Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
A corner of Xaden’s mouth slowly curves upward. “I can teach you to try, but there’s only one person capable of taking me down one day, and it isn’t you, Graycastle.”
My cheeks heat as heads swing my way.
“Let’s get back to it while you have some relative privacy. As of next week, the infantry cadets will be sitting in so they stand half a chance on the battlefield.” Xaden scans the line. “Gamlyn, you’re next.”
Ridoc ends up caged by a set of icicles of his own making.
Sloane retreats from the arena with her hands tied in shadow behind her back after not even trying. I glance at her rebellion relic and wonder if she’s hiding a second signet, too.
Neither Cat nor Maren get close before they’re off the mat and sent stumbling in our direction, but Cat is the only one of the pair who looks momentarily devastated at having failed.
“You’re going to get over him at some point, right?” Trager mutters as Cat falls back in line. “Seems like a waste of time to chase someone who doesn’t want you when there are plenty of people who do.”
Cat’s gaze snaps in his direction, and I lift my brows.
Go Trager.
And then Xaden lifts his brow at me. “No exceptions, Sorrengail.”
“Now this is what I’ve been waiting to see.” Caroline bounces on her toes like a child.
“Do me a favor,” I say to Xaden, unfastening the conduit’s leather strap at my hip and hooking it over my wrist so the orb fits comfortably in my palm. Then I take three steps forward onto the mat and open the door to Tairn’s power with a hell of a smirk. “Don’t let me hurt you.”
It is hereby suggested strongly that neither bonded dragon nor gryphon shall be allowed to land or hunt in a one-mile vicinity of the village of Chantara in order to sustain the endeavors of our sheep herders through this surge of demand.
—Posted Bulletin, Village of Chantara Transcribed by Percival Fitzgibbons
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Arrogant, are we?” His flash of an undeniable smile is there and gone before I can fully succumb to its knee-wobbling effect. “Let’s see how you do in the dark.”
Shadows fill the mat and devour every ounce of sunlight, leaving me in complete and total darkness in every direction I look. Challenge accepted.
“This is playing dirty.” I lift the conduit to just above my shoulder and release a steady flow of power from my left hand. The orb crackles, catching the tendrils of lightning as it imbues the alloy at its center and illuminating the area directly surrounding me.
“You already have the upper hand,” he replies, and a strand of shadow caresses my cheek but doesn’t take form any closer to the conduit. “I’m just leveling the playing field.”
I walk forward, catching a glimpse of him before he fades into darkness once more.
“Strike,” he orders.
“And chance actually hitting you? I think not.” My left arm heats, and I grit my teeth against the strain of sustaining the power flow. It’s so much easier to strike than trickle.
“Use our pathway to track me down.” His lips brush the back of my neck, and a jolt of awareness races down my spine, but when I spin, he’s already gone.
“That’s cheating.” I walk left, then forward, then turn around again, completely lost as to which direction I’m facing.
“It’s using every tool at your disposal,” he points out. “Come on, Violence. Live up to the nickname. I could have killed you a dozen times over by now because you’re reluctant to strike.”
“And I could kill you with a single, non-hypothetical strike.” I open my senses, but it’s impossible to concentrate on our pathways while my body channels continuously. Fuck it. It’s not like I can see through this anyway. Lowering my arm, I cut the flow of power from my fingertips, and shadows rush over me, cooling my heated skin.
I focus on our connection, on the bond, and obey the subtle, barely perceptible tug that comes from my right.
“Good.” The bond strengthens when he talks, and I change directions slightly, following the connection. “I can wield from anything that casts a shadow, but no one knows the strongest threads are always my own. If you can sort through them, feel their difference, you’ll be able to track where I am in the darkness.”
“Is that really what you need me to learn?” I run my hands through shadow, but it all feels the same.
“You have to learn the difference for both our sakes.” The bond surrounds me in the same instant that he wraps his arms around me from behind, and a stronger shadow—his—tilts my chin toward my shoulder and up. “Only you.”
His mouth finds mine in the darkness and he kisses me long and slow, like we’re the only people in the world, like our time is infinite and there is nothing more important than hearing my next sigh. It’s utterly decadent, thorough, and only makes me want more. My pulse leaps, racing faster with every stroke of his perfect tongue.