"Hold still, Scarlett." Madoc scolded. "You move too much. If you keep it up, I won't be able to get accurate measurements."

I spread out my arms as he wrapped a measuring tape around my waist. "I can't help it if I feel weird about this." I said. "I mean, I never knew so much work went into making a single dress."

He scoffed. "Well, if you want me to get this single dress made for you to go to the Eternal Ball, then I'm gonna need these measurements in the next thirty minutes. Shame on you for calling me on such short notice." Madoc wrote down a number on a sheet of paper. "By the way, you've got a lovely hourglass figure."

I blushed, not quite knowing what to say in response to a comment like that. "Um...thanks?"

"Don't feel awkward about it." Madoc reassured me. "You're going to look great in the dress I make for you." He gave a show of jazz hands. "You're going to look fabulous!"

I chuckled. "You really like that word, don't you?"

"Well, there's not really any other word in the entire English dictionary that can quite keep up with my personality." Madoc began to look over me, rubbing his fingers against his chin, "Anyways...do you have any preference for what you want the dress to look like, or do you want me to give my professional opinion?"

I shrugged. "The last dress I ever wore was when I was twelve, so I'm going to leave the design up to your capable hands."

Madoc nodded. "Good choice, princesa." He made his fingers into a square and began walking around me, pursing his lips and knitting his eyebrows together in thought. "I think you should go with something slimming, but doesn't show off too much skin. It'll look very classy and it will accentuate how great your body looks without being too risque. I'm thinking we should either go with a sleeveless dress or a halter. Also, I think it would be nice if we put a little bling on the bodice and/or the waist." He looked back at me. "What do you think?"

I thought about what he had said over in my head for a bit, and nodded. "That sounds really nice, actually."

Hazu popped up from the corner with her sketchbook in her hands. She nervously showed it to Madoc. He looked it over and grinned. "Okay, you took my idea and made it, like, fifteen times better! I am definitely going to make this dress. Thanks Hazu."

I walked over to look at the design. The dress was cherry red with a gold bodice and long sleeves. There were small little slits in the sides to show off my hips, but they weren't big enough to make the dress look trashy. The belt was yellow with red and orange crystals shaped in a pattern that looked half-flower, half-fire. It was probably one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my life.

Madoc nodded. "You can expect this to be ready by Sunday. I'll get one of the girls I know to do your makeup. You'll be the envy of everyone on campus."

I giggled. I was going to look like a princess. I couldn't be happier. I thanked Madoc and Hazu for what they were doing. They quickly told me that it was no problem. Hazu grabbed a roll of red fabric out from one of the closets and Madoc came out with a mannequin. I watched as the two got to work, cutting and measuring the material like the masters they probably were. Hazu went back to sketching in her notebook and drew a hairstyle on the figure that was modeling the dress. It was all pinned to one side and fell in slightly wavy locks down the other. She also sketched a pair of golden strappy heels to go with it.

I checked the clock. Talia had told me that she wanted me in the wrestling room at 10:30, and it was already 10:15, so I quickly bid Madoc and Hazu a farewell. I walked out of the door of the Fashion and Design room and made my way towards the Physical Education wing of Eternal Academy. I adjusted the sports bag that Hazu had advised me to pack earlier that morning.

"Knowing T-Talia..." She had said, "She'll m-make you do a lot of p-physical activity. Pack something that's e-easy to move around in."

I shuddered as I neared the wrestling room. I heard the sound of grunting and the landing of heavy blows. What was going on in there? I opened the door to see Talia in nothing but a sports bra and yoga pants. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and her hands were wrapped in bandages. I watched as a guy that was six feet tall came rushing at her. She dodged his attack and turned around, kicking him in the back of the knees. He came down faster than the London Bridge. Another guy came barreling towards her, just as much of a beefcake as the guy before him. Talia grabbed his upper arm as he passed by and threw him onto the floor so hard that the impact echoed. Another boy came, and tried to throw a punch at her. Talia dodged it and landed a solid blow across his face. While he staggered from the impact, Talia hit him again; once, twice and even three times. When it looked like her opponent was about to fall, Talia finished off her assault with a spin kick and an uppercut, leaving him to get an almost foot and a half off of the ground before crashing into it.

Talia was breathing heavily by the end of it. "Again."

An older man walked towards her. "Metalia, it's been three hours. You've beaten these guys up over and over again. You're never satisfied."

"Let me at 'em one more time." Talia begged. "I was a little slow in that last roundhouse kick. I need to perfect these moves!"

"Your reaction time is incredible. You can lift more weight than any Combat-type user I've ever seen before, and you know how to perfectly balance your offense with your defense." The man told her. "What more could you possibly want?"

"I don't want to just be incredible!" Talia said, hitting her fist on the wall. "What I need is to be perfect!"

"No one is perfect, Metalia."

