Page 82 of The Blood Traitor

When Kiva woke the next morning, she was determined to follow through with her plan to speak to Jaren. But since he’d made an art out of avoiding her, the only times she saw him were when he was with other people.

For the entirety of her training session with Caldon, she kept one eye on where Jaren sparred with Naari in the large, clear space at the outer edge of the oasis, partly because it was impossiblenotto appreciate the way his body moved, how his muscles bunched and shifted with a fluidity that was downright criminal. But she also watched so she could see when he finished, wanting to catch him alone before they departed for the next leg of their journey.

“Daydreaming much?”

Caldon’s voice pulled Kiva’s gaze back to find him smirking at her, prompting heat to touch her cheeks.

“I get it,” he said, jutting a thumb out toward his sweat-slicked cousin. “Trust me, I do.” His own eyes darted to where Torell was sparring with Ashlyn, before they settled on Cresta, who was paired with Eidran. They lingered on the redhead, before he shook away his dazed expression and frowned at Kiva. “But do it on your own time.”

She nodded guiltily, knowing she needed to concentrate. They’d already finished her physical training — which had included running laps around the oasis, leaving her a sweating, panting mess — and now they were working on her magic. She’d secretly hoped Jaren might join them again, had even considered acting as if she was still having trouble summoning her power, but she didn’t want to manipulate his attention. That, plus she reallywasfinding her magic to be so much easier now that shewas feeding it through positive emotions and memories, and she knew they needed to continue moving her training along, which wouldn’t happen if she faked having more difficulties.

“I was thinking last night about Zuleeka’s magic,” Caldon said, “how she shot those shadows toward us in the River Room — do you remember?”

Kiva sent him a deadpan look. “No. Why would I remember that?”

Caldon snickered. “Gods, you’re so grumpy in the morning.” He then sobered and said, “Next time you face her, we need to make sure you can avoid her magic striking you at all, since there’s no way to know what command she’ll have behind it. She might just repeat that instant-paralysis she struck us with, but she could also do something more sinister, like stop your heart or create a brain bleed. Since you can’t heal yourself, you’ll be dead in seconds.”

A sick feeling twisted Kiva’s stomach. Would Zuleeka really do something like that? To her ownsister?But then she thought about how Zuleeka had stabbed Torell, and how she’d murdered Nanna Delora. There really was no telling what extremes she might go to, especially if she felt threatened.

“So along with focusing on your magical strength and endurance,” Caldon went on, “I think we also need to work on your reaction speed.”

Kiva was unsure if she liked the eager look on his face. “How?”

“I had an idea,” Caldon said, appearing very much like Tipp as he bounced excitedly on his heels. “And before you panic, hear me out.”

Thatdidn’t fill Kiva with confidence, but she still said, “I’m listening.”

“I’m going to throw my magic at you, and you’re going to summon yours to try and meet it midair before it can touch you.”

For a moment, Kiva just looked at him.

And then she laughed.

“Wow, you really had me going for a second there,” she said, still chuckling.

Caldon crossed his arms. “I’m serious, Sunshine. You need to get used to magical attacks. If you freeze up, or if you don’t react fast enough, all it will take is one hit from Zuleeka, and you could be dead.”

“I realize that,” Kiva said, her eyes flashing, her humor gone. “But in case you forgot, I have healing magic, and youthrow fire. I might be able to nullify Zuleeka’s shadows — and that’s still a big question mark — but my power won’t do anything to stop yours. You’ll roast me like a chicken.”

“Oh, you of little faith,” Caldon said, rolling his eyes. “What’s that around your neck, Sweet Cheeks? Is it possibly a crest that canprotect you from magic?”

Kiva’s hands automatically moved to the amulet beneath her clothes. She bit her lip, feeling foolish for having thought Caldon would risk harming her, and sent him a sheepish, apologetic look.

“Come on, time’s a-wasting,” he said, waving to her hands. If anything, he seemed amused by her having doubted him, his cobalt eyes sparkling with mirth.

Quickly, Kiva dug the amulet out from her leathery armor. Caldon touched a finger to it, sending his power into the ruby gemstone of the quadrant depicting the fire element. Just like with the ring, the jewel glowed bright red before it faded back to normal.

“See? Now I can attack you anytime I want, and you’ll be fine,” he said, beaming.

A vision of being awakened in the middle of the night surrounded by flames came to Kiva, so she said, “I think we should lay down some ground rules.”

“No time for that,” he replied, striding away. “Are you ready?”

“I —”

Before Kiva could get her next word out, there was a ball of fire heading directly for her.

Suddenly, she was transported straight back to Navok’s throne room when Xuru had attacked her. Her veins filled with ice, her limbs tensed up, and she barely managed to raise her hands to protect her face in time for the blaze to strike her.

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