By the third day following the tithe at the Oraculum, the redness had finally subsided from my eyes and I was starting to feel my energy return back to me slowly, like it had been stolen away in the night and was finding its way home. There was little more I could do until fully healed, so I spent most of my time watching the sessions at the training yard and waiting for any updates on the progress of the Viceron army or the meaning behind what I had seen on the Blackmoors. I was sitting on a bench in the shade of an overhang, watching Draco skulk around the edges of the training yard while I considered another attempt to communicate with him when Hadriana, Diviner of Darkness, came to sit next to me.

"Sometimes I believe training is worse than the battle itself," she said, twisting her long black hair away from her pale face. She was waif thin and looked as delicate as glass, but was a powerful weapon who could cast darkness on command, leaving her enemies blind to attack. She was also the youngest and most endearing of us, her darkness belying the inexhaustible kindness beneath.

"I would have to agree," I said, looking out across the yard as the others toiled at their lessons in the summer heat.

"I heard that Adri has a date with a sword tonight," she said, smiling, her alabaster skin and her elvish face brightening with the prospect of romance, even if it wasn't her own. I smiled back at her.

"Yes, her adversary is very handsome. If he's lucky, he won't walk away with some scars. If he's very lucky, she'll have dinner with him." Hadriana's black eyes glittered in concern.

"But she's so good with a sword! Do you think he has a chance of winning?"

"Only if she lets him," I said with a wink. Hadriana laughed, the sound like wind chimes on a cool breeze.

"I wish we could go to the ball. I imagine they would be beautiful to watch dancing. She's so elegant," she said wistfully as she watched Adri spar with Rikar, leaning forward to rest her chin on her interlaced fingers.

"What ball?" I asked. She turned her gaze back to me, bittersweet delight drifting across her lovely face.

"The evening feast and ball for the Scipians, in a fortnight. There is a lunch banquet we must attend. Surely you've heard?" I shook my head.

"Do you not know Quinn at all, Hadriana? She'd rather be dancing in the pit of the Theatre than at some pretentious ball," Cato interjected as he came to lean on the wall on the other side of me. We turned to see him bite into an apple, his blond hair darkened with sweat and his thickly muscled arms crossing his broad chest.

"Cato! You know nothing about that," I said. I could feel the crimson creeping into my face as Hadriana giggled next to me. Cato, Diviner of Lightning, winked at his young bride, light and dark for once a perfect match. They had been smitten with each other since their teenage years, and when the Queen decreed them a match and had them wed in the spring, they couldn't have been happier.

"I think the only person who didn't know about your little excursions is the Queen herself, and even that's debatable," Hadriana said. I heard Cato smirk behind me. I turned and glared at him, which only made his grin widen.

"Yes, you did quite well until that one came along," Cato said, nodding to the opposite side of the training yard where Kiran had entered and stood watching the sparring progress of Freya and one of the guards.

"What did you say?"

"You know, when you lost? To the big guy over there?" Cato's smile grew and he took a self-satisfied chunk from his apple. The light in my vision started to build.

"Is that what Kiran told you?"

"I cannot betray my sources, but I can say that news of your defeat travelled quickly."

"Cato, if you keep this up we'll wind up with a snake in our bed," Hadriana chided, though her musical voice sounded more amused than concerned.

"Skye loves me. She can come for a snuggle any time."

"Spiders," I threatened, glaring as I rose from the bench to intrude on Cato's personal space. "I will fill your bed with spiders."

Cato chuckled. "Now, now, Quinn. If you have a problem with losing, why don't you take it up with the one responsible." Gods, I wanted to punch Cato's smug face for drawing the word losing out so long. Since I couldn't do that with Hadriana's doll-like smile beaming up at us, I planned to heed Cato's advice. I'd take it up with Kiran.

