Page 12 of Wings of Valor
Mira shrugs, clearly contemplating. “It probably wouldn’t hurt, though it would give away that we have the means to disappear, so to speak. That may not be worth it—depending on how likely you think it is that something will go wrong.”
Shit. She’s right. Why is this so fucking hard?
“Here.” Mira unsheathes the daggers at her hip, then does this little flip with them that looks effortless—and totally badass—before holding them out to me, hilt first. “In case things go sideways, I’d like you to take these.”
I can only stare at her outstretched hands and the sharp blades she holds. “But these are yours. I couldn’t possibly—”
“You can, and you should. Weapons are in short supply on campus, unless you want to take some of the training weapons from Malik’s office?” She laughs at my scrunched-up face. “Precisely. And this is safer than Zeke trying to smuggle some out of the guild.”
I hadn’t even considered needing weapons. Ugh! Just how incompetent am I?
“Stop that,” Mira says like she can read my thoughts. She places the daggers on the bed and takes my hands in hers. “You are so strong to even consider this sacrifice. Your bravery is inspiring. If this situation wasn’t so close to home, you’d have no issues thinking of everything. It’s understandable that your head is a little foggy. That’s what I’m here for. To help. Please, take them.”
My grip on her hands tightens. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Her smile turns serious. “Now, if the trade happens and you join his side but things take a turn later, remember your sunfire. With enough concentration, the heat of it should melt cuffs or bars—if it comes to that. Hopefully, it doesn’t.”
Yet another thing I hadn’t considered. Would Auriel really turn me into his trained beast?
“Hopefully.” I stare at my fingers, tracing the length of them, and consider confiding in her more than I already have. I’ve already gone this far. What’s a little further? “There’s something else. Something I haven’t discussed with anyone, but I know the guys witnessed it.”
Mira watches me with intrigue, though she keeps silent.
“I think I can teleport. At least, I did it at my parents’ house and maybe one other time. Not sure I can do it on command, but maybe it would be useful?” Finally, I raise my gaze to hers. As always, Mira doesn’t react the way I expect her to. She isn’t upset with me that I’ve kept this to myself. She just looks excited.
“I swear, you’re the coolest person I know.” Her words make me laugh becauseshe’sprobably the coolest person I know. Mira stands. “Do you feel up to practicing it a bit with me here?”
I can only stare. She really isn’t going to tell me to do some research before attempting to travel through fucking air with mymind? I couldn’t hold back the smile that spreads across my face if I tried. “Yes! Let’s do it.”
Mira picks up the blue university pen from the small coffee table and turns to me. The sight of that pen invokes memories of a time that was somehow less complicated and yet also more. Tutoring with Raph feels like a lifetime ago.
When I stand from the bed, Mira halts my step. “You stay there.” She walks forward until she’s closer, but still out of reach. “I’m going to drop this, and I want you to catch it before it hits the floor. Do your best to teleport forward instead of just lunging.”
“Well, this should be easy,” I say, deadpan.
She ignores my joke and counts down from three. I take a deep breath, and the moment she drops the pen, I will myself to move.
The pen hits the floor.
Shit.
“It’s alright. This is unfamiliar territory for us, but we can figure it out together. Let’s try again.” Mira grabs the pen from the floor and begins another countdown.
We do this two more times before I manage to teleport anywhere. Unfortunately, my aim is off, so I smack right into Mira and don’t save the pen from falling.
She laughs, and so do I. “Progress! Again.”
We practice over and over again—until it finally feels like I’m getting the hang of it. Out of the thirty times Mira dropped the pen, not counting the first few where I sucked total ass, I caught it sixteen times.
My smile is bright as we continue training, moving on to harder challenges. Even if my abilities don’t improve much beyond this, I feel ten times lighter than I did this morning.
Maybe I really can pull this off.
7
Mira’s daggers lie sheathed and on top of the bag hidden beneath my bed. She insisted on loaning me her holster, promising that, like the daggers, she had plenty of others at home.
I suppose having a guild lieutenant as a father means access to things others wouldn’t have. The story she shared with me yesterday holds steady in the back of my mind, and I vow that if I make it through this, I’ll get to know her better. If there’s anything I can do to help with her home situation, I’ll do it. She deserves to be happy. And it’s the least I can do to repay what she’s done for me.
