Page 21 of The Star's Sword
I groaned, but had to agree to the hardest challenges I could. Cayne said that confidence, the belief that I could do anything, would be all important.
I couldn’t afford to be unconfident now. Or resistant to pain. Not with so many beings counting on me.
“I’m sorry, love, I can’t go easy on you,” Zadis said, pulling his rapier out and getting in position around me with the others.
Samael just nodded at me, readying his attack.
“This is good anyway,” Cayne said, stepping back from the formation to watch. “You never know when a celestial will use an illusion of one of your friends against you. You have to be willing to hurt anything coming to hurt you.” He eyed my sword. “You got your night function off?”
I nodded. I was always careful about that, not wanting to kill my friends in a way it would be dangerous to even risk bringing them back from.
Though I’d been educated on the dangers and risks of using the resurrecting power of the morning function of my sword, I had to admit it was nice to have.
The thing was, all of my friends had already agreed I could never use it for them, since I was the Morningstar and there was always a chance that if I couldn’t find the person I’d gone to save I’d be trapped in the void forever.
“I’m ready,” I said, as my friends all prepared to attack.
Zadis leapt in first, looking oddly healthy after our odd night together. For a second, I made eye contact, then his wings spread, teal and green in the sun like butterfly wings, as he flew at me in warrior form, and I slammed my sword up to meet his, spinning to the side to dodge a spell shot from his other hand.
Samael was there to join the fight, and I clashed with him and then Mor, allowing myself to sink into a rhythm of moving faster than I’d ever thought possible, while also listening to Cayne’s shout-outs.
By the time we were done, I’d only had three dismemberments, which were quickly repaired without even taking more damage between blows.
Hours later, after a dozen bouts with speeches and feedback, we were off to eat and rest, and while Samael made snacks and drinks appear from nowhere on a fancy table using his celestial ability to make something out of nothing, I saw Cayne walk over to feed Simon.
I was drinking a red punch drink Sam said humans used to drink in movies to recover from sports when I became aware of footsteps walking toward us, entering the field area from the direction of Simon’s keep.
Even from here, I could make out a tall figure, maybe taller than Mor, and blond hair, elegantly pulled back.
Piercing blue eyes, much lighter than mine even from here, nearly white. Pale skin and a haughty bearing.
She was wearing white workout clothes that looked more suited to lounging than fighting.
And she was walking toward us with one hand on a long blade at her side.
I walked out in front of my friends as I heard Simon let out a sigh. I looked over to see him let go of Cayne’s arm he’d been about to bite, and gently push his friend back as he stood to walk over with me to greet the visitor.
Cayne’s irritation was palpable as he walked over to join me in staring at the newcomer. “What is she doing here?” He growled. “She better not be trying to get inside information.”
“Vasara,” Simon said, clearly trying to solve the tension. “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
Vasara kept walking until she was standing right across from me, and her gaze swept over me, somewhat contemptuously.
I instantly felt dirty and bloody and inelegant, compared to her composure.
But the next second, I wondered if I’d just imagined her disapproval because she gave me a warm smile.
“I’m sorry to disrupt your…training, I suppose this is.” She smiled at me. “But I wanted to come apologize to Cleo for yesterday. I was rude. After all, we’re all in this together. Might as well be friends.”
Cayne let out a disbelieving snort, but Simon nodded.
“Friends are good,” Simon said. “Look, Cleo, I need to feed and your friends need to recover. You have more energy than all of us. Why don’t you take Vasara to see the animals in the enclosure? I’m sure she’d like that.”
There was a tension in the air that made me curious why people were so nervous about having her around.
Was an eighth realm celestial really such a big deal?
I saw her eyes wandering over my friends, from Simon to Zadis to land on Samael, hungrily if I wasn’t imagining it.
