Poppy. Catherine is saying something to her, likely trying to rile her up so she isn’t thinking straight.
“I bet she wins. If I win, I want the wine, and if I lose, I’ll cook for you for a week,” Ryker replies.
“Done deal,” Seb answers.
“Are you a good cook?” I ask Ryker just as Finn blows the whistle.
“The best. Let me come over and show you,” he quietly whispers to me, his voice full of sexual promises. It’s not just his cooking he wants to show me, that’s for sure. I shake my head, not giving him an answer to that as I watch my friend. Poppy moves quicker than she ever has before, dodging Catherine’s moves like she was born to do so. Taking my advice, all she does is avoid and dodge, slowly wearing Catherine out. I grin when I see Catherine is getting out of breath and a layer of sweat covers her skin. Her movements become a little slower, and Poppy goes in for the kill. Dodging Catherine’s punch, she swoops under her arm and punches Catherine hard in the stomach. Swinging around, she throws herself onto Catherine, knocking her face forward onto the ground, and a crackling smack of her face hitting the ground fills the air. I hold my breath as Poppy stands up, and Catherine rolls over and sits up, blood pouring down from her nose. Finn blows the whistle, and Poppy jumps in the air before running back to me.
“Fuck,” Seb mutters out while Ryker looks happy as fuck. Poppy jumps at me, hugging me so tightly as she jumps with joy.
“I can’t believe it!” she squeals.
“Well done, Poppy,” Ryker says next to us.
“I’m so proud!” I say, feeling so happy for her as she lets me go.
“Sebastian, Daesyn, you’re up next!” Finn calls out.
“Don’t break him, will you, babe?” Ryker jokes, and Seb punches him hard on his arm as he walks past. I chuckle and walk behind Seb to the middle of the clearing.
“I’m not going easy on you this time, vixen,” he states.
“I don’t expect it, Sebby,” I reply, and his eyes burn with the joy of the competition. Finn walks closer to us, his arms crossed tightly.
“As everyone here is now quite well trained in combat, I want us to move onto the next part of our training. Shadow magic,” he shouts so everyone can hear. “There are no limits to what you can do, and the first one to be knocked out, loses.”
“About time,” Seb mutters with a grin.
I wink at him. “This will be fun.”
Finn shakes his head at us, walking back to the edge of the clearing and blowing the whistle. I immediately call all the shadows to me, creating a bubble-like barrier around my body, just in time for Seb to throw a bunch of shadow magic my way. I stumble a little from the sheer force, but my magic holds, though my control on it slips a little bit.
Do not lose control right this moment, Dae. Not in front of them all.
I stretch my hands out to my sides and slam them forward, making a shockwave of shadow magic blast out of me. Seb isn’t quick enough to block it, and it sends him flying backwards, crashing into a tree. I don’t give him a second as I stretch my hands out, wrapping shadows around two trees nearby. I lift my hands, the shadows ripping the trees from the roots, and I throw them at him. Seb tries to escape, but the trees crash down on him, boxing him in, and I grin when nothing happens for a second.
Then the ground starts to shake. I struggle to stand as the trees blast away from Seb in a swirl of purple and black magic. Surrounding Seb is a shield of shadow and Seelie magic, and Seb is lost in the power. Purple and black veins of magic cover his arms and face, and his eyes glow a bright purple colour just like mine do when I use fae magic.
“Enough!” Finn roars, running to us, but Seb is already running at me, magic spitting and flickering purple embers in his path. Seb crashes into me like a bulldozer, and I gasp, flying backwards across the clearing and rolling to a stop. My magic roars to life, and this time I struggle to do anything to stop it coming out, stop myself from losing control. No one can see my fae magic and shadow magic together, they