The training room is underneath the fourth tower, on the ground floor. Behind a set of durable double doors, intricately carved with the royal emblem, is a large room filled with obstacles and targets for one to practice their power on.

A mezzanine borders the entire room, cascading to the high ceilings littered with chandeliers. Braziers anchored to the stone walls cast a flame against the glass windows, flickering in reflection. My sturdy leather boots echo when I enter the hollow space and look towards the back wall—stocked with weapons of any and every source.

Swords, bows, mace, shields, knives. It's all there, glistening metal and leather handles for gripping. I've never seen so much destruction in one place and with all those weapons, I wonder how many meet their end here—accidentally and on purpose. Each blade is cleaned to perfection but the use of these weapons stretches much farther than display pieces.

From what I've heard, the training room is normally filled with the turmoil of fighting and practicing. This time, it's just me, Renit, and our trainer—a woman with wide, dark curls around her head, framing around full lips and a white smile. No one in my life has ever been so ecstatic to see me arrive but the difference comes with this woman, tall and toned to perfection.

Renit is across the room, throwing knives into a target while he waits. Every few seconds, another knife slams against the wooden surface with perfect precision. I glance at the target; he's aiming the knives to form a perfect circle around the center dot. How many years of practice does that take?

"Piper Adalynn," the trainer introduces. Her russet eyes flash with excitement as she extends a brown hand in my direction.

"I'm Roux." We shake, her grip firm, and she takes a step back to survey Renit.

"He should be done any second. You know how he is, impatient." She's not as tall as Renit but I have to look up at her face to witness the narrow features, the sharp cheekbones, and the piercing jawline. The village considered me of average height, now I'm one of the shortest around these monsters of witches.

My mouth twitches into a smile. "Sadly, I am learning firsthand he is more than one kind of impatient."

Renit throws the last knife, forehead gleaming with sweat, and strolls over to where we stand. He eyes the two of us carefully and Piper leans in close to me, "Don't worry, I'll knock him into shape for you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Piper," Renit snaps as he gets closer.

Piper snorts. When they stand face to face, she is more than ready to take him in a fight and somehow, with her wide stance and clenched fists, she looks to be the winner—before the bloodshed has begun. "Watch your tongue, boy, or I'll rip it out."

Instead of attacking her or screaming at her as he would do with me, Renit smirks, white teeth flashing. Mercy is knowing he doesn't share the sharpened fangs with his father. All the enjoyment disappears when he looks at me and frowns like I'm just a random girl in the way of their conversation. I'll always be that girl to him, I'll be the one that doesn't truly matter in the ways of this castle and his life.

"Shall we get started?" Piper looks between the two of us, noting the tension.

I nod silently and Renit gestures for her to continue with a hand.

"The first thing you must do is awaken your powers. Use a small burst of that magic so it's alive and steaming and then we'll get started on Roux becoming your official Grounding," she explains to Renit. For once, he's not the one directing orders and is more than happy to take them.

"Shouldn't I be outside for this?" I ask. My power focuses around the outside, in that clearing, where I can't hurt anyone or take this castle apart piece by piece. Part of me shrinks back into that familiar fear against my power, then I remember I've been training for weeks now and have a much better understanding of what flows within. Still, after years of being told to force it down so I don't have to face the backlash of my actions, the power of ground is wary to escape beyond the natural means. I would disappoint ancient witches; they'd hate to see their offspring so weak. They wanted our kind to be strong for battle, to fight against the humans that once owned this land. The witches had done that, they had won, and they rule.

Instead of Piper stepping forward and answering the question, she turns to Renit instead. He's my official trainer, the one who watched me go from worst to somewhat understanding in a matter of weeks. "Channel the stone," he says. "The walls are made of stone. Don't move them but let your power understand they are there."

I do as he asks once the titanium band is removed from my wrist. Piper shakes her head at the sight, quietly scolding Renit for putting one on in the first place. If I wasn't mistaken, Piper seems to be his Grounding. Not in the sense of power but how he behaves. He's different around her, calmer and sincere. Renit doesn't bother arguing or sneering every two seconds when something doesn't go his way. Around Piper, he's a prince.

Both of our powers revolve around the outside but Renit has a little more freedom with his storm. He forces a small storm at the tips of his fingers. To watch him work is one wonder of this entire place. When his power takes over in a sweeping calm, the entire room slows and the aroma of rain floods in. Lightning cracks over the afternoon sky and even a small boom of thunder rouses itself.

My power comes to life, curling around inside me. Immediately, the stone walls are the barrier for my power and their cold scrape against my fingertips appeases me to the bone. Although it wakes slowly, the power of ground is alert and anticipating the next destructive task. I yank on the strings of it, pulling the stone towards me but stop before anything moves. The stone walls around the training room are ancient, older than my power. The castle reeks of dust and souls well beyond my age.

"Are you ready?" Renit asks me.

I nod and Piper steps forward with a white cloth in her hand. She unwraps the contents, revealing a black stone with iridescent flashes of gold. Rounded to perfection and as slick as silk, the stone glows. I've heard of this stone before but the name eludes me. It's one of Grounding, to bind another power with my own, containing the elements of ground.

