I squinted at the beautiful vampire. “You’re kidding, right?”

Celestina patted my arm—I wasn’t sure if she was trying to be encouraging or consoling, which made me more than a little nervous. “Not at all. You’ve progressed marvelously in your basic training. It’s time we work on your foundation in fighting.”

I scrunched my nose up. “You’re awful. I take back all the nice things I said about your nails.”

Celestina laughed. “You might think this is unfair, but if we can get you used to the physical aspects of a fight—the dodging, using weaponry, and general battle strategies and assessment—when you do finally unseal your magic, you’ll be a major threat.”

“I believe,” Josh chipped in, “the proper term is ‘a badass’.”

It sounded appealing. I was starting to think my seal couldn’t be broken given everything they’d already put me through. But that only meant this training was even more important. If I could take down a wizard with my skills, if I improved enough I might be able to take out Mason even without magic.

“Okay.” I took a deep breath and nodded, rocking forward onto my tiptoes. “Who am I fighting?”

“Rupert,” Celestina said.

“Are you insane?” I hissed—not caring if the red-haired vampire heard me as he finished what was probably his 400th pushup over on the maps. “He hates me! He’s going to kill me!”

“He will do no such thing,” Celestina said.

“Isn’t there anyone else?” I craned my neck, peering around the gym—only two other vampires were present at the moment, but maybe someone would come down soon?

“We selected Rupert because he knows how to hold back,” Josh said. “Which will go much farther in assuring your wellbeing than whether your opponent likes or dislikes you.”

“And Josh and I need to watch and assess your skills and natural movements,” Celestina added. “It will help us capitalize on any strengths you have that we don’t know about, and figure out what weaknesses you need to shore up first.”

“First, meaning you assume I’m going to have a lot?” I asked.

“Undoubtedly,” Josh happily said. “You are a kitten facing off with a tiger.”

“That’s just fantastic,” I muttered.

Celestina laughed. “You’ll do fine.” She dropped an arm over my shoulders and moved to steer me in Rupert’s direction, then abruptly removed her arm as if my skin scorched her. “Sorry.”

I waggled a finger at her. “If you think I’m going to forgive you this fast for sticking me with Rupert, have I got some bad news for you.”

Celestina flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. “No, I was apologizing for my casual manners.”

I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to follow her logic. “What is there to apologize over? We’re friends.”

“You don’t mind?” Celestina asked.

“Nah, why would I?”

“Most find a vampire’s touch…unsettling, because we’re rather cool to the touch,” Celestina said.

“Oh. I actually like that you guys tend to be cooler, since us wizards run hot,” I said. “But it doesn’t matter.”

Celestina laughed and let her arm drape over my shoulders again. “The Eminence did a good thing the night he picked you out.”

“What, am I a puppy now?” I stretched my arms out in front of me, reassured by my katana’s familiar weight.

Rupert rolled his eyes as we joined him on the mats. “Can we get this over with? I have better things to do than waste my time taking the wizard’s feeble attacks.”

“Yes, thank you, Rupert, for taking on the role of attacker,” Celestina said. “Hazel, we’d like you to push your magic through your sword and use it during the fight.”

I snorted. “And what, singe his hair?”

“When you have more magic power you can use the same attack patterns, but the magic will be much more potent, making you far more powerful,” Josh said. “This is an ideal way to begin practicing, so we don’t have to worry about you accidentally injuring yourself or others.”

“I can’t hurt myself with my own magic.” I settled into a guard stance on the mats, holding my katana horizontally. I tuned out Celestina and Josh, and focused on Rupert and the beat of my own heart.

He tried to circle me, but I kept my footwork sharp and pivoted so I faced him. I pulled magic from the air and through my blood, feeling a smidgen better when the faint sparks of my magic encircled my katana and I felt the burn of my small wizard mark.

He moved to slug my gut. I moved my katana to block, but it was a feint, and he instead hit my shoulder.

It hurt, but it was a much gentler impact than I expected. It seemed he really was going to play nice.

Encouraged, I dropped my shoulders and concentrated, blocking a kick to my right thigh with my katana before I thrust my sword at his open right side.

With his vampiric speed he dodged easily, but he attacked with the slowness he’d first adopted.

