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"You're rusty."

"I train every day."

"Not with me." Annoyingly true. He steps back.

I stand. My pride hurts worse than my body. Good.

Useful.

"Again." I say.

"You're losing."

"I noticed."

"Apparently not enough."

"Caelen." He grins. There. My brother. Old version. Before Chiefs. Before disappearances. Before everything. For one second, I remember training at home. Him three years older. Too fast. Always laughing when I got angry. Always knowing what I would do before I did. I hated it then too.

Round three begins. Caelen expects old Eirea. That's his mistake. I attack exactly the way I used to. Left. Then right. Shoulder drops. He sees it. Of course.

Moves before me. But I don't follow. I stop. Wait.

Caelen has already committed. There. Opening. I pivot the other direction. Strike. My blade hits his ribs. Not enough to end. Enough that his eyes widen. Barely. I grin.

"You changed that." He says.

"Rhyven kept hitting me every time I did it."

Caelen's face goes flat. "Of course he did."

I laugh. He attacks. Hard. Now the fight changes. Completely. No more older brother. No more sister. Caelen adjusts. So do I. He stops predicting. Starts reading. Good. This is what I wanted. His blade comes high. I block. He kicks low. I avoid. Barely.

I slash toward his shoulder. He turns. Catches my arm. I drive my head backward. His nose narrowly avoids mine. "Dirty."

"Alive."

"Corvell."

"What?"

"He says that."

"Oh, shut up."

Caelen comes again. Fast. Vampire-fast. I match what I can. Don't match what I can't. Redirect. Wait. Use angles. Rhyven's voice exists somewhere in my head. Not words. Training. Again. Again. Again. Caelen catches my wrist. Twists. I release the blade before he can control it. He expects me to reach for another. I don't. I step inside his guard. Elbow to chest. He staggers. I hook his leg. He catches my shoulder. We both nearly fall. I recover first. Caelen laughs. Actually laughs. "Better."

I smile. "Scared?"

"No."

"Shame."

He tackles me. Not elegantly. Very brotherly. We hit the mat. I lose air. My training blade slides away. His hand reaches for mine. I bite him. Hard. Caelen jerks back. "Did you fucking bite me?"

I roll away. "You taught me to survive."

"I did not teach you to bite."