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I hobbled into the living room, my strength gone. Whatever training Angelo’s uncle thought we would do today wouldn’t be effective. My body could barely carry me over to him.
Amber was standing beside Torman, scowling at an agitated Mandy.
“Torman, if you need something to do, you can take an extra shift in the detention center.” Mandy’s friendly threat annoyed me.
“After dropping the ‘Deric’s life will be short’ bomb on us, you expect Amber and I to just sit around here?” I snapped. “Where in the rules does it say that Torman can’t train us?”
“Nowhere, it’s just... I was supposed to keep you out of trouble. I don’t think teaching you how to fight would...”
Amber darted forward and pinned Mandy without breaking a sweat. “I already know how to fight. I’m a knight,” she snapped, her eyes filled with hatred. “Now shut up and let me spar with someone that can help me work off my anger. Unless you want me to take it out on you?” Our additional security started laughing.
Torman rolled his eyes. “Do you mind, Rawson?” he asked.
A tall, muscular man with a scar on his cheek stepped forward and plucked Amber off Mandy. “As much as everyone would love to hit Mandy, it isn’t allowed,” he told Amber.
A guard with chocolate-brown skin whistled. “I wish I’d gotten that on tape,” he joked.
“I could report you for that, Amber. Do you want to spend the night in a detention cell?” Mandy demanded. Amber’s hand glowed so brightly that I covered my eyes and stepped back. Mandy swallowed.
“Let’s just hit the gym,” I suggested, not wanting my friend to blow up the place. Mandy cursed but nodded, and Amber’s light vanished.
“I will be telling the king about your attitude, Rawson. I chose the mate I was in love with. You can’t hold Elias’s reaction against me,” she huffed. Huh? There was definitely a sordid story in Mandy’s not-so-distant past. Once I had the courage to talk to Deric, I’d ask him.
Thankfully, the gym was located on the same floor as our suite. It was spacious, with sections holding cardio machines, weights, punching bags, mats, and an indoor track. Torman eyed us with a skeptical expression. He looked so much like Angelo that it hurt. I missed my friend, the culinary genius with a heart of gold. Mira may have been following the lead of an unknown oracle, but I didn’t think that one of our friends should have been collateral damage.
“Sheena, I think you should train with Rawson. He’s one of the professors at the Academy. He’ll work better with a beginner,” Torman decided. “Amber, you’re with me.”
“Can the bag hold up against my punches?” Amber asked.
“Some Najorians are gifted with super strength, so yes,” Mandy hotly said.
Rawson gestured to the track, which made my stomach drop.
“You can’t be serious. I’m allergic to running,” I complained.
Rawson shook his head. “I need to see how fast you are,” he insisted. I nodded and walked over to the track, where Rawson led me through fifteen torturous minutes of stretches. After stretching out my body, he ordered for me to run. I started out by jogging, which wasn’t enough for Rawson the drill sergeant.
“Faster,” he ordered. I forced my legs to go faster, sweat beginning to drip down my face. I huffed and puffed, my sides begging me to stop. By the time I ran two laps, I was about to quit for the day. But when I finished, Rawson shook his head. “Keep running.”
“Um, I’m a fortune teller, not an athlete,” I complained, eying Amber, who was happily punching the bag. Despite what Mandy said, that poor bag was shaking under my friend’s punches. I reminded myself never to get into a fistfight with her. Mandy stood near Amber, her hands on her hips. It was obvious that Amber was trouble to her. “Go on, Sheena. To rescue Jade, you need to be faster than that.” Oh, crap, Rawson was right, but I wanted to argue with him. Anything to prolong the torture. I tamped down the instinct. Instead, I forced myself to continue running, my calves weeping from the exertion. Once I ran eight laps, Rawson walked me over to the water station, where a smiling attendant gave me a cold glass of water. We sat on a bench while I greedily drank.
“Have you lifted any weights before?” he asked.
“Julia bought me twenty-pound dumbbells to use when she was convinced that I was going to be a knight after I ascended. Boy, was she wrong,” I said before finishing my glass.
