Kael ignored me most days as he ran us through combat training. I studied Kael whenever he wasn’t glaring at me, and I looked for any hint of the madness I saw earlier. His eyes, though stormy, were sane, but I always kept my guard up either way.

Kael trained us to fight with a variety of weapons including long sword, short sword, staff, knives and even an axe. Each change in weapon made me feel gangly and uncoordinated, but I stubbornly worked through the routines and practices. And with Faraway’s whispered hints, at least I wasn’t the worst student.

When a mace was dropped at my feet and I looked up into the smug face of Kael, I’d finally had enough. He was enjoying watching me struggle through these exercises.

“Kael, are you insane? I can’t see myself ever having to use half of these weapons in battle. Shouldn’t we be specializing on just one weapon instead of ten?”

“Who are you to question me or my sanity?” His voice became louder as he stalked me, drawing the attention of the other students. His tall body blocked the sun as I looked up into his angry eyes.

He spat between clenched teeth. “I’m a SwordBrother with a lifetime of knowledge and experience. I live, breathe and eat fighting and battle. This is what I was trained for. You, Thalia, are nothing, a nobody, a mere pip of a girl who doesn’t know anything about surviving in the real world.”

“I do too!” I clenched my fists to my side and spat out at him. “And you know it.”

Joss came up behind me and reassuringly put his hand on either side of my shoulders, and stood firm against Kael’s anger.

Kael glared at him. “Back off, Denai! I won’t hurt her. This is between teacher and student, don’t interfere.”

I gave a look to Joss indicating that I would be all right. Joss reluctantly stepped away.

Kael shook his head at me. “Do you even know what you will be up against?” Dropping his voice to a bare whisper meant for only our ears, he continued. “Did you ever expect to find yourself in a prison, tortured, attacked by dogs, being hunted by the Septori?”

“You forgot to mention being attacked by an angry SwordBrother.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed in anger, but he didn’t deny it. “Well, did you? How do you possibly know what you are up against? What I’m teaching you right now, despite your complaints, could one day save your life.”

His angry words made my breath catch and I duly listened to his chastisement, my lungs burning for air. My heart hurt from his angry words, but at the same time my injured soul cried out for action against him.

Kael began to move away from me and turned at the last minute toward me in rage. “And don’t you ever question a SwordBrother again!”

A few of Syrani’s cronies who had stopped practicing to watch the spectacle we were creating, clapped and hollered in encouragement to the SwordBrother.

My cheeks flamed and my eyes stung with unshed tears that I quickly blinked away. A quick glance at Joss showed that he was angry at Kael, and he looked like he was about to challenge him when I strode away. Practice was over and I kept walking straight to my room, motioning for a guard to follow me.

I couldn’t take this kind of treatment and I refused to allow Kael to treat me like this. So I skipped the following couple of days of practice and instead opted for private lessons once again with Garit. I was still training; just with someone else.

Faraway was my eyes and ears on the practice field.

You know he’s mad.

“I don’t care.”

For every practice you’re not there, the cloud around him get darker. And he takes it out on the other students, making them practice harder and longer. He has even begun challenging students to combat. He’s been ruthless to Joss.

I had no idea what Faraway meant by a cloud, but I was happy to finally be free of the headache that was Kael and also the one that seemed to follow me whenever I was in his presence. Lately I’ve been able to make it a mind over matter and I barely even notice it anymore. But I felt a small victory in having won over Kael.

The victory was short lived, as after the fifth day of skipped practice, a knock came to my door. I was surprised, but at the same time not, to see that it was Kael. His angry posture and demeanor spoke volumes and Faraway was right, I could actually see a slight darkness around him.

“You will report for practice tomorrow,” he stated slowly, calmly. A faint flexing of his jaw was the only hint I had that he was keeping his temper in check.

“No, I won’t. I’m still practicing, just not with you.”

Kael’s body went still. Something I had seen him do right before he attacked, with deadly accuracy. I was worried. “And you think you can learn more from this person than from me?”

“Probably not, but at least I don’t hate this person like I do you.” There, I threw down the gauntlet. Let him know what it feels like to be hated. I had hoped to anger him, ruffle his feathers, but all he did was smile and turn his head to me.

“Good. You should hate me. But nonetheless you will report for practice tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, or I will go to the Adepts and tell them I withdraw my promise to train ALL of the students and guards. After all, I know for a fact that your Queen, Commander Meryl and the Adepts are very excited that I’m here. It would all be your fault.”

He was right. I know the Adepts were pleased to have a SwordBrother here and would blame me if he left. I think they were hoping he would choose to be Queen Lilyana’s guard. He really was well liked among the students and the staff, even if he was a bit abrupt. I was the only one, as far as I could tell, that he actually detested.

Even Syrani had gotten on his good side after she no longer picked on me. And I was really surprised that he had not yet told the Adepts that I was ditching practice. I had thought the knock on the door would have been them, and I would have hated to get expelled.

Deep down I knew it was too good to last, and I would hate to have the Adepts question his reasons for leaving and to have my name pop up in that discussion. He got me and by the knowing smirk on his face, he knew it.

“Fine,” I said.

“Fine what?” he asked with a grin.

“Fine, I’ll be at practice. So don’t go give your notice to the Adepts. Even though I wish you would disappear. It wouldn’t be fair to the others.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad you came to your senses,” Kael chuckled.

“Don’t be. Just because I agree to let you train me does not mean I have to like it. I will actually hate every minute of it. I would rather have my teeth pulled.”

Again he chuckled in an annoying manner. I’m not sure why it bothered me to see the Swordbrother laugh but I was more surprised to see that the darkness surrounding him lighten and then disappear. I was too confused to make sense of it and my iffy powers.

“Thalia, I already said. You should hate me. It’s safer.” And before I could come up with a quick witted response, he was gone.

Chapter 26

Walking up to Adept Kambel’s door I knocked and waited, listening to the sounds of expletives and things crashing over. After a few more bumps and crashes, the door opened. I saw Adept Kambel, wild, gray hair splayed everywhere, and he was squinting more than usual.

“Ah, good, good. You’re here. Now you can help me.” Taking a step back to open the door wider, he crashed into a pile of books and almost slipped on a loose piece of paper that had floated to the ground.