Page 2 of Heart of Night and Fire

Zarya threw up a hand. “Oh, everything is dangerous, according to you.”

“If anyone saw you use your magic—”

“Who’s going to see me, Row? There’s no one out here.”

His mouth flattened with displeasure. They’d had this conversation a hundred, no, a thousand times before.

Not waiting for his response, she turned to walk away.

“Come back. It’s time for your training,” Row called after her.

She stopped in her tracks and sucked in a long breath that did nothing to calm the rage that frothed in her chest like a bubbling cauldron of acid.

There were days she fantasized about killing them both in their sleep. Not that Row treated her poorly. Not exactly. He’d tried, in his own graceless way, to mimic a sort of paternal presence in her life, but his endless secrecy chafed like sand lodged in her boots. She was approaching her twenty-first year and was no longer a child. She didn’t need this brand of protection anymore.

But if she did kill them, she’d be even more alone than she was now. She also worried Row’s magic wouldn’t release upon his death, and then she’d be trapped here forever. But she wanted freedom. She wanted answers. Mostly, she wanted to experience something other than this tiny strip of coastline that made up her entire world.

She spun around to face her oppressors with her jaw clenched. “Fine. Let’s fucking train, then.”

Row’s nostrils flared as Zarya charged for Aarav without further warning just as he swiftly drew the weapon hanging from his hip. With her talwar still gripped in her hand, she swung it down overhead. He blocked it at the last moment, their blades clashing, the harsh sound shattering through the silent swamp. She’d caught him by surprise, forcing Aarav to stumble from the momentum of his swing. She allowed him only half a second to recover before she swung again.

“Get your shoulder up,” Row ordered as she spun around and thrust at Aarav. She wasn’t trying to kill him, but if an accident were to happen, then it certainly would be no skin off her nose.

“Your right side is open!” Row yelled at Aarav, who grunted as he arced his blade down over hers.

Aarav’s face pinched together in concentration as he fended her off. They were mostly matched in ability, usually trading victories, but Aarav was battling more than just the skill Row had honed every day of her life. Aarav was also battling the endless fury of her frustration and the resentment that wove through her spirit, oozing into every cell. No amount of preparation could combat her brand of pure, unfiltered rage.

After another swing and another block, steel met, flashing in the descending light.

Zarya feinted and then lunged in the opposite direction, catching Aarav off guard as she kicked out a foot and swept his legs out from under him. He landed on his back with a groan, and she dropped on top, pinning him to the earth with a knee dug into his sternum.

She slapped the blade from his grip as he snatched his hand away with a cry. Pulling the short khanjar from her boot, she lifted it high overhead before sweeping down in a wide arc. Then she stopped, the sharp tip hovering an inch over Aarav’s face, right between his widened eyes.

She had no qualms about fighting dirty when it suited her aims.

“Enough!” Row barked, his arms folded tightly across his chest. “You’ve made your point. Let him up.”

Zarya snarled and released Aarav. He rose to his knees, coughing and sputtering.

Aarav flung an accusing finger at her. “She wants to kill me.”

She scoffed. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“Stop arguing. I’m sick of listening to this,” Row said with a scowl.

Aarav struggled to his feet, glared at Zarya, and stalked into the forest, his shoulders hunched with indignation.

“Must you do that to him?” Row asked, turning on Zarya.

“Do what? You want me to train, so I’m training.” She flicked her long black braid over a shoulder. “You know what you could do? Let me out of here. Find someone in Dharati to challenge me.”

“We’ve been over this a thousand times,” Row said, before turning and heading towards the whitewashed cottage they all shared. Whenever Zarya veered them in the direction of this topic, Row donned his best impression of a ghost and disappeared.

“Yes, and you still haven’t given me a reason for keeping me trapped here. I turn twenty-one in a few weeks. You can’t keep treating me like a child!” She yelled the words at his back just as the door to the cottage slammed, leaving her standing alone outside. “Oh, are we done here, Row?!”

She huffed. Peering into the trees, she wondered where Aarav had gone, ever envious of his freedom to come and go as he pleased. As Row’s apprentice, he wasn’t bound by the same magic that choked off her air.

She followed the path where Aarav had disappeared but knew the further she ventured from the house, the harder Row’s magic would fight against her. By now, she knew the precise distance she could walk before the weight of his power would grow too heavy, eventually knocking her out before she’d wake up on her back, staring at the sky.