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‘Did you find the calm I was talking about?’ the librarian asked flatly.
‘I —’
‘No, you didn’t. You forged ahead as usual. Therefore you didn’t do it. You’ve taken a shortcut. Were you to use that power at a heightened level now, you’d destroy yourself.’
The lightning snuffed out.
Sitting cross-legged beside Thea, Wren gave her an encouraging nod that only served to infuriate her further.
She turned her back to her sister and tried again. And again. And again.
Nothing.
Or worse than nothing: a glimpse of a now familiar figure.
Anya.
With her eye-patch and malnourished frame, sometimes with blood on her hands.
‘Althea. Focus,’ Audra snapped again.
‘Iamfocusing,’ she bit back through gritted teeth, mimicking Wren’s position as an icy wind picked up, whipping through her tangled hair and stinging her cheeks.
‘Clearly not well enough,’ Audra chided.
Wren’s hand closed around her arm. ‘Thea, just think of all the good you could do with your magic…’
Thea shook her head, closing her eyes. She tried to block Wren out and tap into the current that was constantly surging through her.
But her sister’s grip remained. ‘All I’m asking is that you think about it, Thee. As a queen, you —’
Wren gave a strangled gasp.
Thea’s eyes flew open in time to see her sister thrown bodily from her, blue lightning surging around them.
Wren landed hard a few feet away in the grass, wide-eyed, jaw slack.
‘Wren!’ Thea cried, flinging herself after her.
But Wren held up a hand, stopping her short. ‘I’m alright.’
Thea stared at her, heart pounding, noting how her sister’s eyes were lined with tears, how her hand hovered above her heart.
‘I hurt you…’ Thea murmured, the words tasting bitter on her tongue.
Wren shook her head. ‘No, it’s fine —’
‘It’s not,’ Thea argued. ‘I —’
‘And that is what happens when you don’t listen, Althea,’ Audra snapped, rushing to Wren’s side and helping her up.
Deflated and hollow, Thea watched her sister, noting how she winced as she moved.
‘I’m so sorry, Wren,’ she said, her voice strained. ‘I didn’t mean to —’
Audra cleared her throat, turning both Thea and Wren towards the path that led back to the fortress. ‘That concludes today’s session.’
But Wren twisted to face Thea again. ‘Have dinner with me, Samra and Ida? Like old times? Samra’s been hoarding a stupidly large supply of wine under her bed for weeks…’
