A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal (Stars and Shadows #2)(39)

“We need to train.” I wiped my sweating hands down my trousers and lined myself back up.

Thalia was trying to teach me how to control myself when not only using my magic but in hand-to-hand combat as well, and it was much harder than I thought it would be.

“Okay, but you don’t need to run yourself into the ground to not think about him.” She looked toward the doorway, and her mouth tightened in a hard line.

I balled my hands into fists before shaking them out, and I tried to let her words roll off me.

“Don't hold back this time,” I told her just before she lunged at me and let a flare of her magic come barreling at my chest.

I lifted my left hand, blocking her magic with my own, but her fist connected with my shoulder before I could stop it.

“Shit,” I cursed as I almost lost my balance. My shoulder was already aching from the hit, but it didn't matter. I wasn't ready to stop. “Again.”

Thalia nodded once before lining herself back up, and I tried to watch her eyes to see the directions her thoughts were going. But I was wrong. She lunged to the left, her leg kicking out toward me, and I shifted my weight, bracing for her attack, and I completely missed the way her magic slammed into my right side. I hit the ground with a loud grunt and clenched my teeth at the bite of pain in my hip.

“Stop overthinking.” Thalia pushed her hair out of her face. “You’re not trusting yourself, Adara. You need to take a moment and catch your breath.”

I crawled to my knees before pushing back to my stance, and I tried to control the anger that was coursing through me. “I don’t need a break.”

“Then I do.”

I looked up at Thalia because it was the first time she'd ever told me she needed a break. Her eyes were pleading, and she rubbed her hand across her brow.

“I'll take over.” I snapped my head in the direction of Evren's voice and watched as he strolled into the courtyard. He was dressed in his usual black attire, and there was no trace of the man who had been attacked. He looked every bit his normal self.

“I don't really think you should be doing any training.” I pressed my hands into my hips as I try to swallow down a breath. “Weren't you the one crumpled on the floor last night?”

Evren smirked as he circled around me and stepped in front of Thalia. “I did a lot of things last night, but miraculously, I've got my energy back.”

I tried not to react to his words, but all I could think about was what he looked like at the end of my bed. All I could remember was the feel of his magic against my skin.

“I don't want to train with you.”

Evren smirked harder and cocked his head as he looked at me. “It would seem you’re all out of choices, considering you've worn Thalia out.”

“Where's Sorin?” I looked around the courtyard, but it was only the three of us there. “I would rather finish my training with him.”

Evren bared his teeth, and he took a moment before he spoke again.

“I thought we made it clear last night that you are mine. You will train with me.”

I heard Thalia let out a snicker under her breath, but she turned her back to us as if she was giving us privacy.

“I'm not staying here.” I didn’t mean it, but I was desperate to make him as off-kilter as I felt.

Evren moved slowly around me, and I shifted my body to mirror his. Something Thalia had taught me.

“And where will you go, Adara?” His power shot out and hit my left hand. I hissed and lifted it against my side. He used enough power to make it sting.

I shook out my hand and watched him. “I don't know.”

“That's because there is nowhere for you to go.” Evren sent out another shot of power, and this time, it hit my other hand.

“Stop it,” I demanded of him, but he didn’t listen.

“Make me, princess.” He cocked his head and studied me. “Show me what Thalia has been training you to do.”

I shook my head softly, but he wasn't having it.

“Make me stop.” His words were controlled and did nothing but fuel my anger.

I could feel it rising. Irritation over what he was doing, rage over the life we had been dealt.

I was angry, and he was only making it worse. He pushed and pushed and pushed until he gave me no other choice.

I could feel my magic rising inside of me like my anger was a living, palpable thing. I tried to push it down, to control it like Thalia had taught me to, but he was making it impossible.

Another stream of his power shot out, and I slammed my own magic into it before he could hit me. Evren grinned.

“Stop.”

But he wasn't listening to me. His black smoke left his fingers once more and his magic came at me so quickly that I wasn't prepared. But I still managed to block it with my own within the last second.

“Good,” he encouraged me, and I gritted my teeth as sweat rolled down my back. “Stop trying to see where my power is coming from with your eyes. Feel it in your gut. Trust it.”

Anger rose inside of me, and in that moment, I could feel it, his power rising to the left and before I could think better of it, I let my own power slam into the left side of him. It hardly made an impact, his body barely budging, but it was the surprise in his eyes that made me smile.

“Feel it in your gut, Evren. You should have seen that coming.”