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Phalen rapped his knuckles on the table. “What do you want to do, Draven?”
“Give Emile an update and send him after his sister. He can take a guard or two if he wishes, though they may slow him down. Let him decide. If Brokk’s in Terek, Emile will simply stay with Talia until she’s ready to return. Brokk should trust them enough to share his intentions. Give Emile permission to offer assistance. If Brokk’s not in Terek, he and Talia can investigate, though I’m not sure how helpful Brokk’s crew will be.”
Raven opened her mouth and I nudged her leg with mine. A slow burn crawled across our bond then gradually faded.
“Then send out a handful of teams. See if they can pick up any chatter from our contacts.”
“Done,” Phalen bowed and hurried off.
“What about me?” Raven asked.
“You are going to your session with Hugo and Kree. Then you’re going back out into the training fields again to see how your body will handle things. I won’t be turning you loose until I’m satisfied you’re completely healed and your strength and stamina are back, in both body and soul. As Brokk’s offspring, I assume you’ve had combat training?”
“I have but I usually fight with my magic,” she answered.
“Not if someone shackles you again. Or, worse, somehow sneaks iron into your system, something any sharp object could manage. Hugo said it had been in your bloodstream. If your powers aren’t accessible, you need to be confident you have other options.”
My mate slid her tongue between her teeth and upper lip. Her fingers turned to fists and her knee bounced.
“Come on, Little Bird. I’ll go with you to Hugo. After your session we’ll go outside and get some exercise in.”
Without speaking, Raven rose from her chair and I followed her out of the dining room.
Chapter 21
Raven
The rest of the morning and afternoon passed by in a blessed blur of activities. Thankfully, keeping my body occupied had the same effect on my mind.
The session with Hugo had gone extraordinarily well. The healer said I might not need another one, that Kree had outdone herself.
Apparently she had stayed up most of the night with her wings out which allowed her to store extra power to push into me. We did it slowly and she gradually increased until she could no longer sense even the smallest of abnormalities.
I didn’t know how to pay her back. When I asked what I could do in return, Kree said her healing magics were freely given. Her honest and giving personality was a ray of sunlight in a world that could be terribly dark. I was determined to reciprocate in some way in the future.
Despite the incident with the Shadow Lord at breakfast, I was growing more and more fond of the residents of Embour with each interaction. Allies were aplenty for me in Terek. While we did have trust and respect for one another, it was mainly because I was The Navita’s offspring. I’d never had this easy camaraderie with them, not like I’d instantly found here.
Of course, no one on the Shadow Council was afraid of Brokk Ulrik as most others were. The scary Shadows of legend weren’t what I’d imagined. They were astonishingly playful, though I had no doubt they could lay waste to those they deemed an enemy.
Before I’d departed from the infirmary, Hugo instructed me to truly push my body and my powers today, then see how I felt. Though physical exercise wouldn’t affect my lifeforce, if it wasn’t at full power I wouldn’t be able to do some of my most complicated magic. He also mentioned Draven would be more likely to discuss a concrete plan with me once he had evidence I was cleared by myhandsome doctor.
I did as Hugo advised and pushed myself through every obstacle. Climbing, sprinting, jumping, sometimes even crawling. Cuts and bruises appeared en masse, healing and disappearing only to be replaced by new ones.
After being put through a grinder of obstacles, I practiced with a real sword, one Casimir had procured for me. It was similar to the claymore he carried, only smaller and without a crest on the handle. He said it was one his father had gifted to him when he first learned to sword fight.
We didn’t actually spar, though. He walked me through technique and tested my style and balance. My mate had virtually memorized every move I’d made when I attacked him in the forest and gave me specific feedback on little changes I could make to improve.
Then we did exercises and practiced swings and foot placement. It was swordplay in slow motion, but it was the best instruction I had ever received. His knowledge was vast and I listened carefully, even when he was going over things I already knew.
It was now late afternoon and we were in one of the more hidden areas, to the northeast of Embour. We’d been warned by Lyric to keep sharp and listen for predators. Her and her sister’s magic occasionally attracted beasts who’d been injured, even from miles away.
Casimir and I were standing at the bottom of a small valley nestled by thick woods all along the outer edge. We’d followed a narrow and well-maintained trail through the forest. Luckily the mouth of the gulley wasn’t very steep and it was easy to reach the bottom.
“I think this is a good place for you to test yourself,” he said. “Hugo wants you to do something that would require a lot of your power. I don’t know what that would be, but I figured you’d want to be away from the general population when you did it.”
“How much damage can I do here?”
“How much do you want to do?”