"But I need to be perfect in every way!" She snapped. "If I don't perfect these skills, then I will be useless in the fight against Kali. I refuse to let that happen." She grit her teeth. "I need to be strong. I don't have any other option."

I frowned. Talia seemed like she put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into her training. From what I saw, I would have said her technique was absolutely flawless. Somehow, she still was beating herself up about what she could do better. I had to talk to her.

I took my shoes off as I entered the wrestling room. I walked over to Talia and placed a hand on her shoulder.

That was my first mistake.

The Russian girl grabbed my forearm and judo-flipped me onto the mat. She pulled out a small metal bar from her hip, which quickly became a six-foot war hammer. As she prepared to strike, she stopped herself.

"Scarlett?"

I tried my best to not sound like I had just survived a near-death experience. "Well, I'm not the ice cream man!"

Talia sighed and rested her hammer on her shoulders. She offered her hand with a scowl. "Come on." She said. "Get up."

I warily took her hand and stood up. "Can you please tell me why you just tried to kill me back there?"

Talia placed a hand on her hip. "Well. considering I have just completed a highly intense workout, don't you think it might occur to you that my first instinct might be to attack anything that comes within five feet of me?"

I threw up my hands. "It was just a question. No need to get so up in arms about it."

Talia sighed, turning to the man she had been talking with. "Thank you for letting me practice with the wrestling team. You may all leave now."

The boys and their coach got up off the mat, groaning in pain and using each other as human crutches as they left the room. I noticed that a significant amount of these boys had black eyes, bruises and lumps all over their body. Talia really took her training seriously.

"Let's get started right away." Talia said. "I don't believe in wasting time, for it is a precious thing. Get dressed, put your hair up so it won't get in your eyes and come straight out here. Don't spend anymore time than absolutely necessary to get changed, am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am." I said under my breath.

She whipped her head around, her coppery ringlets bouncing wildly. "Was that sarcasm that I heard?"

"No." I said quickly. "Just let me get changed."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "That's what I thought."

With that, I went into the girl's locker room. I quickly changed out of my school uniform and into my workout clothes, which basically consisted of a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top. I tied my hair back and walked back to the wrestling room. I noticed the mark that Talia had, just below her collarbone on her left breast. It was a pair of swords crossed over each other with two dragon wings spread out behind them. She took a deep breath and begun to speak.

"Earth magic is all about bravery, discipline and courage. The center of power is just below the point where your sternum ends. Focus your Ena in that area and do as I do."

She slammed her fists together and then extended them at full length. I remembered this move. Ruby had done it during her AME. I squatted and jumped back up, placing one hand on my hip and the other straight forward, keeping the image of the area that Talia had mentioned clear in my head as I went through the motions.

Talia smirked. "Who taught you how to do the base move?"

"No one." I answered. "I recognized the moves you were doing from one of the students that took the AME the same day that I did.'

Talia nodded. "You've got an awfully good memory, but your posture could use a lot of work." She placed a hand on her hip. "Now, Earth magic is a little different from Sky and Life magic." She went up to one of the punching bags, letting her fists fly so fast I could barely keep track of them. I watched in awe as chunks of the stone floor came rushing up to impale the punching bag. I felt my jaw drop.

"The magics are related in a Cine, or what can be literally translated as a 'compass'. Each element has a mirrored type that connects and is used in the same way. Life and Sky magic requires being able to keep in touch with your center of power in order to use. Mind and Water magic requires the user to have the perfect balance of concentration and relaxation. Fire and Darkness can be used without completing the stances, and almost always are used completely by instinct. Body and Earth magic are best used through combat." She brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "In the Cine, Earth is strong against Water magic, but weak against Sky magic. The best thing about going against Sky magic is that you can make up for the weakness of your skill with the strength of your combat."

She placed her hand back on her hip. "In order for you to learn at your best, we're going to have to get you a weapon. They're not just an accessory. Here at Eternal, they're a necessity, and I really don't see why Kallan hadn't gotten you one the first day you came here." She took her hammer and it shrunk back into a small metal pole. She placed it back in the holster on her hip and motioned for me to follow her.

She opened a door in the back of the weight room to reveal what would have been a dream come true for Adrian. It was filled to the top with weapons of any and every kind; everything from assault rifles to throwing knives. This was probably hands-down the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life.

Talia began looking through the weapons. "What's your fighting style? Do you prefer long range or close range?"

"Close." I answered quickly.

Talia shuffled through the rows and rows of weapons. "Let's see..." She picked out a dagger from the wall. "This?"

I shook my head. "It's basically a pear knife. How could I do any damage with that?"

Talia put it back. She pulled down an elegantly carved golden spear, with jewels inlaid on the shaft in all sorts of vibrant colors. I grimaced.

"Way too flashy."

"I figured it was a long shot."

