Page 131 of Death of a Mortal

Garrick took me back to my barracks, where the rest of my barrack mates were waking up, several looking at me as uneasily as I at them. I went to our shared bathroom and stepped into the small basin. This place had water that poured out like warm rain from above. I had no idea how they’d done it, but it felt luxurious. I stood under the water, letting the warmth soothe my aching muscles, then washed up and got dressed. The routine would be good for me.

I found Aerie waiting outside the barracks to walk with me to breakfast.

“How was your first training session?”

“I hate Garrick.”

She laughed, hard. “I can absolutely understand. He’s a tough son of a bitch. I was surprised Dray assigned him to your private training.”

“I would take literally anyone else. I’d have strangled him if I could lift my arms.”

“It’ll get easier, I promise. And with fae, strength comes quickly. Won’t be long before you’re running laps around him.”

“Can’t wait.”

She stood in line and sat with me again at breakfast, the mess hall substantially busier than yesterday, and I couldn’t help but feel like it was because the rebels wanted to see me. Silence didn’t greet us this time, but whispers and odd looks certainly did.

I hated it. She seemed unfazed. Then again, it was me they gawked at.

As we left, after a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and bread, I caught a few distinct phrases… “dangerous” and “are we safe with her here?” were the ones that made my ears grow hot.

Before I could spiral too far into my dark thoughts, Bramick was there to greet us at the entrance to the main building.

“Good morning,” he said with a yawn.

My heart dropped as I remembered picking him up and throwing him with my shadows.

“Bramick, I’m really sorry about the other night. My powers…I couldn’t control them, but I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“What, you’re worried about that little thing? I forgot about it two seconds later,” he said, waving his hand absentmindedly.

“I just…feared I’d hurt you.”

“Ha! You see all that fluff on Bram?” Aerie chimed in. “Would’ve taken a lot more than that to hurt his giant-blooded ass.”

Gods, I was beginning to love these two. They didn’t tread lightly around me or treat me like an outcast. I felt like I could trust them. But that feeling had gotten me—and Nella, I thought with a stab to the heart—in trouble. I still needed to keep my guard up.

The three of us walked all the way to the dirt rings, the two of them chatting lightheartedly. There, Aerie left us with a dramatic transformation to her bird form and took off.

“Say hi to Noxie for me,” I yelled after her as she soared toward the avian house. Not that I couldn’t say hi to him in my mind, but it felt nice for him to have a friend that wasn’t me.

She cawed in response.

Then Bramick’s face turned serious. “Alright, today we’re just going to start with elemental basics.” He guided me to the center of the closest ring.

I’d heard “basics” once already today, and it had been brutal. So I took a deep breath and nodded. I was a lot more comfortable with him than Garrick, and frankly, I was excited to use the elementalside of my abilities and leave the dark and shadowy side for another time.

“You obviously have the element of fire, but for today, we’re going to go through some trials and see if you have any other elements you can control.”

“Do many fae have more than one element?”

“It’s not typical, but not unheard of. Pretty rare, actually, but I think anything is on the table right now with you.”

I wasn’t sure if that made me feel powerful or terrified.

“First thing, just to confirm it is fire,” he said. “I’m going to give you a device with a flint, a striker, and a burning agent called a flicker, and see what happens. I want you to close your eyes and let me guide you. Yeah?”

I nodded, skeptical and a bit hesitant. “Okay, yeah.”