by Kenna Bardot
Emerson fought Brown and an older student off gracefully with his two swords. He threw me a glance and his eyes widened in warning. I whirled around just in time to see Gonzalez, who was about to knock me out with his brass knuckles. His eyes sparked with a madness I wasn’t surprised to see and a cruel smile that spread even as I held my sword aloft to stop the downward motion of his fist, my other hand holding my light silver shield.
“Hector,” I grunted out and jumped back from the dagger he held in his left hand and jabbed at me with. “Don’t. Please, don’t,” I begged, backing away from him carefully.
“Hello, little Kai, finally gotcha alone.” His smile simply widened further and a frisson of fear trailed down my back. I shut it down, struggling to remember what Alec Gaius and Docent Porter tried to teach me in the last few days - survive.
His knife jutted out again and nicked me in the shoulder when I barely managed to jump out of the way. Quickly lunging, his right fist encased in brass knuckles connected with my hip, and I felt stars in the back of my eyes from the bone-numbing pain. My shield clattered to the floor and I had no time to pick it up.
I bit my lip, drawing blood, but gritted my teeth and lunged at Hector. The look of surprise in his face made me realize now that he’d targeted me because he thought I would be an easy target for him, not in spite of it. Anger bubbled up within me. While I was wary about fighting any of the older students with experience and training, I could not stand being underestimated when I’d spent the last days almost killing myself during training.
I sliced through his arm, drawing blood. With a groan, he clutched at it in pain and with an instinct, I shouted brutally and kicked him hard in the balls. He crumpled to the floor, and I heaved a sigh of satisfaction.
A familiar grunt from nearby told me Ronan was close, and I swung around to see him easily taking on two younger students with his big axe. I hadn’t noticed that he and Alec had moved nearer me or, perhaps, since I could no longer see Emerson, I had moved more inward during my fight with Gonzalez.
I blocked a flying spear, wincing as I swiveled on my injured hip. I caught sight of Alec Gaius, long sword in one hand and long shield in the other, fighting with a more bulky man who wielded a spiked ball on the end of a long bulky chain. He had tanned olive skin and muscular arms and something about him niggled at me - even though his back was turned and he wore a bronze-colored helmet. In my distraction, something sharp hit the same spot where Hector had punched me, and I bent forward in pain but managed to stand back after about ten seconds of labored breathing.
I looked back towards Alec Gaius and unless I was mistaken, the man he was fighting was the same one Pia had chased after that day I’d met her. As they circled one another, a flash of light brown eyes I would recognize anywhere hit me like a punch to the gut and it was like time halted and I stood still, shocked.
“Woman! Pay attention!” Ronan growled at me, pulling my eyes to him. He still fought with the two students, but his eyes swung my way with a glare.
I gave him a nod, but found my eyes drifting back to where I’d seen those familiar eyes.
“Kaia Wren!” Alec Gaius shouted, and I only just managed to block a dagger flying for my face with a heave of my sword.
I looked down and remembered I’d lost my shield entirely and cursed myself for my stupidity.
Another followed shortly after, and I stumbled back, blocking the blow with the same instinct that had surprised me earlier. A big heavy ball came from the side, an angle I hadn’t been expecting but should have been watching given my injury. It grazed my arm, and I barely managed to recover before an arrow zoomed towards me from the other side. I knew I would be too late to stop it.
In a flash, Alec Gaius was there. He blocked it with a fluid motion of his sword and shield that brought dancers to my mind. He gave my shoulder a shove. “Snap out of it! You do not get to fail today.”
Vali’s eyes met mine briefly from across the space as Alec berated me. I saw the familiarity flash in them, and for a beat he didn’t move. He took a small step in my direction, my name a murmur on his lips I saw rather than heard before he froze, glancing back and forth between Alec Gaius and I. He grimaced and shook his head as his jaw tightened, turning back to engage another student in a fight and leaving me forgotten.
Again, apparently.
“Pay attention or you’re going to die.” Alec Gaius gave me a harder shove, and I knew he was right even as I gritted my teeth, barely able to stand from the pain.
