Keir knew we had been practicing together, but we hadn’t expected him to just show up and join us either.
“So you want to be on Jorah’s side then?” Krew asked with a glance at me.
I smirked. He was implying that he and I were the strongest, not he and Keir.
“Nope. I’ll take Owen.”
Owen bowed. “I am honored, Your Princeness. Let’s take these two down a peg or two, shall we?”
“Delighted to,” Keir provided before releasing his magic, the night sky turning bright blue as he and Krew’s magic clashed together.
They’d practiced together often, so it was almost a dance for them to attack one another. The same with Owen and me.
As I turned my attention on Owen, a stick wrapped in bright blue came flying at me. I easily batted it away. Using Krew’s magic as inspiration, I was about to send out my magic like a vine, running along the ground, to pull Owen down. “And here I thought we’d play fair.”
“Never!” Owen yelled.
I knocked away another rock, not even taking the care to notice which color of magic held it as I focused on my magic.
I opened my hand, palm down and released my magic.
Seeing my magic slither along the ground and then thicken as I sent more magic outward had me smiling. Sure enough, while Krew was distracting both of them, my magic wrapped around Owen’s right foot, then the other. Seconds later, as soon as Owen was wrapped up, my magic had also reached Keir, doing the same.
I waited for a moment, sending a steady stream of magic outward, and then when I was satisfied with the strength of my vines, I reached out and tugged on my magic. It was something I’d seen Krew do only once before. Sure enough, my vines of magic pulled Owen and Keir’s legs out from under them. They grunted as they both fell to the ground.
But having anticipated that, I’d also sent out magic to make a soft landing under their heads. I wanted to learn how to wield my magic and help take down the king, but I also didn’t want anyone to get seriously hurt. I didn’t want to almost kill Keir a second time.
“Well that was unexpected,” Keir muttered from the ground. “Wait, did she cushion our fall?”
Owen leaned up on an elbow. “Welcome to fighting Jorah. She kicks your ass while ensuring you don’t break it.”
Keir laughed.
I stole a glance at Krew to find him looking at me with pride.Stop with the feelings, I reminded him.
I’ll have plenty of feelings. Later.
It’s already late and we have a ball tomorrow for a certain two spoiled heirs of Wylan having birthdays.
Well technically it is already my birthday. All the more reason—
He cut off because Owen hit him with magic, sending him sliding off. I sent my own magic off to intercept the green magic, having barely had to think about it.
“I’ve learned,” Owen said where he now stood. “To wait until they are in each other’s heads. They distract each other every time.”
And then we were off again. Instead of using magic on either Keir or Owen, I tried to focus and send out whatever I was imagining to both at the same time. But it took entirely more concentration than I was used to, and ten minutes later, I felt the sheen of sweat on my forehead.
“Love,” Krew called out loud.
“Yes?”
“Let’s not push too far tonight given that we were already practicing before this. End this, would you?”
Knowing exactly what he wanted, I sent my magic out into a dome, surrounding both Owen and Keir. Every night we practiced with Owen, this was how we wrapped things up. I set up the dome, Krew fortified it, and Owen played around with seeing if he could get himself out of it in only a few minutes.
Thus far he’d only succeeded in taking down one of the domes with our combined magic.
“Wow,” Keir muttered. “Impressive.”
