. Use them.”
Calling on my wings, I tucked them tight against my back so they wouldn’t interfere or leave me vulnerable while still getting accustomed to fighting with their weight. We ducked, dodged, and struck out at one another in a flurry of activity before I disengaged, panting.
Pretending I was studying him for an opening, I snaked my magic toward Zuriel’s mind, slipping inside it and pushing heavy, sluggish emotions on him. He blinked slowly, his movements growing lazy, before he snapped back to awareness and shoved me from his mind.
We’d practiced the magic often enough since I’d awoken that it was as easy as breathing, and the signals that I was delving through his mind were easily detected. But secretly besting him through my empath magic wasn’t my intention.
Having him mentally off-balance allowed me to strike with less chance that I’d get caught with an errant blow as I tried to close the distance between us. A combination Ruslan had taught me recently came to mind first, and as Zuriel offered up the intended slash, I slipped under it, then pivoted on the ball of my foot and landed a hard kick across his abdomen.
He grinned, whipping to the side and forcing me backward with a series of rapid, light strikes. I tried to hold my ground, but his momentum carried him forward, and my hurried parries did nothing. Sucking in a breath, I cleared my mind and forced a wall of white magic outward, the impact stopping his advance and allowing me to dance away and regroup.
“Very good,” he praised, rolling his shoulders and lifting his sword.
His next attack was so fast I nearly missed it, and on pure instinct I shot into the air, tucking my legs and allowing himto pass beneath me. I landed heavily, bracing myself against the mat before throwing another blast in his direction, trying to knock him to the side. He blocked it, sending the magic right back to me. A ring of white fire burst around me, protecting me from further attack while I righted myself.
Panting, I lifted my swords, the gems encrusted in the hilt glittering beneath the thousand tiny lights overhead. “Who would guess that only a few months ago I could barely walk the length of this room?”
Zuriel shrugged, holding a teasing smile to his lips. “You’ve worked hard to recover. You’ve never let anything stop you, cousin. I didn’t expect you to stay weak for long.”
A laugh slipped out and I found myself grinning widely. Warmth blossomed in my chest as I realized once again I’d proven to myself and others that I was not a victim of my circumstances, and I would do whatever it took to overcome them. “I am a survivor. Always have been, always will be. People can underestimate the beautiful bloom, but my thorns are sharp and I have no qualms about stabbing people with them.”
As if to prove my point, I danced around Zuriel, throwing my sword out lazily as a distraction before following it up with a kick to his calf. The Angel returned one to my ribs, knocking me off balance, and I stumbled backward, scrambling to lift my sword. But Zuriel was fast and had thousands of years of fighting experience, and it wasn’t long before my back was against the wall and the tip of his sword pointed at my throat.
“I yield,” I said, but there was no bitterness to my tone. I couldn’t expect to truly win against such a skilled fighter when I had scarcely a year of training on my own. Everything Zuriel did was meticulously planned, and what he allowed me to do was a test of how I would react to whatever Kazimir decided to throw my way. My deepest held desire was to slice into Kazimir’s skinand watch his lifeblood coat my blade, and Zuriel knew that as well as anyone, if not more.
He relaxed his arm, then tossed his sword onto the mat some feet away. “I want to work on one other thing with you.” He gestured for me to follow him.
“Okay,” I responded, placing my swords beside his and walking to the center.
Zuriel’s white feathered wings flared wide and lifted him off the ground. He hovered in the air above me, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him. “Use your magic to pull me from the sky,” he instructed, inching higher.
I quirked a brow, then tapped into the crystal wrapped in white fire and moonlight, allowing the crystal to flare with blackest of black colors – a necessary step to controlling another’s movements. Not one that I hesitated to do any longer. The heady thrill of the dark power thrummed in my veins, and I closed my eyes momentarily, savoring it, surrendering to its call.
Then, I snapped my eyes open, a wicked smile spreading across my face. I spilled more blackness into the crystal, then attacked. Willing Zuriel to return to the earth by imagining a tether around his ankles, sweat rolled down my temples. He only continued to rise. I pushed more magic into my will, gritting my teeth. His ascent slowed, then ground to a halt. But his feet remained firmly in the air.
“Why isn’t it working?” I huffed, dropping my hold and using my sleeve to wipe at my face.
“Because I am resisting you. Kazimir’s binding magic might see you coming and fight with yours, like it did before. You need to be prepared for that.” Zuriel flapped once, twice, sending a breeze across my heated face.
“Right. I’ll try again,” I said, steeling my spine and readying for another attack. Images of Kazimir choking me in the stables of Ryza flitted through my mind.