“I am paying attention. I’m just injured and I lost my fucking shield!” I yelled over the mayhem as I clutched my injured hip. Zeevar, I hoped I’d be able to walk. I trusted that the Fires were skilled enough to patch me up right.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” he hissed, drawing me into his side and shielding me along with him. “Stay there but don’t be a nuisance.”
✽✽✽
Alec Gaius
She was a nuisance.
For certain, she proved absolutely incapable of staying out of my way and fighting became a back and forth of wielding my sword and handling my shield and making sure she was fine. She’d said that she was injured, and I wanted to shout at her for getting herself hurt so quickly but it really was our fault. We clearly hadn’t trained her hard enough.
I had to hand her off to Ronan a couple times when I was overwhelmed by fighting, but I could see clearly, how much effort it cost him not to bash her over the head with his axe. It almost made me chuckle, seeing him with her. He was so tall next to her it was ridiculous, and he was much less accommodating of her. He resorted to dragging her around, outright picking her up when she didn’t move fast enough for his taste. The poor, pathetic little thing didn’t stand a chance without a protector.
“Zeevar.” I shook my head, tugging Kaia Wren against my side again when Ronan growled at her for the tenth time in less minutes. I gave him a smirk, taking too much pleasure in the suffering she brought him. The man might have been an old friend, but it always amused me how his control could snap so easily.
A flying spear zoomed past, and I felt it nick my ear in its downward motion. It halted and dropped to the floor with a clatter a few inches from Kaia Wren’s face. Her hand trembled from the effort of swatting it away but she did successfully. She clutched at her side, her chest heaving from the effort of trying to keep herself standing. I lost my patience even as I worried if she was okay.
“Get it together,” I commanded tersely. If she died, I’d be a laughingstock and perhaps, just maybe, I’d miss having her stupid face to boss around.
She nodded wordlessly, releasing a deep, unsteady breath. I turned away, shifting my attention to Branson as he came at me physically, smart enough to know he wouldn’t get through my guard. He was good with his sword, and I enjoyed the challenge of the fight as we exchanged blows.
“Kaia!” Ronan yelled, and I turned - only narrowly managing to avoid the thrust Branson gave to my abdomen. Hitting him over the head with the hilt of my sword seemed harsh, even to me, considering we’d enjoyed each other on several occasions, but I did so anyway. He crumpled, and I turned my attention fully to Kaia Wren. She stood outside the protection I offered her, her unscarred cheek bleeding from a small cut. Pia glared at her with that arrogant smirk of hers, her sharp little throwing darts twirling in her hands.
“Now you’ll be symmetrical.” She grinned maniacally. “Poor little girl.” Kaia surprisingly managed to avoid another dart that Pia threw at her, but was completely unprepared to block the blow coming from Pia’s sword as she darted across the gap between them.
With a curse, I charged into the space, blocking it myself with a wince due to the strain the bad position put on my shoulder. Pia jumped back, eyes darting between Kaia Wren and I in cool calculation. “Is that a weakness I spot, Alec Gaius?” The smile in her seductively low voice was unmistakable.
“Run along to Madden and the rest of your idiotic horde, Pia. I’m sure he misses you stalking in his shadow.�
� Kaia’s wince was obvious, and I only just managed to avoid looking at her.
Was it Madden that had gotten a reaction from her? If so, I couldn’t understand it. I remembered how she’d been staring at the two of us fight earlier and while I’d assumed she’d been admiring me, it was possible that hadn’t been it. Though it did seem unlikely at the time.
She had been looking at him and not at me, I could see that clearly in hindsight.
Did she know him? It was a question for another time.
Pia glared at Kaia again, clenching her jaw that she was once again safely tucked into my protection. Getting to her would mean going through me, and Pia was many things, but an excellent swordswoman was not one of them. Least of all against someone of my caliber.
“Enough!” the Headmaster’s voice boomed through the space - his cane banging against the floor, and the flying weapons all over the room dropped to the floor in a resounding chorus of clangs.
