I wipe the blood dripping from my lips. Through the pounding in my skull, I make out Piper's distant mumbling asking me if I'm all right so I nod. If there was any other answer given, if I collapsed onto the ground, she would decide there was no other option than to end this training session. And that cannot happen.

We're so close. I was within hand's reach of his complicated power when it reached up with his fist and punch me directly in the teeth. Not by his hand, I have to remember. Likely, he's watching from wherever he's trapped inside of his body. Renit can't say or do anything to stop the blows, same with me trying to stop Darius. It's impossible.

"One more time," I grind out. I spit blood onto the grass. Lightning crackles at Renit's fingertips and his eyes bore down on me, waiting for another attempt. His power has become so fickle that the magic lets me try—only to fail. His power loves to devour my failure.

Piper steps under the safe cover of the trees with a titanium shield. Thunder booms overhead. She brought a shield out here after a lightning strike Renit sent after her lifted her feet off the ground, and she slammed into the trunk of a tree. After breaking two ribs, she decided not to take the chance again. Renit almost received a beating for the injuries afterward.

I slowly walk towards Renit and he watches me the entire way. Not the way Darius would watch me or Celestine, but with him, Renit's power notices me as his enemy and it must do everything in his power to take me down.

I've tried pinning him to the ground with my power. He screams and thrashes but sends down a lightning bolt, attempting to kill me so he can break free. That is out of the question. I stay on my toes and try to soothe the power the way nature would soothe the thrashing waves of the ocean during a storm. A cleansing, a removal of the harsh energy as old as time.

I place my hand against his chest, directly underneath the nuummite hanging from the gold chain. He hasn't taken it off as far as I've seen, not even when he takes a bath or changes his clothes from one pair of training shirts to the other—whether light armor or an entire creation entirely. The necklace is part of him now, as it is me.

Immediately, I shove down on his power with my limited time. The power of ground snakes through and bites at the storm, taking chunks at a time. A dark wave settles over his very intense and trained essence. As the storm attempts to rage on, I use all my effort to snuff it out. The strain takes me with it, wrapping a rope around my ankle and tugging, but the storm backs away. It recoils into the corner of Renit's magic reserve but I push towards it, moving as fast as a viper and clamping my jaw down on the strength.

The power thrashes, screaming, and light flashes at the end of the tunnel. His power is giving up. I push harder and the thunder stops, for a second, the clouds depart. Renit's power surges, slamming against my own and his hand grabs mine, throwing it to the side. As I've grown used to, I attempt to move out of the way of the blow coming. But I'm too late, as usual.

His boot drives into my stomach and all the air leaves my body as I fly and slam against the somewhat soft ground. I groan but don't move so Piper can do what she needs to stop his power. With the titanium shield, she moves swiftly across the clearing, combating his power. Her boots dig into the ground as Renit blasts lightning against the shield and it dies when hitting the surface.

With her face gritted into strain, she skids and stumbles her way towards him like wind is pushing at her from every direction. It's not until a perfectly placed lightning strike hits the bottom corner of the shield that the cover is ripped from her hands. Piper stands there, defenseless, as Renit's power forces another lightning strike to knock the shield away.

His power makes him chuckle, and he raises a hand, lightning crackling over his tanned skin, I think this is it. The end of Piper. But Renit screams.

His head whips from side to side, scanning the entire clearing as fast as he can like he's looking for something. But there is no one else out here except the three of us. Renit clutches the sides of his head and continues to scream, the most awful sound I've heard in my life. Worse than hearing a blade cut through my parents' flesh and bone.

The soft grass braces the fall to his knees and Renit dips his head to the ground. I roil my power, ready to defend the prince. "What are you doing to him?" I shout.

She is not attacking him physically but...inside the mind. She's doing something to his mind. As soon as she's close, Piper locks the titanium band around his wrist and the screaming stops. He pants, spit dripping from his lips as he slowly rises. Fistfuls of grass come up with him and Renit blinks at the side of us, relief flashing in his eyes.

"What are you?" I demand to Piper. "What did you do?"

She places her hands on her hips, surveying the prince, at the same time Renit runs a shaking hand through his dark hair. "I'm a witch of audible insanity. I can weaken him from the inside." She pats him on the shoulder and he shrugs off her touch.

A witch of audible insanity. Their power isn't rare, but it's not common either. One I wouldn't want to face. They can tear apart enemies from the inside by putting thousands of voices in their heads to the point the victims can't hear their thoughts or anything else. Those voices whisper their fears, threats, and a thousand other distraught words to drive whoever is under the influence, insane.

Renit turns to me, chest heaving. "Are you all right?" He asks.

Blood drips from my lips and that kick to the stomach did not bode well for the full meal I ate this morning. Before I can answer, a guard at the edge of the clearing makes a pointed cough to let us know he is there. He's entering a very powerful group and we may consider any approach to be an attack. That superstition is written all over his face as he shifts uncomfortably and bows quickly to his prince.

"The king requests to speak with you and your betrothed immediately," the guard shakily orders.

