Page 107 of Axis of Fire

“You didn’t have to release another wave of poison, though,” the man muttered after coughing again.

“You asked me to grow the plants higher this time. I still can’t fully control the air currents they release,” a girl replied, irritation slipping into her voice.

Airis tilted his head toward the entrance, silently signaling for me to go in first while he held the door open.

Still refusing to speak.

I couldn’t read his mood, but everything about him suggested he was trying to distance himself from me.

Maybe that was for the best.

As I stepped inside, I spotted a tall, muscular guy with skin the color of milk chocolate standing in the center of the hall beside a slender girl at least a head shorter than him, her long blond hair fading into green at the ends.

Both wore training uniforms.

Neither noticed us at first.

“You’ll need to learn how to manage that,” the guy said, scratching his thick curls as he studied the girl.

Then the heavy metal door slammed shut behind us, the sound ringing sharply through the hall.

Both of them turned toward us.

My eyes immediately locked onto the girl’s brightly glowing eyes, which slowly faded back to an ordinary green.

“Looks like we’ll need to start scheduling training sessions with our protégés soon,” the stranger said with a wide grin aimed at Airis.

The human iceberg simply nodded.

“Plant magic?” Airis asked, gesturing toward the girl.

“And biochemistry on top of that,” the stranger nodded. “What did you get?”

“Fire.”

I scoffed, irritation flickering through me.

“It seriously feels like we’re lab rats or something,” I muttered, crossing my arms.

“Agreed,” the blonde girl nodded. “I’m Stasia. And this is my mentor, Tarven.” She gestured toward the guy beside her. “Earth mage.”

I immediately looked at Tarven with interest.

This was the Tarven Airis had mentioned.

Or was there another student with the same name?

“Ria,” I introduced myself, jerking my thumb toward Airis without looking at him. “And this one’s Airis. Air mage. Arrogant and insufferably self-important.”

I stepped closer to Stasia, thoroughly satisfied by the annoyed silence behind me.

“Tarven seemed decent right up until this moment,” Stasia said thoughtfully.

“Alright, fair enough,” Tarven surrendered, lifting his hands. “Ignoring you was pretty rude.”

Shifting my gaze between him and Stasia, I nodded.

“He actually does seem decent. My mentor probably doesn’t even know words like that.”