Lark ducked the punch coming toward her face. She spun around to catch the sneak kick coming from a second opponent. After getting a better hold of the leg, she sent the owner flying into her first assailant.

Skin buzzing, she jumped back. She took a deep breath, tried to tap into the energy flowing through her body, stretched her hands toward the force field that sprang up around her, and…

Nothing.

“Argh!” She couldn’t help stamping her foot in frustration. “I was hoping it would help if my adrenaline was pumping.”

Conan shut down the force field around the gym’s wrestling mat. Lark had been trying to tap into her stored energy ever since lunch with Shamira. The two sprawled Spur Corps members she had been sparring untangled themselves and sat up.

“Are you okay?” She came over to give them a hand. “I tried to go gently, but I can’t always gauge my strength correctly.”

“We’re fine, your highness,” they assured her. “The suits Director Cynbel built helped quite a bit.”

Lark studied the matching combat uniforms everyone in the room was wearing. Even Joshua sported the dark brown bodysuit. They were baggy, like a pilot’s flight suit, but covered with thin metal plates that acted as a faraday cage. Or they would if she could ever get her body to work with her. They were fire resistant, difficult for a blade to get through, and even slightly shock absorbent. If her strength got away from her, no one had any serious injuries by the time sparring was over. Plenty of bumps and bruises, but no broken bones…so far.

She walked over to the middle of the gym, between the matted area and gym equipment. Josh and Raphael were studying a live hologram of her body vitals. Her body outline was a light green, her blood was more pink than red, and were the white lines her nervous system? It was a little weird watching the pixilated arms move to put hands its on its waist in sync with her.

If she was touching a power source she could manipulate different forms of energy. But she couldn’t seem to tap into the bio-bots’ stored reserves without that jump start or when she got really startled.

“Your hi–Lark, it’s only been a couple weeks since you got the bio-bots.” Josh reminded her. “Let’s drop this for the moment and focus on the limits of what you can do right now. You still waste a ton of energy every time you manipulate anything. You would be able to last longer and do much more if you learn how to conserve your output.”

Lark frowned but nodded.

“Snowy, leave those alone!” Josh snapped at the tiger cub stalking a stack of books near his leg. “Lark, she’s awake.”

“Sorry.” Lark came over to pick Snowy up. “Leave it.” Lark carried her over to a playpen set up against the far wall. “We really need to get a covering for this thing. It’s way too easy for her to climb out now.” She started up an automatic toy to distract the cub.

“Do you want to practice with fire or electricity?” Shamira joined them.

“I’m tired of failing today. Let’s play with fire,” Lark laughed.

Her elements were fire and electricity. But so far, she had an easier time manipulating small amounts of fire.

A lit candle was brought to the middle of the matted area where Lark sat before Conan set up the force field she insisted on having. Just to be on the safe side.

She held her breath, feeling nervous with everyone watching her every move. She reached her hand out and touched the small flame with her index finger. A slight tickle, then a warm, tingly feeling spread through her hand. Flipping her hand over, she brought half the flame to her palm where the yellow and orange turned to different shades of purple.

“Great,” Josh praised. “Now try making it bigger.”

When she did this, it almost looked like she was creating more fire out of nothing, which really felt like magic. But Josh ruined the illusion by explaining it was the bio-bots’ stored energy that fed it.

Lark concentrated hard, staring at the flickering blaze. Slowly, it grew larger. While she was at it, she formed it into a ball. She hadn’t brought herself to admit it out loud yet, but she loved practicing throwing balls of flame because it made her feel like a player in one of the RPG games Sterling loved to play. Thank goodness she didn’t have to waste time with a lengthy incantation or kata.

“You’re wasting a lot of your stored energy.” Josh’s eyes were glued to the hologram of her, which now showed an infrared scan of her body.

“Try relaxing your muscles,” Raphael piped up. “Don’t concentrate so hard. Breathe slow and deep.”

“The finesse might be a little rougher at first, but for now it’s more important to control the output of energy,” Josh added.

She nodded. She rolled her shoulders, loosening her tense frame. As she did, she tried to tune into what her body was feeling. There was the now familiar buzz and tingle all over. A slight warmth everywhere. Hmm. Maybe if she tried to focus everything into her hand? Long, slow breaths. Relax.

“There we go.” Josh sounded pleased. “That’s getting better.”

Lark gave a soft smile, trying to stay laid back. The ball had gone back to a small flame in her palm, but it looked brighter.

“All right, try making different shapes while staying this relaxed.” Josh instructed. “This will help your control in manipulating the fire and, later, electricity, to move however you want them to.”

She brought it back into a ball of light, then shifted it to a rough pyramid. Sending a long streak of blaze upward and another to the right of her palm, she ended up with a fiery “L” resting in her hand.

