Focus. Control. Precision.
The flame sparked, then wavered, shuddering as my thoughts slipped once more.
I locked my jaw.
I swore I would not lose control again, fury and humiliation knotting inside me like a second heartbeat.
The vow settled, quiet and unyielding. The Hall of Mirrors seemed to respond. Light bent along curved walls, reflections warping as our group moved into familiar drills under watchful counselors.
Across the vast chamber, other Dragontail first-years were already warming up. Fists glowed. Heat rippled through the air. Bursts of flame and shadow hummed as students tested their limits, pushing harder with the Trials looming closer each day.
Ugo circled like a predator, eyes sharp, presence commanding. Without raising his voice, he cut through the magic’s clamor. Every few moments, he barked a correction or flicked his wrist, adjusting a stance, a breath, a hesitation.
This was where control was earned.
“Don’t just throw it—shield, counter, redirect,” Ugo commanded, his voice echoing off the mirrored walls. “Every blast you send leaves you wide open unless you learn to protect yourself.”
Shakari’s braid had half come undone, gold strands catching the light like fine wire. She raised her hand, water coiling around her fingers, the surface rippling with heat.
“Protect first,” Ugo echoed, his voice calm but edged with command like a blade pressed flat against the back of my neck. “Then strike.”
“You can do it,” Shakari encouraged me.
I drew the fire from my core, heat pulsing up my arms, ready to meet her attack.
The blast came fast. Water laced with steam and force. I tried to shape a shield of fire and light, but the magic slipped through my control. The impact hit me square in the chest, drenching me from shoulder to boots.
I exhaled sharply, fury burning hotter than my failed spell. Shakari grinned, infuriatingly calm.
From the shadows, Ugo’s voice cut through the room. “You’re letting your head win over your hands. Lose focus, lose the fight.”
There was a brief pause, enough to mean something. His tone softened, just a fraction, and that restraint made his next words land harder.
“I don’t need to be a mind-bender to see your thoughts are elsewhere,” he said. “Stop replaying what happened. Start preparing for what comes next.”
My fingers curled into my palms. “Easy for you to say,” I shot back. “You’re not the one tripping over herself like a firebomb.”
The words came out sharper than I meant. Bitterness lingered, wrong the moment it escaped.
Guilt followed fast. Ugo wasn’t the enemy. If anything, he was the only one among the counselors who seemed to genuinely want me to improve, helping me even though it wasn’t his responsibility.
“You are the hardest student on the island!” Ugo said with a bit of frustration, but I could sense he was amused by the situation.
“Then let me teach her,” a voice cut in, sharp. The words curled through the room as they belonged here, like they had been waiting for the perfect moment to strike. I knew the voice before I turned. Everyone did.
Lorik Draventh appeared right from behind me. Sunlight traced the line of his shoulders; the scent of rain lingered around him, subtle but impossible to miss. Silver shimmering eyes. Unhurried posture. And that quiet and dangerous smile that made the air feel a little thinner.
“Oh, hell no.... I prefer Mr. Inner Peace here,” I said, my tone edged and unamused.
Shakari snorted. Ugo let out a low chuckle. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the faintest flicker on Lorik’s mouth like he almost laughed but strangled it before it escaped.
“You forget I’m still your counselor,” Lorik said.
Then he stepped closer and lowered his voice, the words meant for me alone. “You were reckless enough to jump beyondthe Veil and bargain with a wildweaver but you won’t face me here? In the Hall of Mirrors, where you can’t actually die?”
A shiver cut straight through my spine at the quiet, devastating challenge in his whisper. Anger erupted, crashing into irritation, tangled with a longing I couldn’t name. Whatever it was, my composure splintered, as it always did around him.
“I said no,” I snapped, the refusal bursting out of me on instinct.