Page 26 of Of War and Realms

I huff, turning toward the captain. “Oh, come on!” Clearly, I didn’t look at them when we left; I was too in my head to notice. “How is a girl expected to focus when the two of you are here? It’s literally going to be a fucking slip and slide down there, and someone’s going to get hurt.”

“A what?” Em breathes through his laughter.

Oh yeah, they aren’t from the human side. I suppose neither am I—so if it weren’t for Andras, I also wouldn’t know what a slip and slide is. Lucky me.

There’s my positivity for the day. Rolling my eyes at my thoughts, I turn back to the prince, patting Em on the chest. “Never mind. And you—” I accentuate the word, poking Casmir. “Out of my sight…actually, both of you out of my sight before I change my mind about being here.”

I step to move around Cas, but he grabs my wrists and tugs me to his chest. “Feeling a little tense, princess? Perhaps our swim yesterday wasn’t enough? It would be my pleasure to rectify that for you.” He smirks at the redness creeping up my cheeks. I giggle when Em pushes my hair to the side and trails cool air down my neck.

“Maybe with both our help, we could get all of that tension out of you.” The heat in his voice shoots straight to my core. “What do you say, love?”

I rest my forehead against Cas’s chest and snort to myself. “I say,” I drawl, looking them both in the eye. “You two are the most insufferable males ever.” I side-step them, bolting just out of reach. Walking backward, I smirk at their plotting gazes. “Why don’t you two go suck each other off? I have a job to do!”

I run down the hill smiling, feeling significantly lighter than I was twenty minutes ago. I’m so focused on thoughts of my males that I don’t see mother step up beside me.

“Do not show them your weakness, Nell. There is nothing to be smiling about here.” I roll my eyes very dramatically and turn my back on her.

She ushers everyone in, standing in front as if she’s a leader here. After going through the same speech I gave the guard when I first trained them, we separate the demis and fae into groups. Each god takes a group and offers input as needed.

It’s not long before I’m sweating from the heat of the bright sun, wishing I could sit under the waterfall again. I close my eyes at a heavy breeze and breathe in the alluring air. I watch Calix with the fae for some time, not needing to interfere with anything he does. I mean, he’s the one who taught me, so I would assume he doesn’t need my help.

“Okay, one-on-one training is concluded! We will now observe sparring trials.” I yawn, tuning out mother’s voice as much as I can. And even though she believes me worthless, she still loves to show off what she created. “Anellah and Calix will take the first round.” I share a look with my best friend and almost laugh at how familiar this all feels. Almost like I never left Europa in the first place.

Actually, this is too familiar. As I step into the middle of the arena, I face my opponent, and memories of the last time I fought him resurface. The competition for best warrior. I nearly killed him.

I have worked on my control tediously since that day, and I trust that I will not hurt him, but there’s still a voice in my head telling me I’m too weak for that to be true. That I failed my parents at everything else, so why wouldn’t I fail at this?

Shut the fuck up, Nell. You create your own prison.

“I have placed a sealed dome around your sparring area, so do not hold back. You may begin.” I forgot how much she loves reminding everyone of her essence magic. So humble.

My eyes slide back to Cal, narrowing when I see his smirk. “Would you like to attack first, or shall I?”

I give him a predatory smile and gesture to the space between us. “Be my guest.”

Just as the last word leaves my mouth, he hauls an ocean-sized wave at me. I shake my head, crossing my arms and covering myself with essence. The water curves around my body, and though it doesn’t touch me, I can still feel the cooling effects it has. It’s nice. And also so fucking predictable! Does he think I have forgotten his tactics?

I drop my magic and go to tell him as much when the last of the water crests over me, but I don’t get the chance to speak as he stands from a crouch and punches my jaw so hard I go flying. I hit mother’s wall and groan when my face hits the grass. I feel worry and hesitation down the bond, though I ignore it to stand and face Cal.

Swiping my fingers over my bloody lips, I laugh. “Oh, that’s how you want to do this? I was going to go easy on you, but now I have no choice but to kick your ass!”

He hops from foot to foot, smiling manically. “Yeah, whatever you say, Nell. You’re just pissed I got a hit in!”

I shrug and spin to throw my fist out, using my essence to hit him in the face as if it were me. Now that we’re even, we fight.

We’re so tangled in a mess of magic and limbs that I forget which of us attacked first. It feels fantastic to let loose and spar with Cal again. I may have even let him strike me a few more times, just to feel the heat of the fight. It feels like hours before we both stand and send a wave of magic at each other. The strength we put into our attacks backfire when they collide, and the force of it sends us both to the ground.

My back hits the grass hard, and I cough a few times as the impact winded me. I roll my head to look at Cal; he’s watching me from his landing spot, but we both know the fight is over. I laugh, clutching my abdomen when I can’t stop. I feel so good. This is exactly what I needed today.

“Fuck, Nell, you were really slacking there for a minute,” he teases. I punch him in the arm and turn to tell my mother we’re finished, but she has already dropped her dome.

Casmir and Emrys jog to me, both acting like mother hens when they feel every part of my body for injury. “Are you satisfied?” I mutter when they complete their inspection.

“Not in the slightest, love.” He licks his bottom lip as his eyes complete a different kind of inspection.

“I’m so glad I do not have soul bonds,” Calix mutters. “No offense, though.” He winks, walking out of the arena.

“There’s no chance we lose this war when we have you. That was fucking incredible, Nell.” I bite my cheek, shrugging and pushing their arms to turn around.

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