Marching across the training yard, I stopped at a set of sabres, taking up one in each hand, feeling the weight of the cool metal in my grasp. Satisfied, I directed my strides toward Kiran, who turned when he heard me approach. A brief look of surprise flitted across his face and melted into a knowing smile when he saw the swords I carried.

"Rematch," I commanded, tossing a sword toward him. He clasped the grip and cultivated a mask of feigned disbelief.

"I thought you were still recovering."

"I want a rematch," I said, seething. Kiran tested the blade thoughtfully, tossing the handle between his palms.

"What do I get if I win? Dinner?" He said with a joking smile and a glance at Adri, who stood nearby. Her eyes narrowed to contemptuous slits in response.

"Don't patronize me," I bit out, taking a step toward him. Kiran's expression darkened, a line appearing between his dark brows. "Unless you've forgotten, I didn't lose in the pit, I forfeited to maintain my anonymity. Which, it appears, was a waste of my time since you seemed to have told everyone anyway." I pointed my sword in the direction of Cato and Hadriana, Cato's laugh echoing off the stone walls. Kiran smirked, though I could see a shard of fury pierce through his eyes.

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"I neither kiss and tell, nor win and gloat. You'd do well to remember that," he said, fixing his mask of nonchalant amusement back into place as he stepped toward me. I stood my ground, determined not to lose this little game of words.

"I don't have a need to. Only a need for a rematch." I anchored my right foot and stepped back with my left, holding my left arm aloft behind me for balance while I brought my right forward, twirling my wrist and swinging the sword in an arc until it pointed to the sky, ready for attack. "If you're not too worried about getting a scratch on that pretty face, perhaps we should fight? Unless, of course, your plan is to talk me to death, which you are doing an admirable job of." Again, that sliver of fury appeared in Kiran's eyes and I took it as indication of a point scored for me in our little war of words.

"Fine," he said, stepping back and positioning his body for attack. "Far be it from me to keep a lady waiting."

I scoffed. "Forgive me if I say I have my doubts about that." I launched myself forward, the blade of my sabre meeting Kiran's as he parried my attack. He retreated a few lunging steps as I continued an aggressive advance until he danced out of reach. We circled each other and my eyes flared with light.

"Careful, Quinn," Adri called in a low, warning voice. The others had gathered at a safe distance to watch and I glanced over at her, wrestling my rage under control.

"Yes, you should listen to your friend. You don't want to get hurt... again..." Kiran said as he swung his blade in a circle, preparing for another bout.

"I'm not talking about her getting hurt. I'm trying to protect you," Adri replied, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. Kiran's beautiful, charming smile bounced from Adri to me, and he seemed wholly unconcerned with that possibility. Sword at the ready, he waited, patient, like an unhurried cat with the tail of a struggling mouse beneath its paw. We continued to circle with careful, crouching steps.

"Are you going to attack me, Kiran, or are we going to dance all day?" His smile grew at his own words quoted back to him.

"If this is your idea of dancing, you will be very lonely at the ball," he replied.

"I'm not going to your pompous ball, so I suppose I won't have the opportunity to watch you walk around aimlessly for the entire night," I snapped back, lunging forward in an advance with my blade. We attacked and parried back and forth, the sound of metal striking metal clamouring up the nearby stone and echoing back to us. I tried to use my advantages, my lightness and grace, my aggressiveness, and Kiran used my weaknesses against me: my lesser strength, my anger. He soon matched my aggression and had me retreating, and I was parrying his blows and moving backward while I tried to regain my composure in the sand. I finally leapt back to create distance between us and launched an immediate counter-attack, snatching his sabre by the guard with the toe of my blade and twisting it out of his hand. It flung through the dust and landed with a twang, the tip stuck in the dirt. I stood upright, breathing heavily, my sword facing skyward, and before I could smugly celebrate my victory I was sailing through the air. Kiran's body twisted, taking the brunt of the fall before rolling us over and pinning my back to the sand.

"Great, but not exceptional," he said. Mint and sage and cedar enveloped my senses. I could see the fragments of colour in his eyes, shards of the palest blues and greens in a sea of white. "Your anger gets the better of you."