Talia continued to dig through the weapons again. I looked to my right; hanging on the wall was a sheathed sword. I walked over to it, took it down and pulled it out of its sheath. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. It was made of a black metal with a soft leather grip. There were little parts of metal along the hilt that seemed to fan out like a flame. The blade itself was as wide as my palm and a good four feet long, with some sort of orange inlay. I placed my hand on the hilt, and I felt something light up within me. I knew it. I had to have this sword.

Talia looked at me with her jaw wide open, shaking her head. "Blazewing? Anything but Blazewing!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Blazewing? Is that's what it's called? It's perfect! Why can't I have it? I love it!"

Talia groaned. "You know what, fine! Have it! It doesn't matter. You've got a weapon. Great. The real question is, can you use it?"

She walked out onto the wrestling mats. "So, you ready to fight?" I asked as I unsheathed the sword I had chosen.

"'Fight'? Ha! This is is no fight. This will be a one-sided massacre. And I will be the victor. Hurry up and get over here!"

"Okay!" I called, walking over to the wrestling mat and standing across from her. "I'm ready!"

"Hardly!" Talia shouted as she darted forward and rammed her elbow into my gut, knocking me over. "Your stance is wobbly, your grip is unbalanced, your reflexes are cringe-worthy to say the absolute least, and your eyes are nothing but frozen coals, when they should be a raging forest fire! You have to want to hurt me in order to do anything in a real fight! Now get up and try to at least block me before we move on!"

"O-okay." I muttered as I collected myself and went into what I hoped was a proper fighting stance and grip. "How's this?"

"Let's find out." And another lunge and kick later, I was back on the ground.

"Pathetic! I could fight better when I was ten years younger than you! Again!"

Once more, I collected myself and tried something new, and again, I ended up with a bit more intimate relationship with the back of Talia's hand than I expected or wanted.

After about ten minutes, I was finally able to block Talia's opening move. "Yes! I di-" Too late. While I was prematurely celebrating, Talia simply kicked my legs out from under me and came within two inches of crushing my skull with her massive hammer.

"You absolute moron! Never celebrate a victory until your opponent admits defeat! Even the youngest of children with even less experience than you know this!"

"Oh, come on! I'm over here sweating oceans and you are as dry as a desert! How is this fair? I can't just beat you!"

"Why do you think we're here in the first place!?" Talia asked, her scowl ever prominent. "The reason for this is because this should be a fair fight! You should be able to 'just beat me'! And if I have any say in this, you will. No matter how long this takes. Now stand up."

With new motivation; this time, I was able to block ten of Talia's blows before eventually succumbing to her knee.

"See? Improvement! This is the purpose of training! It does not matter how long it takes, as long as you get there, we have succeeded in our task. Again!"

This time, however, I didn't say when I was ready. Instead, I simply darted forward and swung with all of my strength. Which didn't end nearly as well as I hoped. In reality, the sword flew out of my grip and clattered on the floor twenty yards away.

"You idiot. You think you can just swing that thing without any real idea what you're doing? Blocking, and attacking are two very different things! When you block, you only need to push back their weight. Attacking, however, you need to not only push forward their weight to break through their defense, but also strike the person hard enough to actually do something to them. Considering how your defense is currently, it should be painfully obvious to you that you're not even close to being ready for attacking yet—it is to me."

Taking a note of this, I stood back up and readjusted my stance to something I hoped would give me an opening to attack. "Okay, go." I ordered Talia, in which she all-too-happily leapt across the entire ring to try and 'crush' me under the head of the hammer. Seeing an opportunity, I thrusted the tip of the sword just to the left of the hammer, so that it hit the blade at a very slight angle, but since the head had so much momentum, I bumped it just enough to send it careening past me and into the ground. Finally having an opportunity, I held the tip of my blade against Talia's throat victoriously. "Do you surrender?" I asked cautiously, as to not let my guard down in case she jumps up at any time.

"Yes. Yes I do." She solemnly said as she bowed her head down.

"Finally." I sighed as I put the sword in its sheathe. "Thats a-" I barely got the word 'a' out before Talia's hammer's pole was around my throat and I was back on the ground.

"Would you honestly sheathe your blade and turn your back to an armed enemy?! I thought I had seen it all, you didn't even take my weapon away! This has reached completely new levels of idiocy! And I thought that you had actually done something right for once!"

"Talia I-"

"Shut up."

I frowned. "Why are you more of a grouch than usual?"

She scoffed and waved her hammer threateningly. "That's none of your business!" Realizing how crazy she must have looked, Talia took a deep breath and tried speaking to me again. "Look, just...I'm a bit off key today."

I channeled the magic that I had learned from Arlowe the previous day. There was a silvery light that surrounded Talia. At the edges, her aura was tinged blue. I felt regret and loneliness rolling off of her in waves. Could she be the traitor? No. I sensed a deep hatred for Kali. She couldn't be. She was just a cranky Russian girl.

