“See! You won’t engage in combat,” he taunted. “You keep running from it.” He threw a fake jab at my head and I ducked and circled him again, backing away. Kael’s lip went up in a knowing smirk. He was right; even now I was letting him lead me back toward the training arena. He made a motion and Garit tossed a practice sword to both of us.

“Come on, Thalia. Fight back,” he argued. “You will never overcome anything if you keep letting yourself be the victim.”

“I don’t let myself be the victim,” I retorted.

“Yes, you do. During the training exercise, you fought from a distance. A bow and arrow can only help you so far. You would never have survived the exercise, if it weren’t for me.” Rushing me, Kael swung at me. I blocked and moved away. “You would still be a prisoner if it weren’t for me.” Moving around to block my retreat, Kael tried to egg me on into fighting.

“You’re weak!” he spat. “Pathetic. This is a world where only the strong survive, Thalia. And you will never survive if you can’t engage in combat.” My arms felt like jelly as I tried to continue fighting him, but he was both stronger and faster than me.

Looking at him as he verbally attacked me, I felt the truth of the words sink into my soul like an anchor, and my body felt like it was encased in lead. Kael changed the grip on his practice sword, a signal that he was about to do a dangerous finishing move. “You have to learn to rely on yourself.”

The world seemed to slow down, as I waited, counting the seconds off in my head, my sword at the ready. Knowing Kael, this would be a feint for the head and then a stab for the heart, and he would expect me to block it. Tensing, feet planted squarely, I waited in anticipation.

Rushing me, he brought his sword up the same time I brought mine up one handed, chest height, blade parallel with the ground, glinting in the sun. When he pulled back to stab for the chest, I made eye contact with him and I could see the puzzlement in his eyes as he moved to thrust the blade forward the same time I let go of mine. Smiling, I watched his eyes widen as my sword fell to the ground, and the momentum of his powerful thrust brought the sword toward my chest.

Closing my eyes, I waited for the thrust of the sword followed by the waves of pain I expected to come. Instead, I opened them to see Kael, eyes wide and staring at me, breathing heavily as drips of sweat beaded across his brow in nervousness.

Glancing down, I saw he held the pointed practice blade mere millimeters from my heart. It took a lot of skill and concentration as a fighter to be able to pull the strike that close to the target.

Smirking at him, I couldn’t help but taunt him. “I can’t be made a victim if I’m not afraid to die.” Pulling power slowly toward me, I concentrated it on the sword and made the blade shatter into a dozen pieces, using power to shield Kael and me from any damage. Kael looked at the wooden handle left in his hand and grinned.

“Very good, Thalia.”

Nodding my head, I turned and walked away, feeling myself start to shake. Using that much concentrated power after a few hours in the Denai arena made me weak and I knew I would have to sit.

“Wait!” I kept my position as Kael ran up to me. Placing his hand on my shoulder he leaned into me and whispered.

“DON’T you EVER do that again. If it were anyone other than me, they wouldn’t have been able to stop that. It was suicide.”

Clenching my jaw, I glared at him and used power to send a jolt into his hand, causing him to retract it. “Don’t ever call me weak again.” Now knowing that I was going to faint, I hurried around a corner and leaned against a wall and felt stars fill my vision. I did not pull that power from another source, and now I was paying for it.

Chapter 28

My dream started out peaceful. I was running in a field with Joss. We were kicking off our shoes and splashing water at each other in the lake. Joss picked me up and playfully threw me over his shoulder; kicking and hitting his back he dropped me into the lake. Gasping for breath, I emerged sputtering water and splashing him. He scooped me out and carried me to the shore. Looking deep into my eyes he leaned in for what would be our first kiss.

Closing my eyes, I tilted my head to meet his in a slow tender kiss. The kiss deepened, becoming passionate, grabbing his hair I pulled him closer to me so the kiss wouldn’t end. When we reluctantly parted, I looked deep into Joss’ eyes realizing they weren’t green but stormy blue. My hands weren’t clutching Joss’ blonde hair but were buried in Kael’s dark hair.

Jerking awake, I sat up in bed and pressed a hand to my heart to try and calm the frantic beating. How did I end up back in my own bed? The last thing I remembered was passing out behind the stable. Luckily I was still in my day clothes, but it bothered me that someone must have carried me to my room and put me in my bed.

I shivered, stepped out of my bed and went over and threw another log on the fire. Whoever it was at least started a fire, but now it had slowly started to die down. Grabbing a blanket from the bed, I curled up on my sofa and stared into the fire. It had to be close to two in the morning. A slight knock on my door drew my attention and I opened it, somehow knowing that it would be Kael.

Kael stood outside the door and just being near him made my heart flutter apprehensively. It must be because of the dream. I involuntarily shivered at the thought of kissing him.

“I can hear that you’re up. Is everything all right?” he asked. His eyes showed a hint of worry, and then I saw it disappear behind an unreadable face.

“No, it is not all right. How did I get here?” I answered angrily.

“I found you passed out behind the stable and even though you are a nuisance and a pain in my side, you didn’t deserve to be left there. Though I probably should have after the stunt you pulled this afternoon.”

“But why to my room, why didn’t you take me to the Healer’s wing?”

His eyes narrowed at the mention of healers. I hate healers, so I bypassed the main hallways, went up the back stairway and brought you here.” His mouth twitched. “I thought you would be grateful?”

I studied him thoughtfully; maybe I wasn’t being fair to him. “Why are you here?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“I’m here because I was asked to be your guard.” His answer was clipped. His body language portrayed his lie.

I was disgusted by the betrayal, after everything we had been through; the least he could do was tell me the truth. “You’re lying. There is another reason you’re here, and you won’t tell me. Is it because of the Septori? Do you know something that you aren’t telling anyone else?”

I could almost hear the frustration in Kael as he ground his teeth in anger. His silence was the answer, I needed.

“Fine, you know what! I’m tired of covering for you. I’m going to the Adepts to tell them that you were in the prison with me, that you have been here under false pretenses. I must have been mad to try and cover for you.” I threw the blanket off of my shoulders and headed for the door.

“What makes you think I haven’t already told them? I’m not stupid, they would have found out eventually. I don’t need a brat like you to lie for me.”

I turned and pointed my finger at the door, “If you are not going to tell me the truth, then leave. Joss can guard me.”