Scattered applause stroked her ego.

“You’re still wasting energy.” Josh’s comment brought her back to reality. “But we’re certainly making progress.”

“Oh, Lark, it’s getting near dinnertime.” Shamira’s reminder brought her high spirits crashing down.

Having lost focus, Lark accidentally absorbed the flames. “Ah, thank you.”

“Do you want to walk over together?” Conan asked.

“Sounds good!” She smiled. “I’ll take a quick shower and get dressed into something more appropriate. Meet in my sitting room?”

“Your majesty, good evening.”

Lark’s greeting at dinner felt like an iron gate slamming down on Avi. At least her voice didn’t drip with venom anymore. Either she didn’t hate him quite as much, or she was getting better at hiding her feelings.

Avi sighed as they all sat around the table. He had brought this on himself. Right now, he was just thankful his appointed heir was actually taking her job seriously. She had a strong work ethic and sense of responsibility. Lark had thrown herself into her studies and already had a decent grasp of their current economic standing. She was making educated decisions and showing wise leadership skills by listening to the advice of those with more experience. He could rest easy if he left his beloved kingdom in her young, capable hands.

The last few rulers before him had been too heavily influenced by growing up with the kingdom’s upper class. Between wanting to ingratiate themselves with old childhood chums and being power hungry or lazy, Avi had inherited a country on the brink of ruin. It had taken fifty years of hard work to bring them back to stability and strength. He could trust Lark to continue his legacy. She had a democratic mentality and was more hesitant to abuse her authority as a monarch.

“Thank you for joining us Harold, Conan, Joshua.” Avi nodded at everyone. “Shall we eat?”

“I hear training is coming along well,” Harold said to Lark.

“Thank you.” Lark flashed a grin at Josh and Conan before turning to Harold. “It’s been interesting so far. Although the list of things to do and learn seems never-ending.”

“I would imagine so,” Harold chuckled.

“We need to set an introduction date,” Avi said. “We’ve promised the heir would be coming home soon. Now that Larkspur is finally here, the people really should get to know her as soon as possible.”

Lark looked nervous.

“Joshua, when do you think we can have a debut?” Avi asked.

Joshua thought for a moment. “I think she’ll be prepared enough within two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” Lark yelped. “Are you sure?”

“You don’t have to know everything,” Avi assured her. “If you’ve got the basics of etiquette and a grasp of current events, you’ll be fine for a debut.”

“If you say so.” She sounded doubtful.

“You can think of it as a week-long holiday from studying,” Harold offered.

Her eyes widened. “A week? This is going to take a whole week? What goes on in a debut?”

“Oh, at least,” Avi said. “There’s so much to do! First will be a short press conference so the entire country can see you. Then there will be a round of parties and events—” He stopped when he noticed Lark’s face paling. “Are you okay?”

She swallowed. “Press? I won’t have to make a speech, will I?”

Avi shared a confused look with Harold. “Well, yes. Speeches kind of come with the territory.”

“I don’t have the best track record when it comes to standing in front of a bunch of people and trying to talk. Or breathe…” Her voice sounded the most faint and frightened Avi had ever heard it.

“Lark?” Conan studied her.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice wavered a bit. “I’m just reliving horrible memories of attempts at presenting classroom assignments.”

“Don’t worry about it for the moment. We’ll work on that part together.” Avi realized belatedly that wouldn’t exactly be soothing for Lark. He frantically looked around for a change of subject. When he locked gazes with Harold, he tried to beg for help with his eyes.

Harold, Conan, and Joshua overlapped each other.

“Um, one of the events will be a martial arts demonstration. That would be interesting, right?”

“We’re going to have to start training Snowy if she’s to be introduced along with you.”

“There will be delicious banquets throughout the week.”

Avi dropped his head into his hands. But Lark’s laugh had him peeking at her.

“I’m sorry. I’m fine,” she assured them. “I just get really nervous and lightheaded when I have to give speeches. Thank you for distracting me.”

Avi sighed in relief. “Did you go over dress patterns?”

Lark nodded, color coming back into her face. “At the time, I was told outfits were going to be designed, but I didn’t pay close attention to what they were for. After picking out some colors, I told them I trusted their fashion sense better than mine and focused on other things.”

“That’s understandable.” Avi smiled softly. “You’ve had your plate full. It’s tradition for the Kynaston family to wear wisteria purple for their debut. I think it will look very nice with your new, beautiful eye colors.”

Avi didn’t understand why Conan jumped slightly at that. Joshua tried to give a subtle “No!” gesture. What was wrong?

Avi startled when he looked back at Larkspur. Fury radiated off her, her sapphire and silver eyes glowing. Well, that was new. But why was she so angry?