Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

  "Quicker. The slower you move, the easier it is for me to win."

"I thought we were supposed to be conserving energy."  

"You can take a juniper bath and massage your muscles with lavender oil before getting some sleep. Now, move quicker, and don't rely on your powers to save you."

He doesn't give a warning before launching his attack. We've been on the roof of the assassin's keep for what could be an hour based on the setting sun, and Arthur – Lance - is pushing us all harder tonight.

Deflecting his blows makes tremors run down from where my hand clutches my sword handle, all the way down to the shoulder, but I'm managing much better than I did months ago. He swings low, I jump and land with my arms already swinging the sword high to keep him on the ground and give myself an advantage. It might've worked too if he didn't roll and hook his ankle on the back of my knee, forcing me to the ground.

I scarcely miss his blade that hits the stone by my head and instinctively reach up and grab his arm to use what isn't much of an imbalance to pull his arm away from me and use my left leg to push my right hip up and turn him onto his back.

We wrestle on the ground for a little, and then we separate and get back on our feet. We both take a quick second to look around and see how the Bhaltayr are fairing against the Jades, and then we're back in each other's faces.

I was reluctant to allow the Bhaltayr to each have one-on-one fights with Lance's choice of assassins, but they all gave me a disguised glare telling me that if I denied them this opportunity, they'd wake me up with several buckets of water and whatever dirt they could dig up. I hated the slight threat, but that didn't stop me from telling Lance to make half of their opponents male, and the other half female.

If my men are going to get their asses kicked, it might as well be entertaining and embarrassing.

They switch partners every ten minutes, that way they're forced to adapt to a different fighting style and blow force. Their minds will have to work quickly to keep themselves alive and to catch whatever tells on the upcoming move or weak spots they can. Lance said it was the last bit of training we'll need. For now. He promised to continue our lessons after hell breaks loose, and I don't know if I'm happy about it, or looking forward to that juniper bath and lavender oil massage he was talking about.

I don't mind training the day before we plan to get Clare back. It takes my mind off of everything that could go wrong. I have one job, one job that is so much easier to carry out, yet will be so debilitating to do while knowing that everyone else is inside the castle walls where I can't go to save them should they get into any trouble.

All those thoughts about how I could lose more friends than save one run through my head, but they're not the scariest ones. Oh no, the scariest ones are wondering what Clare will look like – be like after we save her. Hira said that she doesn't remember any of us, and how am I going to react to that?

I want to be the person who forgives and forgets and comforts her through all the confusion, but what if I can't forget? What if simply seeing her will have me drowning in so many emotions that I go mute and useless or even reckless? What if hearing her voice as someone or something different turns this darkness inside of me into a labyrinth of it? What if, what if, what if –

To taken with my thoughts, I don't see Lance's movements to a move I know comes after, and he takes out my legs and pins me down in a second before I can blink. "Your head's in the clouds, Fire King. Focus."

"Pardon me for not being able to lock down my emotions," I retort. I know it's a low blow, but I can't stop my mouth before it's moving.

"It's not about locking them down, it's about setting them free and allowing them to drive you faster and harder when it counts the most. Your emotions are controlling you, not driving you. That's the difference." He stands up, the point obviously his, and the fight over. He holds out his hand to me and I take it with as much disappointment in myself that I can muster.