Page 66 of Crown of Wrath

He swings at me, and I leap back, the blunted longsword getting so close to my stomach that I can feel the wind of the swing. I instinctively stab with my spear one-handed, but my strike is too weak to hit him in the chest. He bats it away and closes again, swinging at half-speed while I move at full-speed.

Just like when he was training with Darian and Lee, his movements are just a bit faster than mine. I used to keep up with him and push him to fight with full strength. Now… now I’m barely stronger than a human.

“Push harder,” he snarls. His sword comes down hard against the shaft of the shadow spear, forcing it to the ground. I let it disappear as I form another one almost instantly, but almost instantly is still slower than Cole’s next strike. He stops just as the blade touches my cheek.

The cold metal is smooth against my skin as I stare into Cole’s icy blue eyes. There’s an intensity to him I don’t remember from our training on our walk to Draenyth. He’s serious with me now.

I take a deep breath and step back. “We knew this was going to be hard,” I say. “But this… How did I ever get stronger before?”

Cole eyes me as I try to catch my breath, my lungs burning from exertion and the cold as if he was using his flames. “You’re trying to regrow muscles that took a lifetime to build. You may be an Immortal, and you may wear the Painted Crown, but you lost half your body weight while you healed. This is expected.”

I shake my head. It can’t be. I can’t take this long to heal. “Every day I spend rebuilding my body, Gethin is learning to use the Burning Brand and whatever other relics he’s found. We’re trying to get back to where we were before the Nothing took my Da.” Only the slightest bit of sadness passes through me at the thought of him.

I miss him, but more than anything, I’m glad I had those three days with him.

“Again,” Cole says, and my muscles reject the idea.

I lift my hand, my arm shaking just to hold the spear up. My body doesn’t want to function at all, much less fight someone so much stronger. I’m struggling to stand up, but when Cole attacks, my body reacts. The pain doesn’t matter except that my muscles refuse to move like they should.

I hold the spear in both hands and twist it to block his chop. My grip shakes, but it holds as his blade rings against the shadow. I know I should counterattack, and I sidestep to create better geometry between us, my spear reaching out to his outstretched arm. Instead of pulling away, he slams the blade of his sword down on the tip of the spear, knocking it down and away. I was too slow, and he rushes me, closing the distance between us and making my weapon useless.

I try to retreat, to maintain the distance, but I trip when my leg doesn’t move as far as I expect it to, and I fall backward. I do my best to pull it into a roll as I have so many times in the past, but when I stand up, Cole’s blade comes down to touch my shoulder at my collarbone. “Dead,” he breathes.

I nod and step back again. “That’s enough,” he says. “Now you need to eat. I have to talk to Aric, so you get to go eat with Darian.”

And his eyes drift to my breasts as I take deep breaths, and there’s a flicker of orange in those icy blue eyes. I can’t help but feel a warmth flow through me when he looks at me like that. Like he’s ready to consume me.

“Eat with Darian? I thought he didn’t want to see anyone?”

Cole huffs. “He doesn’t, and I don’t care. You need to eat, and he…he needs someone to be near him. He certainly doesn’t want me around, but I think he’d tolerate you.” Cole pauses for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Darian’s not doing well, Maeve. Lee’s been gone for months now. The longest they had ever been apart was a few days before this. They’re twins, and they’ve done everything together. Now, Lee’s doing the most dangerous thing she’s ever done, and Darian just has to wait for her to finish. He’s a mess, verging on utter despair. He’s terrified his sister won’t come back.”

“I had a feeling it was going to be bad, but I guess I didn’t think that she’d be gone for so long. I wonder what’s taking so long.”

Cole shrugs. “Nothing she’s said has been very definitive. I think she’s having a hard time finding leads, which isn’t all that surprising. Sylphs are notoriously difficult to track, and Vesta was your mother’s handmaid. She’s the best, so if she doesn’t want to be found, Lee’s going to have a hard time.”

I nod and look past Cole. I know how Darian feels. “I’ll try to help him perk up a little.”

“You worry about eating enough. You have muscles to grow. Darian will feel better just being around you. You’ve always been able to make him smile, and that’s one of the most important things missing in his life right now. He feels like there’s nothing good.”

Idefinitelyknow that feeling. “I think I can make him laugh a little. Or at least entertain him. Don’t worry.”

Cole just chuckles as he walks toward me. “Just make sure you eat enough. And not only chocolate.”

My eyes gleam. I’d almost forgotten how much better Darian eats than Cole. “Right. Notjustchocolate.”

Then I take his hand, and we’re falling through the world.

Darian has always been a little unkempt. He’s never worried about brushing his hair or making sure that his clothes were ironed. This is worse than I’d expected..

He looks beaten down. His eyes are puffy and red. His clothes are so uncared for that he looked cleaner when we were walking from Aerwyn to Draenyth.

When he opens his door and sees me, all he says is “Oh, right. We’re supposed to eat.” No jokes about not visiting him. No excitement about what we’re going to eat. He is decidedly not the man that has made me laugh since the day I met him.

“Yes, we are,” I say, pushing my way into his chambers. “So go put on something that doesn’t make you smell like a goat. That may be fine when you’re pretending to be a House of Steel guard, but it would look bad if you smelled worse than the humans.”

His eyebrow rises. “The Wyrdling has jokes.”

“Ex-Wyrdling. Now go get dressed.” I say it with a smile, but there’s an edge to it.

---