Rawson sighed. “Tell me more about your castors and who has which powers,” he ordered.
“A knight is strong and can blast people with deadly energy, a carver can carve their energy into anything they want. They are the charmers of our group. An oracle has visions,” I listed.
He nodded. “Your categories are holding you back. Maybe if you stopped thinking in the box, you’d be a lot better at working out,” Rawson suggested. I was too tired to consider his words. Instead, I followed him to the water station to drop off my glass, and we lifted weights.
On the next day, the smell of bacon lured me out of bed, my body begging me not to move. Two days of training told me one thing: I was glad I wasn’t a knight.
I rolled out of bed and noticed something. Deric’s laundry was gone. That meant he was back. Crap. I wasn’t ready to confront him about the whole shortened-lifespan issue. The king had kept Deric and Winston occupied for two days, probably a strategic move. If we weren’t together, we wouldn’t be able to scheme. Little did they know our plan had little to do with escaping the compound.
With nerves dancing in my stomach, I brushed my teeth and headed to the kitchen. Mandy was sitting on the couch beside Torman. I waved at Amber’s sparring partner and walked into the kitchen. Deric was at the table, sipping a mug of coffee. Seeing him made sadness creep over me. I actually started crying. Deric stood and rushed to me, his worried expression making my heart twist. He pulled me into his arms and I clung to him.
“Sheena, did you see something?” he asked. I pulled away from him and forced myself to get it out.
“You should have said something about your shortened lifespan. Deric, because of me you’re going to die. We can’t bond. You—”
Deric held me close, his warmth making the tears come harder. “I’d rather enjoy my life with you than suffer madness. Besides, it’s too late. Our bond formed the minute I felt your emotions,” he said.
“How fair is that? Why be stuck with a human, when there are plenty of Najorians out there? This makes no sense. I can’t believe that the universe is so cruel. I—”
“What are you fighting against what is, sweetheart? Why not just be thankful for what you have?” I buried myself into his chest, treasuring the beating of his heart. He rubbed my back, his touch soothing me. But it didn’t stop my whirling thoughts. There had to be a way for Deric to live longer. Could the guild help us? Did the useless king have an answer?
“Our king isn’t useless,” Mandy shrieked. “How dare you?”
Deric stiffened, then I felt a slight pressure in my head. “Stay out of Sheena’s head, twin killer,” Deric snapped.
“I’m not a twin killer. Just because I wasn’t willing to accept both twins as my mates doesn’t make me a bad person. I only love Cameron,” Mandy cried.
“You didn’t try to stay loyal to, Elias. After bonding with him, you thought that Cameron was the better offer. You insisted that you chose wrong and turned Cameron against his own twin.” Wait up, a girl swapped out one twin for another? What was wrong with her?
“Where is Elias?” I asked.
Deric sighed. “I’ve been trying to mentally reach out to him for almost two years. I think he’s either dead or found a way to block me.”
“It’s probably the latter, since Elias was a civilian,” Mandy cut in. “And everyone is blaming that on me.”
“Civilian?” I asked.
“Every Najorian with two gifts is required to join our military. If the Najorian can only teleport, they are civilians, and will be assigned a career. Elias was a maintenance man.”
“That’s sad,” I said, coming to the conclusion that Elias wasn’t coming back. Though, something told me that there was hope for him.
Deric kissed the top of my head. “You feeling better?” he asked.
“I guess,” I grumbled. He led me to the table and pulled out my chair. I sat and he placed a plate of bacon and toast in front of me. “I’m no Angelo, but the bacon did come out okay.”
“He burned the eggs, so he had to throw them out,” Mandy butted in. I wished that I could be assigned another guard. Instead, I ignored Mandy and thanked Deric for the effort he made. I took a bite of the slightly burned bacon and gobbled it up, along with the buttered toast. Then, Amber and Winston joined us, both of them looking determined.
“The king wants us to meet with the queen in ten minutes,” Winston announced.
“Of course,” Deric responded. Yup, he also wasn’t happy that we were being kept apart. I needed to find a way to fix that. If I was going to make an informed choice, I needed to spend more time with Deric.
