Page 113 of The Songs of Fate (War of Fate)

“Over there.” Ales raised his hand and pointed to a small dot in the water.

“You want to go to the other island?”

“Yes,” he said. He turned back to the ocean and began walking into the crashing waves.

I trudged after him.

He was separating me further from the others. What was he planning on doing?

“Why the other island?” I asked.

“We need to practice things that are too dangerous to do here, with the people of Eir so close.”

Did he mean summon the Valkyrie, like all of Her? Because that was the only dangerous thing that we shouldn’t practice near other people.

I followed Ales into the water.

When the water reached Ales’ waist, he turned back to me and reached for my chest.

“Whoa. What—”

My light seared my chest, clawing at the thought of him touching me there.

Ales gripped onto the strap holding my sword over my back, using it to swing me around. With my back facing him, he began to undo the buckle. His breath tickled my neck as he cinched the strap on the tightest hole.

Gasping, I reached around my back. “Hey, that’s too tight.”

“It must be tight, or you will lose your weapons.”

Yeah, that’d be tragic.

The weight of the weapons was not going to be fun to swim with. The island appeared to be a tiny blip in the ocean. Maybe it was small in reality, and we were closer than I thought.

He reached for the holster on my thigh. “Nooo! I got this one.”

I don’t need your hands there!

The Valkyrie would lose her freaking mind if Ales’ hands wrapped around my thigh.

Ales backed away, watching me tighten it before speaking. “Ready?”

“Yeah, sure.”

I watched Ales swim out to where the turquoise water turned sapphire blue. Half an hour of swimming and my feet hit the shore. I began wringing out my braid, looking for my canteen of water. Twisting to the side, I gripped the bladder.

A flash of sliver skidded over my shoulder.

Yelping, I darted to the side, nearly avoiding the sharp end of Ales’ blade.

“What are you doing!” I shouted, turning my feet toward him, opening my stance.

“Teaching.” He twirled his blade. “Draw your sword, or use your aether. Your choice.”

Oh shit! He’s out for blood. He’s going to make me summon the Valkyrie.

I reached my left arm to my side and drew the steel from its sheath just as Ales struck again. This time, I slid out of the way, ducking the high strike. He pivoted, turning to me again and attacking. I did a half-turn, sneaking around the sword. He continued to slice with his sword. I dipped out of the way, breaths before the steel landed. He advanced, I backed up. He struck, I shimmied out of the way.

“Stop running. You have to lift the sword and use it.”

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