"This is nuummite, the stone of ancient ground and storm. Along with your blood, this will bind your powers for life," Piper explains. She hands the stone to me. The cold surface is heavy in my palm, cold against my skin. This is it, these are my last few moments being a witch of a single power, of not knowing what Renit's power can do entirely.

Renit pulls a knife from his belt and cuts very shallow into his palm. Then he gestures for my hand. I'm wary but he's as gentle as he can possibly be, cutting only enough to draw blood. The sting is hardly what I'm worried about right now.

"Now, connect your hands together with the stone." Piper's voice is already lost in my head as Renit's hand wraps around my own and traps the stone between our locked fingers. His hand is much larger than my own and nearly swallows it whole and that's what I look at, his tanned skin against mine, as my heart thunders in my chest. "Next, bring your bloodied palms together and the magic of Grounding will handle the rest."

She takes two steps back and for a second; I wonder why. Is something drastic going to happen? Is my power going to explode beyond the natural wave of things? I want to ask for the titanium band but with that, the binding will never take place.

Renit steps close and holds out his palm. The cut against his callused skin bleeds slowly, as does my own, and with a deep breath, I lock my palm with his, intertwining our fingers together.

The training room is gone. My eyes squeeze shut with the oncoming rush of power and black replaces what once was the brightness of the castle. A searing pain shoots through my skull and my nails dig into the back of Renit's hand. The screaming starts as a distant echo inside my head and then it approaches like a fast-moving carriage through the streets of Arego. Only this time, I can't jump out of the way.

Rain and dust swirl together, as natural as long-lost friends, and I can't find my way out of the never-ending tumble. I fall, seemingly, through the air with no end in sight. With no solid surface underneath and the sky as good as gone, the only security I have is knowing Renit is somewhere out there dealing with this, too. At least I hope.

Suddenly, I'm back in the village with a small child in my arms. People are screaming. The alarms are blaring. Through my blurred vision, Renit is standing there, watching me with a devilish smirk that means I might soon die if I don't cooperate.

Is he seeing this too? Is he watching the world from my eyes? Then, I'm with Bren on the cliff sides, trying to understand the complexity of my power. Nothing is working and there is my sister, perfectly working for my father and everyone is proud. The next second, along with the pressure of someone squeezing my skull, I'm watching my power erupt and ruin another one of my father's projects. He yells at me. That's the day I decided to hold everything back and snuff out the power of ground. She's dangerous, they said. Keep her contained, they warned. She's unpredictable, I was safer in the capital, they argued.

I can taste fear. Or is that blood?

My sister is the one they want, not me. My power is only used in case of war; if we're attacked. And I couldn't even do that right. One citizen threatened to throw me in the dungeons—Arego didn't have dungeons. I could only imagine what that possibly meant, what they planned to do beyond reason. Boundaries. There were no boundaries when the village involved me.

That power bangs around inside my skull, my own power mixed with something foreign. I don't recognize it but the power of ground attacks the source, smothering it before ground is no longer the primary power inside. They mix, mingling and fighting, and my skull rattles. I want to shatter and crumble but I stay upright, only because there's a force willing me to do so.

Suddenly, I'm in the castle again and there's a girl, a beautiful girl, standing in the hall. She looks anxious and her sapphire eyes glisten with hope. Her pecan colored hair is delicately curled, and she smiles at...whoever I am before reaching out a hand. What am I seeing? The image disappears and there's a graveyard—a simple flash before it's gone again, surrounded by spring flowers and luscious green grass. Leather boots stand at the edge, their owner lost of face and body.

Then, I see myself. I'm screaming, thrashing in the throne room as the king takes the life of my parents—one by one. I don't know if I'm actually screaming or not but there's a dull sound in the distance, nipping at my ears. Even from the dark place I've disappeared to, I know my nose is bleeding and inside; every part of my body is trying to reject the incoming power. But this is all part of what was to come.

With the image of the throne room comes the smell of rain and the itch for thunder. Rage. There's anger along with that memory, through Renit's eyes as he sits on the throne. Livid at me for coming or furious with his father for killing them? There's too much pain for me to care. The stone warms in my hand and my arm numbs along with it. Through my closed eyes, something glows from my skin—the veins leaking gold.

The world starts and ends with our powers merging and as my knees buckle underneath the pain, the screaming pain inside my skull, something wraps around me. With the stone still locked in our hands, Renit's arm is holding me from falling. His forehead presses against my own and I don't know if it's tears, blood, or sweat but something drips onto my cheek.

Thunder fills my throat and lightning crackles in my bones. His power is leaking through. And along with it, more agony. Bile rises into my cheeks but I shove it down, down until I'm choking, mixed with the rain and the winds sweeping through and battering my skull. Renit is powerful, much stronger than I ever believed his power to be.

Along with the power of storm comes the hint of his problem, the Outburst. The threat snakes through, slithering and surveying for one final resting place so it can learn to take me out too.