Renit and I exchange a glance. "You're dismissed," he says without tearing his eyes away from mine. We've been waiting for this day; the king will question us about our lack of care towards the bond in Grounding. I knew our training should have extended more than a few hours every day, I could have controlled him long ago.

If we had come to him weeks ago, the king would have no reason to summon us now. This pit in my stomach is a sickening presence.

Renit helps me to my feet and Piper leads us back to the castle but acts like she has a matter to take care of in the stables so she can break off and avoid going anywhere near the throne room. She is the trainer, but the Grounding is left up to us. If we can't make it work, that is entirely in our hands.

Renit gives me a handkerchief to clean my face and checks my ribs with gentle prodding from his fingers to ensure nothing is broken. There will be bruises, one in the shape of his boot.

We move swiftly down the halls, silently, and my heart pounds in my chest. The last time I was in that throne room, I lost my parents. I cannot lose another and the only thing keeping me going is knowing the king has use of his son, the weapon. Renit is never the target.

I wipe the blood from my face as we enter the throne room; the king is waiting. The three other thrones remain unoccupied at his sides and the towering crown on his head resembles the ruthless leader he is. I force myself to bow and Renit does too, so he doesn't disappoint.

Guards stand watch outside the doorway, standing as still as statues. I've tried to break one more than once by making them laugh. Nothing worked.

The king's dark stare studies us. To him, we are nothing more than the servants or the soldiers he uses to make his life well rounded enough to be considered decent. Renit is his weapon and I am to help that weapon, otherwise, I have no purpose. He didn't call us here to discuss the engagement celebration. No, it's to warn us.

Renit remains at my side, spine straight with his hands folded behind his back. I've seen him look like a prince before, on his throne with a gold crown accenting his dark hair but, at this moment, he is the prince everyone fails to see. He will not lead this kingdom, nor will he be looked to for comfort. Renit is worth something more than his father's wishes, as he has been raised to do.

"You have summoned us," Renit says plainly. He doesn't meet his father's eye. Looking into the black eyes of my enemy, I don't find a hint of life there. Black ice, swirling in the endless depths of the darkest ocean and the coldest night.

"I want to discuss your Grounding," The king responds, equally as bored. "You are aware of our time constraints and yet, you falter."

Renit's swallow is loud through the quiet room. Only one person can make him quake in his boots and that man sits in front of us. I want to protect him from his father, stand up for him, in case anything goes wrong. When did I stop fearing him and start longing to shield? The altercation in the kitchens, Renit took it amongst himself to defend me after noting the bruises from Darius.

"For a witch so young, it's difficult to achieve what we are trying to do," I say. My voice is weak compared to theirs and the way it echoes off the tall, stone walls forces me to sound even worse. But I don't let that stop me and Renit watches me out of the corner of his eye with a glint meaning: You should have kept your mouth shut.

The king taps his gold rings on the armrest of his throne. "I understand that but I've given you adequate time to do this. A month and a half, nearly. Or have you been slacking?" He looks to Renit, only Renit.

He wishes this to be his son's fault so he can do something—anything to make the prince remember not to make a mistake again. But I won't let that happen. I've taken the fall many times for Celestine when she broke something or accidentally killed a plant instead of helping it thrive. I stomped on what was left and make it look like my power had crushed the beautiful creation from Celestine. This time, a boot will not crush an innocent weed. The one broken will be me.

"This is my fault. My power is untrained and if it wasn't for Renit, that would still be the case. He took weeks to train my power, so I had a chance of standing up to his and we're almost there. If anyone should be punished for how long this is taking, it should be me."

Renit whips his stare over to me after it was locked onto the marble floors. His eyes flare with disappointment. Another word, he seems to say. Another word and you're gone. I recall the first time he looked at me like that, that dreadful night in Arego and then when I woke up on the shore. The more I think about it, he's looked at me like that every day since.

Where I stand now, my parents lost their heads. After hours of cleaning, there is nothing left of all the lives lost here—beyond those I've loved.

My parents' blood was never spilled here and along with so many others, they were forgotten with the wipe of a bloody cloth.

Ignoring Renit's resentment, I turn back to the king. "If anyone should receive punishment, it should be me." We're standing close enough for Renit to grab onto my belt with one of his hands and tug—harder than I thought. The king looks between the two of us and my sudden jerk to the left but doesn't bother commenting on the warning Renit gave me.

Instead, he chuckles. The sound rumbles through the empty room. His smile isn't one I long for, there is hate behind his eyes and with every boom of laughter, he shrinks farther and farther into that killing calm. "A punishment? No one is saying anything about punishment. I summoned you here to see how it was coming along, not to punish either of you." He scoffs and shakes his head like we're the idiots. "But I must warn you, the Grounding needs to be completed soon. With the success of your power quelling his, I will send the strength of both of you on your first mission."

Renit stands up straighter than I thought possible, his finger still in the loop of my belt. "Report, please."

