Page 54 of Rebellious Royals

"He's not wrong," Bracken said. "Rain, I want you with Wilder and Hawke. Aspen, you're with Bran and Keir. Daivonand Axel? You'll serve as Torian's opponent. Pascal, float around between them."

"Starting to feel like that's a compliment," Pascal joked.

"It is," Wilder said. "To us, it's called helping. Even Torian will agree."

Torian just grunted. He also didn't say Wilder was wrong.

Chapter Sixteen

RAIN

Because there were now so many of us, and because Bracken wanted us working in smaller groups, we had to head back to the main area of the gym. The practice room we'd been using wasn't big enough for that. At least, not without all of us crashing into each other.

My group took a spot on the upper half of the main room. Aspen, Keir, and Bran claimed the main training area - because there were mats there. Torian, Axel, and Daivon were over at the side. We didn't even need to talk about it. Keir and I shared a look, Torian saw, and we all simply moved to where we needed to be.

And Bracken meandered between us.

"Rain," he said as he paused to check on us. "Hawke has some knowledge of what Wild magic can do. I want him to help you devise a few attacks you can use while fighting."

"Shit, how'd you learn about Wild magic, Hawke?" Pascal asked, heading over just as Bracken wandered away. Clearly, he'd overhead that.

Hawke glanced over to Wilder. "Uh..."

"On Faerie," Wilder said calmly, as if this was no big deal at all, "some wildlings live among the sidhe. Few are in the courts,but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Most nobility simply thought they were lesser, good only to be servants. Most is not all."

"Ah." Pascal nodded. "Had a wildling friend you weren't supposed to, huh? Cool." And he began swinging his arms again.

"So, does Faerie look like here?" I asked as I began to do the same.

Hawke shrugged. "How do you mean? Our plants are different."

"But the landscape?" I asked. "Blue sky. Those things?"

"Blue sky," Wilder agreed.

"The continents are shaped different," Hawke explained. "The grass is usually green, but not always. There isn't industrialization, although there are cities."

"Like medieval?" Pascal asked.

Wilder snorted. "No."

"More like fae," Hawke told him. "Civilized, but focused on elegance. Horses instead of cars."

"Or deer," Wilder added. "A few other things too. The Mad Queen rode a bear for a bit."

"Damn," I breathed.

"But there are carriages that run on magic, so like cars but with more style," Wilder clarified. "Modern, just magic instead of science."

"Get to work!" Bracken yelled at us from down by Aspen.

"Ok," I said, moving to the center of the open area we'd claimed. "So what do I need to know, guys?"

"Your sword work is good enough," Pascal assured me. "You need more experience to predict shots, but that's about it."

"Where you're lacking is adding magic," Wilder said. "So why don't you spar with Pascal, and we'll see where you can add some?"

"But my magic seems to be revitalizing the Hunt," I countered. "I don't want to use it on them - and it doesn't even hurt them."

---