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I liked Nylah. Despite her terrifying power, she was warm and welcoming. I was a human, but she treated me like I was Fae.
Around here, they all did.
“Let’s get started,” she said. “You’re at a bit of a disadvantage, since you don’t have magic of your own, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to protect yourself.” She thrust her hands at me, and a wave of magic hit me, making me stumble.
“Did you feel it coming?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“I’m going to do it again. I want you to focus on what youfeel—notwhat you see me doing. Not anything other than what’s going on around you.”
She did it again. This time, before the power hit me, I felt it coming. It was like a blast of heat that tried to engulf me. I tried to side-step it, but it followed me and hit me anyway.
“You can never outrun magic, Ellie,” Nylah said. “It will catch up with you—every time. Come.” She walked to me and took my hands. “I want you to close your eyes and turn your focus inward until you find your center.” I closed my eyes and did as she asked, but the concept was strange. My center? Was it my heart? Or my stomach? How was I supposed to know what that meant?
“Stop thinking so hard,” she instructed. “It’s going to trip you up. Thinking is what gets us all killed.”
I gasped.
“A painful truth, I know, but let me take you there. Stop thinking...and just feel.”
I tried to do what she said, and I sensed Nylah. I felt her presence, as if she wasn’t in front of me, not physically. She pulled me down, as if she turned my consciousness inward.
“Now,” she said. “Stay there.”
I kept my eyes closed. She let go of my hands, and it took all of my focus to stay where she’d taken me. When another wave of magic came, I not only felt it much better than before, but it bounced off me, or flitted around me. It did nothing to me.
“Oh, wow,” I breathed.
Nylah chuckled. “It’s going to take time and practice to get there without thinking at all, and to stay there while your eyes are open and you’re actively fighting. I want you to practice it. Meditation in your room when you have quiet time will help. We’re going to work on it when we train, too. You want to look after yourself, and that’s the only way a human can do it.”
I hadn’t known humans had an ability to face the Fae. I’d always thought we were the lowest on the food chain, and that was the end.
Nylah and I worked for the next hour, focusing on getting to that point where I could counter basic magic when it came at me. By the time the hour was up, my head ached, and I was mentally drained.
Dex appeared and watched us work for a moment before Nylah nodded, acknowledging him. He stepped forward.
“Dex will train you for a while,” she said. “You did well. I’ll see you a bit later.”
I nodded, nervousness settling in my gut. I was getting comfortable with Nylah, but Dex was large and strong, and he wielded magic along with it. He was extremely powerful, which is why I assumed he was the general of King Rainier’s military.
I’d faced males his size before, though. I’d faced them and won. I knew what I could do.
I squared my shoulders and glared up at him. I would not let him get me down. He had magic, but that wasn’t new to me, either.
Nothing was, and yet everything was as well.
He stood in front of me and started running me through drills. If I thought I was tired after my training with Nylah, Dex wore out my body until my legs trembled, and I worried that if I took one more step, I wouldn’t be able to stand.
“You’re weak,” he said when I sat in the sand in the middle of the training arena, drinking water like my life depended on it.
“Thanks for the compliment,” I gasped through gulps.
“You’re going to need a lot of work before you’re ready.”
I poured water over my face and hair, trying to cool down. The sun had become hot, and the leather clothing I wore didnothelp matters in the heat.
“That’s what I’m here for, right? From prisoner to warrior. Suddenly, I’m trusted to sleep under the same roof as the King.”