"You're eager, son. Eager to plan. Does that mean you'll push your betrothed harder if I give it to you?" The king arches a brow. My cheeks heat as they throw my embarrassment across the room, back and forth.

Renit dips his chin low. "Yes, we will train even harder than before." I want to slam my fist into his arm because I can't take more training than what we're already doing. His power nearly kills me, day after day, and he wants to train more? I might as well give my life now.

The king rasps his fingers and the gold rings clank together. Underneath the shimmering black doublet he adorns, an array of gold chains hangs against his dark skin, layered on top of the other. The doublet is unbuttoned to reveal a large part of his chest—a show for whoever dares to look at that muscle and perfectly smooth skin. Like his sons, covered in some form of ink.

"Very well," he begins with a sigh. "The rebel movement is growing out of control. Ever since the sacking of Arego, they have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide so they're building their forces—survivors from that night in Arego, soldiers from Lona, assassins from Flitsea."

Survivors. The word pounds through my skull. Survivors of that night Renit took me away from my home and I plummeted myself into the ocean, expecting my heart to stop beating right there. It nearly had but my soul decided it wasn't done raising hell on the world yet. Survivors. Bren. He could be alive, shacking with the rebels until he figures out what he will do next. Or worse, he could be a rebel himself and plan on taking the kingdom and assassinating the princes.

Renit notices my shifting but doesn't comment. I can't stand still knowing my friend could be out there and if I'm lucky, we could see each other soon. Under terrible circumstances but still, I need to see that witch of flame before I'm buried six feet under after this failed Grounding.

"Days ago, there was an uproar at Fosux," the king goes on. "The threat is close to the capital, to my people, to my castle. That will be the main point of your investigation. The slaves in the mines have been under close supervision after the uproar and their lives have been spared until you can get there. We don't have time, prince, to waste on this Grounding. Get it together so, after the engagement ceremony, we can move our plan into action."

"What is to happen to the prisoners after I visit the mines?" Renit asks.

"If they plead loyalty to the crown, they live. If not, they die."

My body stills. He wants to kill hundreds of slaves, most that are innocent, because of a change of heart. Because the slaves decided their lives were worth a fight. Innocent people, all stronger than the last. Bile rises into my throat as I think of all the executions, likely at the king's hand himself. My worst fear is that he would order Renit to do it, to toughen him up.

I try to meet Renit's eye but he won't look at me. Strong armor stretches around his heart to block out what he might have to do. I imagine that happens with every mission his father orders.

"I don't believe you," I blurt. The king's eyes fill with fire for making such a bold statement. "You'll kill the innocents too, the slaves who never wanted to be involved with the rebel movement."

"Watch your tongue, spitfire," Renit hisses through clenched teeth.

The king holds up a hand. "No, she makes a wise statement." Renit backs down at his father's words; forever the servant, the weapon. "The slaves in the mines may face death, they may not. Statement pieces, to send a message, to show the next batch of slaves that rebelling will end in their doom—and the doom of others." And he has the audacity to smile.

"That's not fair!" I shout. "They haven't done—"

Renit clamps a hand over my mouth and stops my protests right there. He's not allowed to be weak around his father and I'm not allowed to verbally attack the king. The first day I was here; taken against my right, the king ordered I obey to Renit's rule. For my safety. Renit grabs hold of my chin and squeezes tight, enough for me to grimace. "I said watch your tongue," he whispers, his face only inches from mine. "Or this—" he squeezes my chin tighter, "—will be a mercy." Something like dread darkens the silver in his eyes.

He waits for me to nod and when I do; he releases me and turns back to his king, his father, the killer of innocents. Sitting on a throne. It sickens me to think he's the man deciding my fate. For all the innocents out there, trapped in the mines and the prisoners waiting their turn to fill those empty slots, they are as good as dead. The king in all his glory would never think of sparing their lives.

The king's eyes turn cold. "At least you have control over her. I wouldn't my son to bow down to a young witch." He snarls at me. "Take it from me, son, show your power."

Renit bows and I know it's killing him to do so. Restraint strings his movements together as he exposes the top of his head to his father in such a low bow that one would think he was about to drop his forehead to the floor. To show alliance with this man is giving your life away before you've had the chance to live it. After three-hundred years, Renit has failed to see through that thick layer of skin keeping the king as powerful as the sun.

I want nothing more than to take this man off the throne—rebel movement or not.

"Roux Aimrey, you are dismissed," the king orders with a lazy wave of his hand.

I look to Renit who nods. Yet, I remain standing there, searching his face for answers. My gut tells me to stay.

"You heard your king," he snaps. "Go back to your chambers and wait for me there." Any kindness in his face is gone as he turns me towards the doorway to the throne room, my back now to the king. I don't bow as I depart, my spine straight to show him I have not lost my faith in my power or in our Grounding.

I don't look back at Renit either to see if he's watching me leave. Between my shoulder blades, I feel heated eyes, but not the familiar glare I've grown used to with Renit. There is a hint of softness in his. But not in the king's as his eyes never leave my back until I'm around the corner and reluctantly heading back to my chambers.