Anger? Gods yes. I was enraged.

My vision started collapsing to white, blinding light that ate up the periphery, hungrily devouring shapes and forms until it felt like I could see through them.

I loathed being told my weaknesses. I loathed being told I was not exceptional. I loathed being taken by surprise. And I particularly loathed that Kiran thought he'd won. Again.

But he hadn't.

This time, I didn't push him off, or kick and flail, or snarl or spit or snap like an animal caught in a snare. This time, I smiled. This time, I waited for the animal in me to call for aid.

And aid would come.

I knew they would already be close, drawn to me and watching the conflict with keen eyes. There is always a predator where you don't expect one, observing from the shadows or waiting in ambush. All I had to do was find them in the eclipse of light, to peer through the veil separating my mind from theirs. I lost myself to instinct. I summoned, and they answered.

First, I heard a low growl, the ferocity of which caused Kiran to look up and immediately lessen his grasp on my wrists. I didn't move, though I could have broken his hold easily. I glanced in the direction of Draco, whose head was low to the ground, legs braced wide, lips curled back over teeth, saliva dripping on the sand. Next, I heard the familiar sound of Skye's scales racing over the ground toward me, the way her hiss rose and fell with every pressurized breath. As Skye's face came alongside mine, her tongue flicking and her crystalline eyes focused on Kiran's, a pulsating wind stirred the grains of sand nearby with an audible whoosh. I looked over at the glittering claws of a Copper-taloned Eagle. I'd never seen one so close and was entranced by the way the metallic hooks shone in the sun, sharp as the deadliest forged blade. It folded its voluminous grey wings behind its back and it stalked through the dust toward us, letting out a piercing cry. A single copper talon tapped on the ground impatiently.

"That would be eagle for get the fuck off," I said, smiling sweetly at Kiran, the glow of my eyes reflecting in the glassy surface of his. He looked back at me and returned my smile, but it reached neither his eyes nor his dimples.

"So this is what you can do. I'm impressed." Kiran let go of my wrists and eased back, still hovering over me. "Imagine how much better you could be if you didn't let your anger rule you." He sat up and offered me a hand, Draco snapping at the air in response on my behalf. I scooted back from him and stood, communicating feelings of appreciation to the eagle as it took off toward the sun. Draco ceased his growling but stood to my left, Skye coiling around herself on my right. Kiran got up and towered over me, not bothering to brush the dust from his hands or knees. "The lesson is over, for now. But if you want to learn how to control your anger, rather than it control you, let me know." With that, he gave me a nod and the hint of a smile before leaving the training yard, not bothering to pick up his wayward sabre.

"Well," Adri said, coming up beside me as we watched Kiran leave through the stone arches. "I hope for Rolfe's sake that his date goes better than Kiran's." My head snapped in her direction, my eyes narrowing.

"Excuse me? In case you hadn't noticed, that was a fight, not a date."

"Hmm... it felt more like a date to me."

"Your idea of a date is... somewhat disturbing." I bent and picked up my sabre, Hadriana pulling the other from where it stood stuck in the sand. She tossed it to me and I caught the grip.

"I have to agree with Adri. It was romantic. He asked you to dinner and the ball," Hadriana said, her voice full of whimsy as she spun an elegant turn on one foot.

"He did neither! He taunted and insulted me, and that is all." I could feel my cheeks flame, my eyes flashing with light as I glared at them both.

"Well, he is right about one thing," Adri said, moving a foot out of the way as Skye serpentined past her to the shadows of an overhang. She watched her for a moment and then looked back at me with a smile, but also a sadness in her eyes that felt awfully close to pity.

"What's that?" I asked in a low voice, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

"If this is what you can do with anger, what could you do with love?"

"He never said that," I said, the flame in my cheeks growing hotter. Adri's eyes glinted like dew on summer grass.

"He didn't have to."