“Congratulations. You’ve all survived the Tumult. To all not fatally wounded, you’ve even managed to passed. Fire Mages will be available should anyone need them.” With a hate-filled glance for Kaia where she stood at my side, he turned and strode from the room.
Thank Zeevar we’d gotten through that one.
Six
Kaia
My creaky and sore hips ached like they belonged to an older person even after the Fire Mage finished resetting the bones that Hector Gonzalez had managed to break. The healer was actually quite surprised that I could still manage to stand, but I was even more surprised - I’d done better than I initially thought. Even Alec Gaius and Ronan had been surprised to learn how severe my injury was.
My cheek still felt warm as well even after an hour from healing the cut Pia managed to inflict with her vicious little dart while I’d not been paying attention. Funny that it was the man she was fucking that had distracted me enough to allow her to wound me so effectively. The Fire Mage reassured me that any scar present would fade with time unless I preferred it didn’t, but I was vehement that it go away. Apparently, some Airs wanted the scars as a sort of battle trophy, and while I didn’t particularly mind the scar I already had on one side from my childhood, I hadn’t been too keen to have a matching one that the bitch Ramos could see and gloat over.
“Pretty please?” Lottie begged, toying with the ends of my thick, long and boringly straight, dark hair.
“Lottie,” I groaned. I was tired and sore and just wanted to go to bed and sleep.
“You have to come! Everyone goes to the After party. It’s a tradition after The Tumult. We Air Mages don’t mind trying to kill one another because it’s fun, and it is a celebration.” She waved that off. “Anyway, we fight hard and party hard or so they say.”
She turned her attention away from me to rummage through her wardrobe. I hoped hers was friendlier than mine.
“I don’t even have any clothes aside from my uniform,” I protested weakly.
“Psh. You can borrow some of mine! I have tons and tons and we’re similar enough in built anyway even if you are a tiny thing. Oh sweetie, you have to let me give you a makeover! I’ve been dying to since I first saw you.” She bounced on her heels, excitement bubbling through her every pore. I smiled at her, but I imagined it came out as a grimace.
“What a waste of time that would be.” I glanced at the mirror on the vanity Lottie and I shared. Same reflection. Surviving my rebirth and becoming a part of the Order didn’t mean my face had miraculously changed.
She held up one finger, the other hand flying to rest on her cocked hip. “Don’t you dare! You’d really be quite pretty if you put in some effort. I’ll show you. Trust in Lottie.” She fluttered her eyelashes exaggeratedly, and I had to laugh at how ridiculous she was being. She started grabbing things out of various drawers, making it clear than any protest on my account would be met with profuse denial.
I pulled my hair into a ponytail and gave her access to my face in a way I’d never trusted anyone. Then again, I found Lottie a friend in a unique way I’d never experienced before. In a way I’d never thought was worth it before, when I'd always been bogged down by the fact that my life would be so short.
I frowned at her when she spread hot wax to my eyebrows, and I winced with the pain of it when she tore it off. "You have such nice thick brows but they're just there, Kai. Just shaping them will open up your face, you know?"
She took a pair of tweezers and plucked more hairs which was probably what she meant by shaping. I teared up a bit involuntarily and felt her touch my face gently. "If you learn how to do this yourself, it wouldn't be as painful. Nearly there though.”
She laid the tweezers back down and replaced it with a brush she brandished gingerly and proceeded, at least to my mind, to paint silently for a while, the rest of the work she conducted on my face much less painful. “So, Alec Gaius, hmm?” she asked, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow.
“It’s not like that,” I protested as she did something with a sharp tip, and I was more afraid it would poke me than I had been of the Docent Frost’s floating arrow.
“It should probably stay that way,” she agreed, meeting my eyes for a beat. “Alec Gaius isn’t the kind of guy you want to be involved with. He gets around and enjoys sex as much as anyone, if not more just because he has so many willing partners to choose from. Doesn’t commit, because he’s far too committed to himself and his own success. His training you all this time and protecting you during the Tumult was for his own selfish reasons, don’t doubt that.”
