Page 78 of Commanding Flame and Shield
“But it resonated,” she said, with eyes still locked on me.
“Because you are a Queen. Because you’re worthy of man's loyalty.” My tone was matter of fact, and Alec’s cocky smile made me want to sock him.
“You would have a past life ruling over mortals, wouldn’t you?” Lana sneered from the corner. Something in the female was familiar, but those sharp eyes did nothing to earn my trust. Like a fox, she was clever and attentive. Her mate looked mildly amused but shrugged his shoulders in agreement, methodically rotating his slender cigarette tin between his fingers.
“Not that I remember.”
“Doesn’t mean as much as it used to, does it, though?” Fae’s voice was soft. Gentle. Accepting. “If you really were bound, it would make sense. Technically, we need to work on unbinding you both.”
“Tomorrow.” Aren grinned at her, and her breathing slowed. She huffed before returning to her chair.
“Normal people feel this confused all the bloody time?” Alvara spat the question at her sire. Alec and Ansel both laughed.
“Annoying, isn’t it?” Alec raised his light eyebrows.
“Even more annoying when you’re surrounded by immense clairvoyance.” Ansel’s dark face cracked into the first genuine smile I’d seen in a while. He seemed to enjoy the fact that Alvara was struggling, and it ground on my gears. I gritted my teeth in frustration, but forced a breath.
We spent the rest of the night discussing battle strategies. Debating the potential traps we could set for the Renown on Earth. For the crawlers invading the mortal world in broad daylight. Aren remained quiet, his expression eternally inquisitive, save for the questions he had for Ally regarding her visions, and this mysterious Adrastos. As it only seemed to aggravate her, he relented and left Alec, Lana, and Ansel to rattle their ideas back and forth. But Alvara simply stared into the fire, inhuman stillness settling into her muscled limbs. My eyes were impossible to pry from her, so I studied her. Watched the way she breathed, the shadows that played on her eyes as she fell in and out of focus. She wasn’t about to let the snippets of visions she’d gathered fade away.
It was only when Aren’s resonant voice said her name that she finally pulled herself from her reverie. There was a politician on the east coast of the United States with a demon in his eyes that Fae and Alvara wanted to go after. Alvara broke her focus long enough to tell them she didn’t fully trust either proposed plan of attack, and that she’d think it over. The fire claimed her mind again, and I watched as her eyes glazed. Watched with a sinking in my gut, as the shadows danced across her skin.
THIRTY-ONE
TRIAL BY FIRE
AUGUST
Alvara woke me before the blue light of dawn could fill my room. Her dark hair was braided back into a low bun, and her eyes were serious as she threw clothes across my bed. Training. She gave no further explanation before spinning on her heel and leaving the room, the energy in her wake like the brewing of a great storm. She had risen long before the sun had, sent Earthside to retrieve an ascending soul.
Dressed, shoes laced, and hair brushed, I entered the hallway, where she waited. Impatience soaked her bones, and she turned to look at me, expression devoid of the warmth I’d grown to love. My mouth dried up, words vanishing, so I simply followed.
It was the first time I’d stepped outside in the middle realm. Surrounding the castle, laid a courtyard and a garden, all a luminescent imitation of the real world below. Too bright. Like a cloudless day with a vodka hangover. The colors were lighter, nearly iridescent, but the ground was solid below our feet as we ran. And ran and ran and ran. Lungs on fire, my muscles screamed as the cramps demanded rest. We ceased only once my stomach had ejected the meager breakfast I’d forced down in my room.
Alvara handed me water to rinse my mouth out. To her credit, she didn’t look shocked or disgusted as I wiped the vomit from my lips. She raised a hand, summoned a small wave of water and washed the bile into the grass.
“You need to practice your endurance,” she said flatly. She sucked a controlled, deep breath in through her nose, hands braced on her hips. Slowly, just as measured, Alvara blew the air over parted lips. “If you’re to stand any chance against the Renown.”
I wanted to protest. But as she was speaking in full sentences, and my lungs were only good for rasping in breaths, I chose to nod instead. Alvara’s breathing continued in that controlled, steady manner.
“Most of survival comes down to one thing, and one thing only. Discipline. You’re a good soldier—and have been before—so somewhere in you, you already know that.” A measured breath. “But this body has not been pushed as your others have. It has not been trained. It has not survived trials. So, we need to give it—”
“Trial by fire?” My panting was an incremental amount slower. Amusement played across that beautiful face. For a moment, I studied the shape of her parted lips. Watched the way she wrapped them around her words.
“In a matter of speaking. Yes. The others will be taking over portions of your training. It seems I have a bit of a…blind spot, for you. We'll train you as we’ve trained the others. Aren will see to it, that if we can’t change your fate…” she hesitated, and her throat bobbed. A deep breath. “You will at least stand a chance at coming back to us. At surviving whatever hell hole you put yourself in.” The bitterness that crept into her voice revealed the fear the vision had riddled into her. Bitterness at me. At me, for turning myself in, in a future scenario that may or may not come to pass. She rubbed her slender hand across the back of her neck, staring at her feet.
And so, it continued for the following weeks, as she trained with me physically, and Alec trained my shield and elements. Again, and again, I’d hurl up breakfast, and she’d hand me water. There were only three mornings she had been called away for, and Alec or Ansel would run with me instead. For the most part, Alvara returned to Earth for her missions after we’d trained. But I found myself missing my painfully beautiful drill sergeant any time she was gone.
Coffee in hand, sitting across from Alec as he smirked over his own mug, I cursed her perpetual absence—or rather, my inability to trigger my memories, or watch her back. When I glanced towards the portal corner for what had to be the fifth time that morning, Alec ran his tongue over his teeth, arrogant knowing carving his features as he flicked his attention to me.
"Expecting someone, Rookie?"
"Piss off.”
Satisfaction dripped from him as his coffee absorbed his amusement. “She's fine—it's Alvara. She's always fine."
“Until she's not.”
“Happens less than you'd expect.”
