I walk over and put my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him. “I promise you I will find him a mender. It may take a while, but I will make it my personal mission to get him back to the brother you know and love.” I give his shoulder a firm shake, drawing his eyes to me. “Alright?”
“Alright,” he accepts with a sigh that makes me think he has little faith in me.
For whatever reason, I feel a deep responsibility for Emeric. Maybe it’s because I see his potential or because it’s my father’s fault Elias got hurt. I’m not sure. But the more time I spend training him, the more I feel an innate need to be the older brother he’s missing now. It’s a role I never got the chance to play but I’ll do my best to be that for him. If that means finding a way to get Elias back to being himself, then that’s what I’ll do.
“Now, you wanna learn how I disarmed you so easily?”
The classic Emeric smile that was missing earlier spreads across his face. “Hell yeah! Amaya won’t even see it coming next time.”
“Just promise me you’ll make sure I’m around to witness it.”
“You got it, Boss.”
When my head finally hits the pillow, I can feel the thoughts of the day instantly come rushing forward. If tomorrow goes badly and Damien doesn’t make it, I don’t know what that will mean for Reign. Regardless of everything that has happened between the two of them, I know she still has love for him. And although Henry was able to heal the scars that marked up her body, the scars that no one can see still remain. She’s already experienced more loss than one person should. Losing Damien now might just break her.
As the late night hours tick by, my mind becomes restless. Eventually, I give up and head to the Center. If my mind won’t tire, then maybe I can force my body to.
While sparring with Emeric earlier, I realized just how much I’ve neglected the double-ended sword over the years. Even now, as I twist it in my hand, I can feel that it’s not natural. At least not as natural as my sword of shadows or a longsword. The two ends should feel the same when wielding it, but I can tell that the lower blade feels disconnected from me.
A loud creak sounds from the Center doors and pulls my focus.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t know anyone—” Reign stops mid-sentence when she realizes it’s me she’s speakingto.
“I was just about to leave. The Center’s all yours.” I know I promised her no more lies, but this one seems harmless. The least I can do is give her space to work out her feelings on her own.
“Don’t go.”
For a moment, I think I’ve heard her wrong, but when I look up to meet her gaze, she’s looking at me with pleading eyes.
“Are you sure?”
She starts to make her way over to me. “I’ve been a prisoner to my thoughts the last few hours. I could use a distraction.”
“Then pick your poison.” I motion to the area where the other weapons are stored. I expect her to go after the usual daggers, but to my surprise she unsheathes one of the other double-ended swords. “Bold choice.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not my favorite but if I was still training at the Sector, I’m sure there would be some overly persistent prince lecturing me about spending too much of my time practicing with the same weapons.”
“Sounds like a prick.”
She spins the two blades in a circle. “You have no idea.”
I let out a silent laugh. “Where would you like to start?”
“No matter how much I practice with this thing, I can’t seem to get control. It feels like it’s wielding me rather than the other way around.”
“Let me see.”
I watch closely as she moves the weapon around, switching back and forth between hands, the tip, occasionally scraping along the mat.
“Okay, okay.” I stop her when she almost cuts her shin.
“Give it to me. How bad was it?” she asks, tilting her head in a way that is annoyingly adorable.
“I’ve seen worse.” I take a step closer to her. “But I’ve also seen better.”
“Lovely.”
My smile is impossible to hide, and it only seems to irritate her.
