Again he walks away, and I haven’t a clue what word he just used. This time, no woman whispers it in my ear because there, in the snow on the ground, a word writes itself.
Goddess.
Chapter 23
“Poppy, I believe in you,” I tell her. She finishes pulling her hair up into a high ponytail and surprises me when she quickly wraps her arms around me in a tight hug.
“I’m going to kick her ass,” Poppy claims.
“You’ve got a fighter’s spirit, Pops,” I tell her as she lets go. Catherine is walking into the middle of the clearing, and Poppy walks over. I watch her as Ryker comes to my side.
“Wanna make a bet on who will win?” Ryker asks, his shoulder brushing mine. Over the last few months, Poppy, Ryker, Seb and I have been always around each other, and slowly it’s become natural to have them around. Seb never speaks to me in public, the asshat that he is, but behind closed doors, he is funny and charming. Not to mention good looking. Ryker is always at my side, eating lunch with us, training, and overall being the sexy flirt he always is. I don’t think he means it seriously though. Seb moves to Ryker’s side.
“Are we making a bet then?”
“I’m not betting on my sister,” I add in. It still feels weird to call Poppy my sister.
“Two bottles of royal fae wine says she loses,” Seb says as I watch Poppy. Catherine is saying something to her, likely trying to rile her up so she isn’t thinking straight.
“I bet she wins. If I win, I want the wine, and if I lose, I’ll cook for you for a week,” Ryker replies.
“Done deal,” Seb answers.
“Are you a good cook?” I ask Ryker just as Finn blows the whistle.
“The best. Let me come over and show you,” he quietly whispers to me, his voice full of sexual promises. It’s not just his cooking he wants to show me, that’s for sure. I shake my head, not giving him an answer to that as I watch my friend. Poppy moves quicker than she ever has before, dodging Catherine’s moves like she was born to do so. Taking my advice, all she does is avoid and dodge, slowly wearing Catherine out. I grin when I see Catherine is getting out of breath and a layer of sweat covers her skin. Her movements become a little slower, and Poppy goes in for the kill. Dodging Catherine’s punch, she swoops under her arm and punches Catherine hard in the stomach. Swinging around, she throws herself onto Catherine, knocking her face forward onto the ground, and a crackling smack of her face hitting the ground fills the air. I hold my breath as Poppy stands up, and Catherine rolls over and sits up, blood pouring down from her nose. Finn blows the whistle, and Poppy jumps in the air before running back to me.
“Fuck,” Seb mutters out while Ryker looks happy as fuck. Poppy jumps at me, hugging me so tightly as she jumps with joy.
“I can’t believe it!” she squeals.
“Well done, Poppy,” Ryker says next to us.
“I’m so proud!” I say, feeling so happy for her as she lets me go.
“Sebastian, Daesyn, you’re up next!” Finn calls out.
“Don’t break him, will you, babe?” Ryker jokes, and Seb punches him hard on his arm as he walks past. I chuckle and walk behind Seb to the middle of the clearing.
“I’m not going easy on you this time, vixen,” he states.
“I don’t expect it, Sebby,” I reply, and his eyes burn with the joy of the competition. Finn walks closer to us, his arms crossed tightly.
“As everyone here is now quite well trained in combat, I want us to move onto the next part of our training. Shadow magic,” he shouts so everyone can hear. “There are no limits to what you can do, and the first one to be knocked out, loses.”
“About time,” Seb mutters with a grin.
I wink at him. “This will be fun.”
Finn shakes his head at us, walking back to the edge of the clearing and blowing the whistle. I immediately call all the shadows to me, creating a bubble-like barrier around my body, just in time for Seb to throw a bunch of shadow magic my way. I stumble a little from the sheer force, but my magic holds, though my control on it slips a little bit.
Do not lose control right this moment, Dae. Not in front of them all.
I stretch my hands out to my sides and slam them forward, making a shockwave of shadow magic blast out of me. Seb isn’t quick enough to block it, and it sends him flying backwards, crashing into a tree. I don’t give him a second as I stretch my hands out, wrapping shadows around two trees nearby. I lift my hands, the shadows ripping the trees from the roots, and I throw them at him. Seb tries to escape, but the trees crash down on him, boxing him in, and I grin when nothing happens for a second.
Then the ground starts to shake. I struggle to stand as the trees blast away from Seb in a swirl of purple and black magic. Surrounding Seb is a shield of shadow and Seelie magic, and Seb is lost in the power. Purple and black veins of magic cover his arms and face, and his eyes glow a bright purple colour just like mine do when I use fae magic.
“Enough!” Finn roars, running to us, but Seb is already running at me, magic spitting and flickering purple embers in his path. Seb crashes into me like a bulldozer, and I gasp, flying backwards across the clearing and rolling to a stop. My magic roars to life, and this time I struggle to do anything to stop it coming out, stop myself from losing control. No one can see my fae magic and shadow magic together, they would know what I am. I close my eyes, pushing down my power even as every part of me wants to fight.
“I give up!” I say, placing my hands in the air and gritting my teeth.
“It’s a draw. Fae magic is banned, and I did not allow the usage of it,” Finn replies to me. I open my eyes to see Seb and Finn staring each other down, the tension thick in the air.
“Am I interrupting?” Seth’s voice fills the silent air. I turn to see him standing near a very scared looking Poppy and a curious Ryker.
“Why are you here, Seth?” Finn answers, turning away from Seb. Seb walks off into the trees, punching one as he passes it. My moody, angry and fucked up prince.
“To borrow one of your students. Daesyn, to be exact,” Seth smoothly replies. Everyone looks between Seth and me as I climb to my feet. Finn and Ryker, in particular, stare me down as I walk to Seth.
“I didn’t say you could leave, Miss Riverlite,” Finn coldly barks at my back.
“You didn’t say Seb could either, but here we are.” I spin around, walking backwards for a second as I reply. A tic in Finn’s jaw pulses, but eventually he nods and turns his gaze from me.
“Claude and Ryker, you are both up next,” Finn shouts as I get to Seth’s side. He places his hand on my shoulder and uses his magic to make us disappear in flames and reappear right outside a burnt-out house on an empty road. There isn’t much left of the house, just a broken gate and a burnt skeleton of a building in the middle of trees. There isn’t much property to see that nature hasn’t tried to take back.
“Where are we?” I question Seth.