Renit's arm tightens around my back and like a second skin, the power settles within me. Rather, a third, as my own immortality shoves the storm back to remain dominant. And then we're blasted away. The power throws me back onto the floor and I'm in the training room again.

I'm panting, whimpering, and sweat covers my body from head to toe. My head still thunders with pain, thumping and pounding, and I place both my hands over my ears and scream. It's all I can do to dull the torture.

Warm hands grasp my face and tug me back to reality. My eyes fly open to see Renit there, kneeling in front of me, saying my name. But I can't hear him. The magic clouds my thoughts and forces me to obey to it. Renit is yelling at Piper, his hands still gripped onto the sides of my face, as he orders her to stop the pain.

Tears flow down my cheeks from the stinging in my eyes. I can't stop it; the reaction is involuntary. Something cold pushes into my palm, directly over the bleeding cut Renit and I were connected through. I realize quickly it's another stone, fluorite, and with the touch—discomfort dashes.

I can hear again and the pain is gone.

"Roux?" Renit asks desperately. His hands shift on my face, tightening. "Roux?"

I press a shaken hand against his chest, shoving him back and twist. My throat burns as the contents of my stomach spill onto the floor, chunks of breakfast and lunch. Everything hurts. My entire body is stiff and torn as I vomit again, onto the same spot. The act alone causes my head to spin and even the floor isn't solid enough as I try to grapple for something that won't break underneath my touch. My drowning gasps, heaves of air, echo through the training room.

"I told you she was too young for this," I hear Renit bark.

"This is what happens," Piper yells. "This is what happens when you need a Grounding. Deal with it, Renit, because now your powers recognize each other as one. Now she can help you, she can fulfill the destiny you forced her here for." Guilt settles in her tone, not towards herself but Renit, who takes all the blame.

I can finally see, the spots evade from my vision and Renit is still kneeling in front of me, though his attention is elsewhere.

"I am not the one who ordered this," he defends. "That was my father."

"No, you're right. You're not the one who ordered this but you are the one treating her like she's worthless. Here, now she has a purpose. To be your eternal slave and your wife but never seen as anything more than worthless."

Renit growls his remark and turns to me. I don't quite have the clarity I need but my hand reaches for his shirt, the only sense of stability, and strong arms tuck underneath my knees and around my back. Renit lifts me off the ground and carries me out of the training room, winding down the halls as servants watch and guards question if I'm all right. The prince's answers are short, quick, and always filled with irritation.

Every part of me wants to collapse and sleep for days. With every second my eyes close and my head tips back, Renit is there to push it back up again. "Just lean against me," he whispers angrily. I do that, resting the side of my head against his chest as he carries me.

Our destination isn't clear until he kicks open the door, opposite of my own, and carries me inside. Even in my lost state, the power twitching inside me, I want to make a joke about carrying me over the threshold but I know that won't go over well.

Renit sets me down on the bed, a thick charcoal duvet being the cover. Immediately, he tugs a spare blanket over me and fluffs the pillows, shifting me as he does so. He disappears for a moment, enough time to blackout for a few seconds, until returning with a wet cloth to wipe off whatever is dripping from my nose.

With one hand braced on the back of my neck, he wipes it away with a stern, agitated look. When he pulls the cloth away, I realize it's blood dripping from my nose and drool from my mouth. Vomit, likely. He sits on the edge of the bed, cleaning up what he can—including the sweat and tears.

"I knew you were too young," he whispers. The cloth drags along my cheek.

I tuck into myself as a shiver breaks through my body. Like someone threw open a window and let in the winter air, a chill so strong sweeps over me. My teeth chatter. The only thing Renit can do is throw another blanket over me and hope for the best. After a shaken breath, I say, "That doesn't make any sense."

"Actually, spitfire, it does. I'm over three hundred years old and my power is the same. With all the training I've endured, training to improve my power, it nearly swallowed you whole. Your power doesn't nearly have enough development to fight against it, I felt how weak your power of ground is, compared to my own."

My body rattles with the shivers. Instead of finding another blanket, he wraps me in a jacket once tossed over the back of the armoire. I let out at angered groan at the oncoming headache. "What will happen now?"

"Your body will fight off the power for the unforeseen future until everything is ready to settle. Probably a day or two." He rests his forearms on his knees. "You'll be cold first, then hot, then cold again. It will only get worse from here."

"Thank you for the advice, that is really helping." I snarl. He drags an annoyed hand through his hair, caked in blood and my drool.

"You'll stay in here so I can monitor you. I'll call Hallie in to see if there's anything she can do." Even with me in pain, there's still subtle anger in his voice. Whether at me or what happened, I'm not sure. But he can never seem to be fully pleased with any situation.

I think back to what I saw when our powers were fighting each other. The girl, the grave, and then me through his eyes. I felt the ire in his soul, awakening his power to the point he had to clench his fists to avoid lashing out. I will save those questions for later, especially since part of his wrath is because of that reason alone. He didn't want me to see pieces of his past and I didn't want him to see mine.

But here we are—and there's no coming back from it.