“Is he okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s fine.” Blade winked at me. “King David snapped his neck as he went down.”

My eyes expanded to take in the horror of Falcon’s lopsided head for a second, drifting slowly onto David after. He stood proudly in the mirrored sparring section, flexing his fists, looking kind of evil and very satisfied with himself.

“What’s the deal?” I stormed over and stood right in front of him, nearly slipping in the blood.

He caught me by the arm and steadied me. “What’s what deal?”

“Why’d you snap his neck? We don't spar like that here, David.”

“Relax.” He turned away and grabbed a towel off the bench to wipe his hands. “He’ll be fine.”

“No, he’s gonna have a hell of a sore neck for the next few days. What’s gotten into you?”

He sat down, breathing out through his nose. “I didn't mean to snap his neck. I just…got a little carried away.”

I looked out the window as Mike and Blade passed. “Looks like a bad case of venting on the innocent.”

He half smiled. “You’re probably right.”

“So?” I sat down beside him. “What are you venting? What's bothering you?”

“We’ll talk later. For now—” He stood up and aimed his voice around the room. “Let’s have a volunteer for Ara’s target practice.”

While the knights murmured amongst themselves, probably drawing straws, I looked to the bushes outside the door, knowing Jase was in there, watching. It made me feel better in some ways.

David delivered my target to the centre of the room, and the rest of the knights took a giant step backward, blocking the clearing from me to the door—to Jason.

“You guys might want to move,” I said, parting the air. “If I need to throw up after this, I’ll have to run outside.”

They parted quickly, and I caught the soft scent of Jase’s breath from the small laugh I heard. I smiled.

Mike wandered back in and took his place beside David. “Okay, Ara. Today I want you to shoot him back to the wall, and when he’s down, I’ll be sending in a few more. And they will hurt you if you don't strike them down.”

I looked at David, who eyed Mike, disapproval trickling over his shoulders like rain.

“Relax,” Mike said to David, without even looking his way. “She can handle it.”

David shook his head and sat down on the bench. “Make it count, Ara. I really don't want sit here and watch other men beat you. And I make no guarantees that I won’t step in again.”

I grinned at him. “Mike will kick you out of training if you do what you did last time.”

He sat taller, his concern slipping with a returning grin. “Then make sure you flatten them, my love, or I will make sure no one ever wants to spar with you again.”

“David, shut up and let the girl spar,” Mike said.

David laughed and issued a hand in offering of the floor. “Be my guest.”

The knight across from me looked nervous. He not only had to attack the queen in presence of the king but, if he didn’t, he’d be jolted with a bolt of really hot, electrifying energy that would most likely put him in a coma for a few days or, best case scenario, he pins me down, renders me unconscious and avoids my blast, then ends up with the king snapping his neck like exhibit A: Falcon.

“Shoot, Ara,” Mike said, folding his arms.

I looked at my hands and took a deep breath, feeling the charge rise in them, moving up my arms and joining at the centre of my chest. It vibrated, building there until, like water rising in a tub, gradually moved up my neck and into my head, bringing the tight sensation with it. I felt a bit like a pirate, with my right eye all screwed up from the pain.

The knight parted his feet, scooping low to lunge toward me, and time slowed down.

I held my breath and forced the heat from my palms, imagining it going into the knight’s chest. And as usual, it did. I never felt as if I had any control over it. I felt it leave my body, felt it hit him and ignite his shirt, felt the heat, felt his pain, heard his scream, but didn't feel as though I did it. It was more like watching it on a screen in front of me.

Then, the pain set in.

I dropped my hands, the static ceasing, and grabbed my temples.

“Keep going, Ara,” Mike ordered. “That wasn’t even two seconds.”

“Ah!” I bit my teeth together, vaguely noticing a knight come at me from the side; my eyes darted to David, who stood, then back to the knight. If I didn't shoot this guy, David would do much worse.

I sent a bolt in his direction. It was small and did nothing but make him shake. He dusted his chest off and came at me again.

“Two more men,” Mike called, and the fight was over. I was surrounded.

My heels slipped in Falcon’s blood as I turned to run, sending me in a sideways skid until I landed against the mirror beside me, and all the pain in my head shifted suddenly to the right, making my jaw fall open.

“Ara?” David walked closer, his hand out. “Are you okay?”

As I looked up to answer, three men shoved past him, diving in my direction. I shut my eyes tight and aimed again, focusing, trying harder to make this one count, and as I felt the light go through a chest, I flicked my hand outward, pushing it in Jason’s direction.

“Holy shit!” Mike said, and a whole room full of amalgamated gasps followed.