Talia looked at my sword for a moment. "That sword is called 'polykhat' krylo' or 'Blazewing'. It's been passed down for generations in my family, until I stole it. My father loved that sword more than he ever loved me. He said that whoever he loved the most would inherit that sword. I worked so hard to get it, and he never gave it to me. I never really liked it, either. So to see you wielding it so perfectly...I guess I just don't know why it hurts so much."

I frowned. "Oh, well I can put it-"

"No." Talia said quickly. "You keep it. It'll be of much better use in your hands than it will be hanging up with the rest of the weapons." She ran her hand along the edge of the blade. "It's enhanced with a stone that enhances all of the magics, but especially Fire. I think it's a perfect fit. It'll be a little bulky to carry, but you've got to keep that on at all times. You never know when you'll need to use it."

I attached the sheath to my back and placed my sword in it. Blazewing fit comfortably. It wasn't too much of a hassle to carry at all.

She crossed her arms. "I want you to start meeting me in the wrestling room about an hour before classes start every day from now on. That will be your homework."

I groaned internally. I hated exercise. In fact, I was horrible at it. "Do I have to?" I whined.

"Well, if you want to defeat Kali someday, you need to get into shape." Talia said. "I don't want the Prince of Sciana giving up halfway through a fight because she's out of breath. That will not be allowed."

I felt like I had just signed my death certificate. I didn't want to do this.

"That will be all for today. Get your things, take a shower, and go do whatever it is you do." Talia narrowed her eyes. "Don't be late tomorrow, am I clear?"

I nodded, then went back into the locker room and began to change back into my uniform, placing the sheath over my shoulder once again. As I reached for my socks in my duffle bag, I noticed a little white corner sticking out of my clothes. I pulled it out and gasped. This could not be happening again. It was another note. I opened it slowly, my hands shaking violently. God, why did I have to do this? I read the note, which had the same handwriting as the first one did.

I think someone like you could use a little hint. I'm not Talia. Really? Come on. I thought you were better than that. Are you just that stupid or did you really think that finding me would be that easy? Life doesn't work like that, Prince Scarlett. You may be wondering why I'm giving you a hint as to who I'm not. The point is, it won't matter once you're dead. Plus, it's fun to watch you suffer like this.

Signed, Your Death

I wanted to scream. The traitor had not only managed to get into my stuff once, but twice! I had no idea what I was going to do. I couldn't believe that the traitor was torturing me like this. Well, some of you may be thinking No crap, Scarlett, it's the traitor, but this was still kind of crossing a line. Sure, at this point I knew Talia was innocent and I was fairly certain that Hazu had nothing to do with Kali, but that still left four suspects on my list. I hated being so defenseless. I had to talk to Talia. Even if the Russian wasn't my first choice for a comforting friend, she was the only person I was now sure I could trust.

I ran out of the locker room. To my relief, Talia was still in the wrestling room, doing a series of stretches. I walked over to her with the letter clutched firmly in my hand. Maybe she could help me.

"Talia..." I said, trying not to sound like I was having a mental breakdown—which I probably was. "I need your help."

She looked at me in annoyance. "What is it this time, Scarlett? I don't have time for you right now."

I handed her the letter. She gave me a confused look, but I just pointed at the piece of paper. She rolled her eyes and open it, her grey irises scanning over the lines, widening with each word. She gave me what I thought was as close as anyone had ever received to a look of sympathy. "Look, Scarlett, I see what you're going through, but what do you want me to do?"

I shrugged, trying to keep my voice down as I spoke. "I don't know, can't you use some sort of magic or something to tell me who wrote this letter so I can stop being paranoid every five seconds?"

She sighed. "Earth magic doesn't work like that, and I don't think really any of the magics can exactly help you with that. An Aura magic user might have been able to do so if there was any magical residue left behind, but I highly doubt that would be there considering that this is just a letter." She handed back the letter. "The only thing that I can think of is to go see Jian. He's one of the most observant people I know. If anyone could match the writing to a potential suspect, he would be able to."

I nodded. I needed to figure out the sender of these letters, and fast. Not just so I could save the Heirs and all of Sciana, but my own sanity as well.

Hey, guys! This is another long chapter, but I got it knocked out pretty quick if I do say so myself. We have now hit 1.2K Reads and 158 votes with a grand total of 138 comments. That's pretty darn amazing. Now, I really appreciate you guys reading this book. It means a lot to me, and I know that I tell you this all the time, but I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart. You guys are amazing. Now, I don't do this often, but I have been totally engrossed with a book on Wattpad lately called Ink Me Insane by the author Inked_Insane. It totally makes you forget you have a life and it's totally addicting. If you guys feel like there's too much time between my updates, why don't you go and check this book out whenever you have the time? I'd highly recommend it.

Signing Off, Kiera Savage