Page 77 of A Thread of Breath and Bone

The light fractures. Not an explosion. Not fire. Just…wrong. The glow stutters, flickers, then collapses inward, leaving the orb dim and inert in my hand. Silence crashes down on the three of us. My heart hammers as I stare at it. My throat tightens. I didn’t lose control. I lost connection.

When I look up, Professor Ainslyn’s expression has gone grim. “That is not a discipline issue.”

I swallow. “Then what is it?”

He doesn’t answer immediately.

Ryker steps closer, his presence a steady weight at my back, his hand hovering near my wrist like he’s afraid to touch the orb and afraid not to touch me.

“Its capacity. Your power is there. Growing, even. But you—” Professor Ainslyn’s gaze meets mine. “—are not yet whole.”

The words land heavy.

I curl my fingers around the orb, shame and fear tangling in my chest. “So until the lifeforce is restored…”

“You’re asking a star to burn in a mortal body,” Ainslyn finishes. “No human has ever possessed such power.”

Ryker’s jaw tightens.

I force a breath, lifting my chin even as dread coils low in my stomach. “Then teach me how to survive it. Because the war isn’t going to wait for me to be ready.”

Professor Ainslyn shakes his head. “For now, you must learn to recognize the place where your magic originates. It should be instinctual. When your lifeforce is restored, control will follow.” He pauses, his gaze moving between Ryker and me. “Until then, we train the body.”

I want to argue that being able to punch someone isn’t going to win a war—but he’s right. Survival doesn’t wait for perfection. And the weight of it all presses in on me, sharp and relentless. Not one great burden, but many small ones piling up until it’s hard to breathe.

I set the orb a safe distance away and step into position across from Ryker, my feet falling into place exactly the way Trysten drilled into me.

Ryker lifts his hands, bracing.

I drive my fists into his palms, warming up. He doesn’t even flinch. Every strike lands lighter than it should, like my strength is still only half of what it needs to be. Ryker’s eyes never leave mine as he steadies my blows, like he’s anchoring me even when my magic can’t.

After I’ve done enough of those, we move on to a few self-defense moves. Starting with trying to get Ryker’s grasp off my clothes. Thankfully, this is another thing Trysten covered. I grip my shirt with one hand and shove Ryker’s hand away with the other. When he doesn’t budge, I scream—startling him—and try again. I’m successful the second time.

“Well played.” He chuckles, a hint of pride in his eyes. When he wraps his arms around me, memories of that first night in the gym flood my mind. I had been fighting our Bond, and he had somehow, in the course of a few minutes, managed to get behind my defenses.

“This feels familiar.” I whisper.

“This time I suggest you don’t pull me down on top of you.”

“That…was an accident. I learned from that mistake, trust me.”

“Any day now,” Professor Ainslyn says from the side.

Ryker’s arms tighten around my shoulders, holding my arms pinned at my side. I drop quickly, hook my foot behind his, and roll out from his grasp, spinning quickly to kick him in his manhood.

He dodges, but the look of surprise on his face has me giggling and parading around, teasing him. He has no clue that after that night, it was the first thing I learned from Trysten. I made a promise to myself to never be weak again. I meant it. Not just mentally, but physically.

Ryker looks at me like he’s never seen me before, and I savor it. It’s rare to surprise him.

“Well done, Princess,” Professor Ainslyn claps as he stands beside us. “It seems you’re not as far behind as I thought.” He smiles. “Let’s move on to swords.”

Chapter 28

Ryker

We’re seated around the family dining table, and I find myself unable to look away from her. I don’t smile—that’s a luxury I can’t quite afford with the images of the Alpha team’s blacked-out screens still burned into my mind—but I feel a rare, simmering heat in my chest. Raea has been training harder than she let on. She kept her morning sessions with Ezra and her evenings “meditating her magic” with Professor Ainslyn a secret, wanting to surprise me.

She succeeded.