"They want to help. See, until recently, Bracken has been our de facto leader. I was his second-in-command, or the top of the combat students. One of their leaders, I guess you could say."
"Ok?" I asked, wondering where he was going with this.
But he leaned over the table. "Torian, those people are my friends. They'vebeenmy friends. Sure, maybe Beverly, Marlowe, Asher, and Iris hang out with other people, but they're still friends. Pascal, Bran, Axel, and Daivon? They were my only friends before you dragged me into the court."
"Technically, Rain and Aspen did that," I reminded him.
He grunted, making it clear he wasn't worried about the details. "I'm saying they all know Rain's my girlfriend, Tor. Aspen's her best friend, and I've made it clear she's my friend as well. And yeah, I've slipped a few times and called her my partner. Doesn't take much to figure out what that means, right?"
"So you've risked their living arrangements because you can't keep your mouth shut?" I asked, wishing I hadn't even as the words left my mouth.
Keir just chuckled, making it clear he knew me much too well. "No. If they told anyone, it would be Bracken or Ms. Rhodes. Both know, so there are layers of protection there. All I'm saying is the sentinels aremyfriends. My court, in a way. They've got my back, and I've got theirs. That's why the guys are helping. It's why they're all so willing to respect Rain as our leader."
"And I can't trust them," I said softly.
"You can't trust anyone," he pointed out. "But theyarehelping, and so far, they haven't heard anything overt aboutAspen's title. They have heard a few people being surprised you and Aspen aren't at each other's throats."
"Not good," I grumbled. "They expect us to fight each other? That's not going to happen!"
"But we know about it," he said. "We also know people are scared of you - with good reason."
I felt a little smile touch my lips. "Good."
Then we got down to work. My control was back. Aspen's had become impeccable. That should've been enough to have me kicked back to my literature class, but Ms. Rhodes didn't seem worried about it, so Keir and I began to push the boundaries.
I wanted to see what I could do. He wanted to learn how much he could block. Down in the Never, we wouldn't destroy anything if we messed up, so the pair of us began trying larger and larger conjurations, yet for every single thing I could do, Keir could contain it easily.
Not even Aspen could do that.
I pondered this for the rest of the day, waiting until my final class to ask Ms. Rhodes about it. Since only me, Wilder, Aspen, and two other significant magic users were in this course, I felt this was the safest place to ask.
"How can Earth magic beat mine?"
She smiled at me. "I don't know. Figure it out, Torian. You have a whole class to do that every morning." And then she carried on with her lesson.
I was devising things Keir and I should try, just to test his limits, when the three of us made the walk out to the gym. Unable to help myself, I tucked Aspen under my arm, hooking my elbow around her neck while we walked across the open grass. Wilder hovered behind her, his eyes jumping around like he was on guard duty, even though he didn't say a thing.
And she told me all about the people who fumbled over her title. Some called her a lady, or simply "Highness" and othervariations from movies. She'd heard "liege" and "Matron," which had resulted in her laughing in their face. And yet, it all seemed to be good. They weren't spitting at her - or she just was hiding those stories from me.
Which meant this was fine. We were ok. Revealing who we were hadn't endangered either of us any more than we'd been before. Sadly, I couldn't stop thinking that just because it hadn't happened yet didn't mean it wouldn't. Someone had to be making plans. There would always be a person ready to stab us in the back.
So when Keir told me to work with Pascal, my mind wasn't in the right place. This guy! He knew too much about us. He'd eased his way in too well. Everyone liked him, but Keir had said he felt like he didn't have any friends. He'd been alone before we included him, which meant this guy wasn't the friend Keir tried to claim.
"Let's try some simple blocks and parries to warm up," Pascal suggested.
"Call it," I told him, trying to find any hint of treachery on his face or in his eyes.
"Go!" Pascal said, moving forward with impressive skill.
But I'd been fencing since I could hold a blade. Back then, I'd had all the best protective gear, and we'd used real swords. The Queen's son didn't fear something as mundane as a blade, my mother had chided. I shouldn't be worried about a few bruises, she'd warned.
So I pushed in. Blocks and parries, huh? Well, if that was what he wanted, I'd give him things to stop or deflect. I'd give him all the attacks he desired!
I thrust, I lunged, and I even slashed. The stick I was wielding was light enough to make this easy, and years of torment made sure my body couldn't forget. I fought, and each time mypractice stick moved, I lost myself a little more in the release of finally being able to justhitsomething.
Wood clacked and clattered. Pascal was retreating before me. Once, I cracked his hand, but he'd simply switched to the other, proving he'd been trained well. Trying to hold back my desire to make someone hurt, I did the same, matching him to keep it fair.
Finally, he had a chance to push me back a step, but one was all he'd get. A prince didn't retreat. That was failure and failure was not allowed. A prince was meant to be perfect. A prince should be the victor.