“What?” My eyes flung open, but instead of sixty faces staring at me, they were all staring at the bushes outside—the knight lying in a tangled heap among them.

“Did I do that?” I rolled up to stand, searching for Jason.

Mike and several others ran over to the frying knight, and David’s hand came down on my arm. “My love, are you okay?”

I nodded, but I wasn’t okay.

“Stand straight,” he said, trying to help me.

“I can't.” My knees wobbled. “It’s really bad. What happened out there?”

“You threw him. You picked him up about three feet off the ground and ditched him outside.”

“How is that possible?” I looked on as they rescued the man and helped him to his feet. “It’s static electricity, isn't it? How can I possibly move things with it?”

“I don't know.” He hugged me close to his bare chest; it was the first time I’d felt his skin against my cheek in a few days, and it made me take a quick breath. “You okay, my love?”

“Yeah. I just forgot how nice our skin felt together.”

He looked down lovingly, but his hand came up quick, gently wiping under my nose as the salty taste of my own blood fell onto my lip. “I think we might've pushed you too hard.”

I touched the blood. “My head feels cold.”

“Okay,” Mike said, clapping his hands once. “One more round and we’ll call it quits for the day.”

“She’s bleeding, Mike.” David turned me around.

Mike stopped in his tracks. “Ara, what happened?”

“David punched me,” I joked.

“Are you okay?” He licked his thumb and wiped it across my lip. “Do you want to lie down for a minute?”

I did want to, but I wanted to get this training session over with more. “No. I'm okay. I'm getting stronger, right?”

“Yeah.” Mike laughed. “Quite a bit stronger.”

“Okay then.” I stepped away from David's arms; the pain had moved to the base of my skull now, slowly retreating down my spine. “Who’s next?”

Mike, David said in his thoughts, his tone coming through with that cheeky smile I just knew he was wearing.

I grinned, rubbed my hands together, and as I wiped them away, flung a bolt at Mike. He cried out as he went down, clutching his arm.

David laughed loudly, slapping his knee, paralysed by hilarity. So I sent one at him, but he ducked, sweeping forward in a quick move, grabbing me at the waist and flipping me up into his arms like a damsel in distress. “Nice try.”

“How’d you know I was gonna do that?” I asked, ignoring the searing in my brain.

“I can read your mind, pretty girl. Even if I can't actually read it right now.”

I laughed, but as the jiggle from my stomach moved up to my chest, the pain shifted again, pushing out on both sides of my head in a pressure-building explosion, just waiting to erupt. “David?”

“What’s wrong?” He laid me on the ground; Mike stumbled to his feet, muttering something about revenge, and came to kneel beside me.

“Lay her on her side.” His big hands cupped my ribs and he flipped me over, placing a shirt under my head. “Trent, get that stuff Arthur gave us.”

I couldn’t open my eyes, but I felt David there beside me, felt his hand on my brow, heard his words in my ear while he soothingly rubbed my body and stroked my hair.

“David?” I whispered.

“Yes, my love…my love…love…”

“Just stay. Don't go.”

“I'm not going anywhere…where…where…”

The dry scent of cinnamon and coriander and number of other herbs filled my head, taking out all the volume and the ringing in my ears. I knew what was next. I held my breath, waiting for it to travel into my lungs and spin my world around, taking me down to the darkness for the next eight hours.

“Love you,” I whispered with the breath I’d held.

Chapter Four

I ran down the stairs, catching Jason’s sleeve as he reached for the front door. “Hey, did you hear?”

“About the labs?” he said solemnly.

“Yeah.” I stepped back a little. “I thought you’d be a bit happier.”

He frowned, making his eyes smaller. “He didn't tell you, did he?”

“Who didn't tell me what?”

“The king approved a lab and greenhouse on the rooftop for Arthur,” he said spitefully. “But declined my proposal.”

I sunk back on my heels. “Why?”

He smirked. “A scientific study into the possibility of you being the power to free the Damned would involve long hours of time spent in each other’s company.” He started walking away. “Why do you think he disapproved it?”

“I'm sorry, Jase,” I called. “I’ll talk to him.”

He turned back as he reached the door. “I’ve known him for over a hundred years, Ara. If even the prospect of freeing the Damned couldn't change his mind, you won't have a hope in hell.”

***

“David!”

He spun around, placing his book down on the dresser as his smile dropped. “My love, what’s wrong?”

“You are what’s wrong.” I poked his chest, coming to stop beside him as the bedroom door slammed shut. “Why did you deny Jason’s proposal for a lab?”