Page 89 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

Lea laughed, warmth filling her chest at his brotherly affection. "As do I, Erik. What is this room, anyway?"

"It’s just another training room. But," his eyes twinkled, "this one is enchanted."

"Enchanted to dowhatexactly?" Lea’s throat squeezed tighter. Nothing good could come of this.

"I’ll be the one in charge of the room today. Essentially, it will create any enemy I instruct it to. Whatever challenge I want, the room will make happen." Erik bounced on the balls of his feet as if he couldn’t wait to imagine all sorts of terrifying monsters to make her fight.

"How is that possible?" Lea watched an engraving of an axe spin and fly across the door and imbed itself into the handle as if warning her away.

"King Tanad is far more powerful than he lets on. His warriors are some of the best trained I’ve ever seen, and it’s because he prepares them so thoroughly." Erik crossed his arms. "I plan on preparing you just as well."

Lea gulped down the lump of nerves settling in her throat.

"Remember, while it might feel real, nothing in that room can hurt you. Not really." Erik smiled at Lea as if that made it any less scary.

"You mean not fatally," Lea muttered.

Erik threw his head back in his signature booming laugh. "Yes, not fatally. Stop worrying. The goal here is to use your shadows on moving targets, that’s all."

"And what are the king's soldiers helping us with? I don't want to use my shadows on them." The memory of Lea’s fire burning Janelle’s arm back in Auropera flashed through her mind.

"They’re here to be decoys, to help simulate battle. They’ll be fighting as well, and you’ll need to control your magic to make sure that you don’t harm them."

Lea opened her mouth to argue, but Erik held out his hand. "Before you start, they can’t be fatally injured either. Everyone is safe behind this door. That’s why it was created. And I’ll be there, too. I can stop you if you need help, or if it gets out of hand."

Lea shook her head and turned to face the door, taking a deep breath and steeling herself for what she would find behind it.

"They’re waiting for us inside. Are you ready?" Erik asked.

"As I’ll ever be." Lea held her hands in front of her as if they could protect her. Wordlessly, Erik opened the door and extinguished his fire. The pitch black was startling, and Lea lost all sense of where she was. She’d anticipated at least getting to see how big the room was, how it was laid out, and how many soldiers waited in there. Now? She couldn’t even see how far in front of her the doorway was.

"After you," Erik said, giving her a small push. Lea stumbled forward, her shoulder brushing against the side of the door frame. After a few seconds, Lea felt like she was going to faint. The darkness around her pushed firmly against her and dug into her skin as if trying to rip her magic from her body. She could hardly breathe from the pressure in her chest.

"Calm yourself, Lea," Erik encouraged from somewhere behind her.

"I don’t want to do this anymore." Lea fought against the urge to throw up. The dark power inside her pressed against her chest wall and surged through her arms as it begged to be released.

"One step at a time. First, control your breathing."

Lea had no choice but to obey. She took a four-second inhale through her nose, then exhaled for the same amount of time. It took about five cycles of slow breathing until her heart began to calm enough for the roaring in her ears to ease.

"Good," Erik said. "Now, the darkness in this room is under your command. Use it. Order it to search out your surroundings."

Lea continued her slow breathing, closing her eyes to help herself concentrate. She pictured running water in her mind and began stacking branches in front of it until only a small portion of the water could run through. She imagined that water was her power, and allowed a small stream of shadows to flow from her hands. With false confidence, she ordered her shadows to grab hold of the darkness around her, forming it into a weapon. Following the shadows, she mapped the room out in her mind, noting where they butted up against people and walls. As if someone turned the light on, she suddenly knew in her mind’s eye exactly what the room looked like.

Oddly, it was an enormous, triangular chamber, at least eight times the size of the hall where the royals had eaten their meals back in Auropera. Over two dozen men stood scattered throughout the room, as motionless as statues. It caused an uneasy prickle along her skin to see the men standing so completely still. If Erik hadn’t told her that the king’s soldiers would be assisting today, Lea would’ve assumed they were dummies meant to practice sparring against.

"Do you see it?" Erik asked after several moments.

"Yes," Lea breathed, still inhaling and exhaling slowly in an effort to control that dark power inside her.

"How many men are there?" Erik asked, and Lea knew he didn’t want an estimate. She began counting them.

"Twenty seven," she said confidently. She couldn’t actually see them, not really, but she could feel them, map them out in her head based on where her shadows found them. It was as if someone had painted the room and placed it next to her, where she could reference it whenever she wanted.

"What else is here?" Erik sounded proud, and Lea smiled in the dark.

"Weapons. On the back wall." Lea traced the sharp edge of a sword with a long, shadowy finger.

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