I bit my lip, knowing she was right. He’d told me so himself that he was only protecting his reputation - how my dying would make people question his talent and genius. I had to admit that he was vastly arrogant. “I know.”
“I understand the attraction since he’s a sexy man. But, really, his friends are no better. Ronan is intense in and out of bed, and even the sweet and lovely Emerson is one of them in the end.”
“They don’t want me anyway,” I felt the need to point out and fought to quash the pout.
“We’ll see how true that is once they see you tonight. Men only see what’s right in front of their face. So, when you don’t try to be pretty, they don’t see the pretty. But us gals? We look and see what could be. Even if we don’t see it in ourselves.”
I scoffed and cringed when she gave me a tap on the head. “Don’t move.” But I let her continue working but mostly because stopping her was more effort. “You’re crazy, Lottie. You know that, right?”
“You say that, and yet you’re trusting me with your face.” She harrumphed and glared at me. “Ok, no mirror until I’m done. I look forward to seeing how surprised you’re going to be, ye of little faith.”
“Okay,” I laughed and rolled my eyes.
“But to go back to my previous point, I understand the fascination besides the sexy man bit. Really I do. Alec Gaius is, well, the best. I admire him, though I’d never admit it even through threat of going to the Uncertain Land. He’s so determined and dedicated in what he wants, but the arrogance is unbelievable.” Lottie wasn’t saying anything I didn’t already know.
Lottie held up a mascara wand and told me to look up as she swiped mascara on my lashes. “And Ronan, that one,” she paused and shook her head in warning. “He would devour you. Do not even go there.”
I started and the mascara wand poked me in the eye. I slapped a hand on it as it stung, but I would not be deterred from asking the question. “What’s wrong with Ronan? Have you been with him?”
Lottie drew back her hand, cursing at me, “Dammit, Kai, I told you not to move.” She pried my hand off and put a damp cloth on my eye, which immediately soothed it. “Now I have to fix your makeup on that eye. That I just did. Zeevar help me.”
“Sorry, Lottie.” I grabbed her arm. “Did you hear what I said?”
She huffed out a breath as she patted the area around my eye to fix my makeup. “One-track mind. That’s what you have, honey. Are you sure you’re not smitten? Don�
��t answer, I already know. But since you’re dying to know, no. Ronan’s far too dominant for me, and I’m not the type to take that, but that’s exactly what I mean. He always has to be in command of everyone and everything, including the people he fucks.”
I flushed, trying to ignore the twinge of disappointment that the two guys got around as much as they did. It shouldn’t matter since I would never have a chance with them, but there was that jealousy regardless.
“Close your eyes,” Lottie ordered, and I complied. She sprayed my face with a cool, fragrant liquid and fanned at it. “Almost done!” She trilled, and I opened my eyes to see her holding several tubes of lipstick against my face before deciding on one and painting my lips a deep red.
I dismissed her words from earlier, “It really doesn’t matter, Lot. I’m not smitten at all.”
“I caught sight of you earlier during the Tumult, and I think it probably matters more than you want to let on, but that’s okay.” She sighed. “My eyes see clearly as an objective party so I’ll stick to smitten. Look, Kai, you can do what you want, but as your friend I’d hate to see you get hurt. There are plenty of other guys to choose from, and you’ll have your pick tonight if you want to take care of that sort of urge.”
I flushed at her words. Sex was so much more controlled outside, in my previous life. The rare hookup wasn’t unheard of, but to have multiple men to choose from certainly was. As I remembered how I’d spent my last sexual encounter, on my rebirth day no less, I felt a frisson of excitement that mingled with a healthy dose of fear.
“I don’t even know any of them,” I pointed out.
“So? It’s sex. I assume you’re not a virgin but I see now that you’re naive in the way we work here. Anyway, sex at its core is pretty elemental, Kaia dear, what do you really need to know?” She tugged me away from the vanity, bringing me over to her wardrobe and grabbing dress after dress and holding them up against me before discarding them with a toss.