at the notes in front of him. “To those mages, no life matters. Nothing matters but power and control.”
“Oh.”
And who was right in the end? The curse seemed to smirk. What do you think, creature? The West is nothing. The plague took millions of those precious lives in the space of a few years. If their lives mattered so much, write about that.
“Thank you.” My voice was barely above a whisper.
Tavar didn’t seem to hear.
I took out my pencil and made a show of writing a few sentences, hoping he’d warm toward me, but he never did.
When I went home for the evening, I felt sick and bereft, like the moment had stolen what little warmth remained in my ugly, broken life.
I should have learned by now not to be so hungry for warmth.
~
“Who’s the mage this time?” Tavar took a long swig from his canteen.
“Um …” I found myself staring as a droplet of water traced the contours of his throat before disappearing into his rumpled training shirt.
“Bri?” He watched me, an odd look on his face. “Are you well?”
“Of course.” I turned away and downed the last gulp of water in my canteen, then tossed it to the side of the training mats.
The large, low-ceilinged training hall was quiet. Most of the other recruits had gone home an hour earlier, but Tavar and I were still sparring, preparing for a big curse-breaking test coming up the next day.
On the other side of the room, Raven was working with a small group of brand-new recruits still fumbling through their first attempts to break curses in the middle of hand-to-hand combat. The combination of the two skills was difficult, which was why I was still practicing with Tavar.
“I was the mage last time.” I checked my braid, then shoved a few loose chunks of hair into the tie at the end. “Your turn.”
“Fine, fine. If you think you can handle it.” Tavar still looked wary, but he took the vial of practice curses from me without argument. “Ready?”
I had to stop paying so much attention to Tavar. He was just another recruit, practically a tutor to me, since he’d helped my performance so much since we’d started working together. There was no reason I should be watching him drink water like it was the most exciting moment of my day.
I shook myself, then rolled my shoulders and got into a defensive crouch. I slid my obcillo crystal into my pocket, then adjusted the fabric of my pants so it would be easy to remove quickly.
Work fast, creature, the curse hissed. No mistakes. You will not enjoy the consequences if that crystal comes near me.
I gritted my teeth. “Ready.” Three years of training to break curses without revealing my own curse, clutching obcillo crystals in secret, nightly drills until my fingers bled, and Elektra’s magic still expected me to fail every time I sparred at the Sentinels compound.
Tavar sprang forward and struck at my jaw.
I dodged easily, expecting the move, then darted in close and tried to subdue the arm where he held the vial.
He twisted out of my hold and put distance between us, laughing as we circled each other. “You tried the same move last time. Got to get creative,” he taunted.
“I’m just practicing the new techniques we learned for our test.” I felt the curse’s annoyance with me pulse in my chest. “Go ahead, get creative, show-off.”
He feigned one side, then went for the other, ripping the stopper out of the vial as I shot out a leg to trip him. He went down, but not before tossing a dash of silvery, immobilizing liquid onto my left side.
Oh, wonderful. Now I had to a count of seven before the curse would take hold, which meant I actually had a count of five before the new curse would be deep enough into my body to reach my other curse.
I’d learned from practicing alone in my room that if that happened, it would make the obcillo crystal smoke and shatter trying—and failing—to break Elektra’s stronger curse at the same time. If anyone saw it, the curse would be given away.
One, two—
I dug for my obcillo crystal as Tavar tripped me from his new position on the mat. I hit the ground hard, the hand in my pocket wrapped around my obcillo crystal and unable to break my fall.
Three, four—
I didn’t bother to remove the crystal or roll to my other side to defend the next blow, which came quickly against