Page 28 of Maleen

I laugh and gesture for her to join us, and when I turn around I notice that Lennox hasn’t taken his eyes off her and continues to watch her as she crosses the field.

“Well, since that’s settled. Let’s start off with some exercises. Roz, you know the drill. Since you don’t have Elemi magick, work on strengthening the minor details in your illusions while strengthening your mental walls. The rest of you, I want you to summon your elements and hold them for as long as you can. At the end of the lesson, we will see if you continue to not land a hit on me.”

“Same reward if we do?” Roz asks in excitement. Roz has been joining our lesson if Jesper is otherwise preoccupied and can’t teach him. Plus he is determined to figure out how a Captain at Phixmery is trustworthy enough to be invited to Vathia on Aemon’s behest.

She nods stoically, but I swear her lip twitched. “Off you go. Cynder, with me. I want to see where you’re at with your magick.”

She glances at me with panic so I quickly reassure her. “You can trust her, she’s one of the best. I’ll talk to my mates and see if they can help us with the other aspects of your magick. I’m still learning, so I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, but I’ll definitely try too.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Princess Ravina,” Batsil states. “You’ve come a long way from when you first commenced under my tutelage.”

The blush that has only just faded makes a return as I mutter my thanks.

We spend about an hour focusing on our magick. I’m able to summon and hold all my elements for about twenty minutes each. I spend time shaping and reshaping, expanding and shrinking, blowing and hardening, manipulating them every which way, and I know I could hold them longer but I don’t want to wear myself out. You never know when you’ll need to be on top of your game these days. This very training yard was the site of the most recent attempt on my life, after all.

Roz moves in my peripherals. When I glance over at him, he smirks and holds a single finger to his lips before pointing at Lennox who is absentmindedly playing with fire while staring at my sister. I sense the moment when Roz taps into his magick, and suddenly Lennox is swatting at himself and hopping around the field.

“Rozen Stoll!” Batsil yells, blasting him with water from the trough. “We are not dueling.”

He laughs. “Aw, I was just helping him refocus, that’s all.”

“Behave yourself.” She glares at him before going back to instructing Cynder.

“What was that for?” Lennox snaps, turning his ire on Roz.

He shrugs. “You seemed a little distracted, as I said. Are you feeling more focused now or should I ask Cynder if she wants to duel with you?” He smirks. “Oh Cyn—”

Lennox slaps his hand over his mouth. “Enough. I just…” His gaze bounces to me before his cheeks pinken. “Just leave it be. I’m focused. See?” He shoots water right into Roz’s face making him sputter.

Batsil pretends she doesn’t see. At this point I’m struggling to contain my laughter as I chastise them half-heartedly. “Alright you two, knock it off. Don’t wear yourselves down before our scrimmage with Batsil.”

Roz rolls his eyes, but it’s not long after that the Captain calls for our attention. “Alright, the same rules apply. If you get one hit on me, I’ll tell you why Lord Aemon has summoned me here.”

I feel my magick settle within me as I prepare, power crackling at my fingertips as I widen my stance and bend slightly at the knees. My eyes meet Roz and Lennox, then Cynder who appears nervous.

From what Talyn has shared, she’s never dueled or used her magick much, but from what I’ve seen with Batsil today, I know she will do just fine. My lips stretch into a friendly grin as I give her an encouraging nod.

She takes a deep breath and centers herself.

Roz focuses and I know he’s attempting to break through her mental shields and after a moment, Lennox and I jump in. I lean down and my fingers dig into the earth as I force it to unsteady her feet as Lennox uses the water from the troughs to try to distract her.

Cynder watches for a moment and jumps in with little hesitation, encircling her with growing flames.

Within a blink, Batsil has the flames extinguished, the ground stable and the water frozen with her mastery over all three elements. “Come on. You can do better than that. Think. You have the tools. It should not take four of you to bring me down!”

It hits me then. The words that Killian has drilled into me time and time again. Just because we are training Elemi magick—minus Roz—doesn’t mean I can’t use everything in my arsenal. A savage grin takes over my face as I drill deep into the abyss that is the magick well at the center of my chest. I don’t need to just use my Elemi magick. I can use all of them.

A wave of pride comes through my bonds.

I pull at the shadows and wrap them around each of Batsil’s limbs so she’s unable to use her magick as I run at her. Her eyes widen in shock but she grins proudly, and within the next second her face drops as I shatter her mental barriers and confine her in earth, just like what I did to Cresida and Evera during the second trial. Fire hardens it and I let the shadows go. I pull my sword from its sheath and drive it towards the exposed part of her neck, stopping just as the blade touches her flesh.

My chest is heaving and she’s staring up at me with pride. “Now that’s what our Queen is capable of.”

Roz and Lennox cheer and whoop behind me as I release Batsil from her earthen containment. Roz runs over to me and scoops me up, swinging me around. “That was the most badass thing I’ve ever seen in my life. You know… if you don’t count you standing in front of a dragon, surrounded by wraiths with a flaming sword.”

I laugh and pat him on the shoulder for him to put me down. My cheeks hurt from grinning when I turn to our teacher. “Now it’s your turn to explain.”

She shrugs with a mischievous glint in her eye that makes her seem so much younger. “I’m the daughter of your mother’s captain of her Royal Guard. My father was the one to train me before he died protecting your family. I grew up here in Vathia and joined Lord Zorn’s warriors as a young female. I was at Phixmery because Aemon needed an insider to keep an eye on things, but since your return I agreed to come back to train you.”