Eventually we fell into fighting patterns I recognized—Josh and Celestina had been drilling them into my head since my first week of training. Rupert landed several jarring hits—at least a few of them were going to leave bruises, but it was almost enjoyable.

It wasn’t until he drew so close I couldn’t use my katana that I realized something was wrong.

The fight—which had previously been back-and-forth by the book—swerved with his close distance, making me stumble.

I tried to get my katana up, first feinting a jab at his throat with the hilt of the sword before swiveling, but Rupert grabbed it mid-air.

“You’re getting cocky, rat-blood,” Rupert said. He leaned in so close I could smell the faint trace of hot blood on his breath—though even with such close quarters he kept his hand wrapped around my katana.

The blade dug into the skin of his palm, and drops of blood dripped between his fingers. He ignored it. My magic fizzed around his fingertips, but besides the occasional jump of his arm—moving from the electricity—it didn’t seem to bother him.

I gritted my teeth, and my arms shook as I fought to keep my sword up. “Aww, we’re still using cute nicknames, huh?” I was really wishing I had more magic right about now—I could fry Rupert like a bug instead of just annoying him with tiny zaps.

Rupert snarled like a caged animal. He effortlessly ripped my katana from my grasp and flung it away.

“Rupert!” Celestina called. “What are you doing?”

I tried to back up and retreat, but Rupert stayed on me.

“Rupert!” Josh shouted.

I tried to angle myself in Celestina and Josh’s direction, but I only took one step. In that time Rupert pushed in closer and jabbed with his fist, landing an explosive hit to the side of my head. I toppled, and instantly everything went black.

Chapter Seventeen

Hazel

My ears rang, and when I tried to open my eyes the world swirled madly. Somewhere in the blurry distance someone shouted.

I groaned, and something soft moved under my head as I tried to remember why I was collapsed. The fight abruptly flooded my memory. “That jerk!”

I tried to sit up, but everything hurt, and the spinning made my stomach queasy.

“Here.” Celestina supported my back with her knee as she passed me a potion.

I recognized it as another fae healing draught. This one had a faint fruity flavor that was a little tart—like kiwi. I chugged it. The first swallow almost made me gag, but as soon as it hit my stomach I started to feel better.

My head still rang, and I could still hear yelling, but finally everything started to focus.

“You disobeyed my orders!”

That sounded a lot like Killian, but that was impossible. Killian would never raise his voice like that, and the British accent was way too strong. Though the tone was certainly flinty and icy enough.

“What’s going on?” I finished the bottled potion then wrapped my hands around my head, grateful for Celestina’s support.

“It’s the Eminence.” Celestina’s voice was hard to gauge—it was guarded, but also had a flicker of something like worry.

“What, did he come to peer at my prone body and sneer about fragile wizards?” I asked.

“No. I think he’s going to kill Rupert.”

“What?” I dropped my hands and sat all the way up.

I’d been carried off to the side of the gym, but Rupert and Killian stood on the mats where Rupert had knocked me out.

Rather, Killian stood on the mats. Rupert was dangling from Killian’s grasp, his feet hanging in the air.

“That trigger-happy tyrant.” I struggled to my feet, briefly losing balance when the room bulged like a fishbowl. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision.

“You’ll stop him?” Celestina asked.

I took a few tottering steps before I got my feet under me. “Someone has to!”

As the fae potion pumped through my veins I switched from a walk to a mad scramble, quickly closing the distance between me and the rage-filled Killian.

Every muscle in his body was stiff with anger. The planes of his face were hard, but his voice whipped like an icy wind and filled the room. “I said the wizard was to be untouched.” His fangs were more prominent than usual, and the red-black of his eyes had hardened into something closer to obsidian. “And yet you still attacked her. You should know quite well what I do to those who don’t follow my orders.”

I swear I could hear the vertebrae in Rupert’s neck as Killian squeezed harder.

The red-haired vampire dangled helplessly from Killian’s grasp. His face was turning a dark shade of purple, twisted in a horrible grimace. Though he gripped Killian’s wrist he didn’t try to attack the Eminence.

“You hit her with enough force to knock her unconscious!” Killian shouted.

“And I’m awake now, how about that!” I hurried onto the mats, sliding to a stop just short of Killian.