25. Ella

Chapter 25

Ella

October faded into November, bringing winter to the forefront of the kingdom. Ella had finally gotten into a structured groove with the three students she counseled regularly, Jarion, Laya, and Jamie. She wouldn’t necessarily say the hatred of her had died down, since none of the Primordials were shy about flinging their negative opinions at her, but her colleagues had begun to call for her in moments of genuine need, learning to put their dislike of her aside because they recognized she was good at her job and the kids needed her. She spent all her free time, which was limited during the school day due to the amount of crises she managed, strengthening her bonds with Akio, Josefyn, and now Kellen.

Kellen and Ella had fallen into a strange limbo the last three weeks of being friends who were also more. Friends who did nothing to hide their yearning for one another, evident in every flirtatious barb exchanged, in every brush of their hands, in the way their bodies always seemed to incline closer to one another in a group. Every cell in her being pushed her towards him like an intoxicating flux of energy was shunting invisible hands into her back, too powerful to resist. He’d upheld his end of the bargain and had been a perfect gentleman towards her the past few weeks. Kellen came with her on all her morning and night walks with Freya, even though it was clear he couldn’t stand her dog, for reasons she didn’t entirely understand, but she recognized that this was his way of trying to ingratiate himself in her life, to push past his personal feelings to embrace hers.

He’d gotten in the habit at random points during the day of dropping facts about himself in her head, just to keep the line of communication between them alive, answering all the silent questions she had about him.

My favorite color? Purple, he casually told her while she was in the middle of helping Oken during another rage spiral. While she worked to calm the strength-wielder’s breathing, Kellen prattled, If you asked me three months ago, I would’ve said green. But it’s been purple since the day you wore that sweater. My second favorite would be a caramel shade of blonde. The color of honey. The color of your hair.

I don’t really have hobbies, he shared another day, when she’d been at her desk working on a distress tolerance lesson for the elementary school students. I guess flying could be considered a hobby. I love flying. I much prefer it to walking. There’s no encumbrance from the people below in the sky, nothing to hinder your path or trample your thoughts. The only thing I have to worry about up there is following the pattern of the clouds laid before me. There’s liberation in that too—in not having space to think about anything else. It’s the only time when my mind truly quiets down.

Ever since I found out that my dragon form is a completely different person from myself, I don’t know how to view my body, he confessed one night when Kellen, Akio, and Josefyn had come to Ella’s apartment for dinner. They were sitting around Ella’s coffee table, sharing a pizza, and he’d just declared this in her head, while Josefyn had been telling a funny story about one of her students. Ella’s eyes found his across the room as he vented, Knowing what I know now about the Varminia curse, it’s hard not to view my body as Coz’s prison. My body doesn’t feel like how I think a true form should feel. It doesn’t feel like home in here. Whatever configuration I take, I never feel fully settled. When I’m in my dragon form, I long to stretch my legs. When I’m in my humanoid form, I ache for my wings. Both skins feel wrong around my bones. I’m not sure what to make of that. Ella soaked up all the knowledge with reverence and care.

She folded every piece of information he’d willingly imparted, all the little details he’d never shared with anyone before her, and placed them with delicacy into a box in her head labeled essential. With every new thing she learned, it became harder and harder to battle the attraction towards him, to resist that weird female voice in her head, who’d grown so confident at this point that she screeched openly in Ella’s ears about what an idiot she was for denying herself Kellen.

She’d given herself, and him—not that she’d shared this with him—a deadline: four weeks for him to prove himself to her, to prove how sorry he was for the way he’d behaved and change his behavior. As they were now encroaching the end of that deadline, she found it impossible to think about anything but what it would be like to fully surrender to her heart’s desire.

“Ms. Rose. Why are we painting our nails?” Jamie asked Ella during their session. The Primordial’s blue hair swayed at the top of her skull when she cocked her head to the side, the tendrils crumpled into a shambolic ball and held together by a weak hair tie.

“Tell me what A stands for in the ABC Please skill,” Ella entreated, blowing on her fingernails to help dry the wine-red polish.

“Accumulate positive emotions by doing things that are pleasant,” Jamie recited from her homework. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration over the tiny brush she slid over her pinky nail to coat the surface in white gloss.

“Good.” Ella’s chest warmed with pride. “The ABC Please skill is about taking care of ourselves so we can take care of others. Finding activities that force us to focus on ourselves helps us to better understand what we feel and need. It’s called self-care. This is what I like to do for self-care.” Ella fluttered her painted fingers under Jamie’s nose. Jamie giggled and swatted Ella’s hand away, careful not to smudge any of Ella’s handiwork. “After this session, I want you to try different self-care activities that are personal to you. Could be listening to music. Could be going on a walk. Could be shifting into your snake-form. Whatever gives you the space to focus on yourself for a little. I want you to keep a list of different activities you try and whether you find them helpful or not.”

“Again with the homework assignments, Ms. Rose?” Jamie rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth were raised in a smile.

“Is that not a better homework assignment than reading forty pages in Chronicles of the Gods?”

“Oh, I’d take painting my nails over that shit any day of the week!” Ella laughed, claiming the bottle of translucent topcoat. Jamie’s cheeks reddened before she asked, “Could I maybe try these with Rain?”

“Have you two been speaking again?” Jamie nodded shyly. Ella squealed, “Tell me everything!”

“It’s still very fresh. We’re not back together, but we’ve lifted the no-contact policy. I feel like we’re both dipping our toe back in the pool to see what it feels like to be together before we fully commit. It’s nice to talk to her again. It’s nice to feel like I can be around her and not be overwhelmed by what she’s feeling.”

“That’s amazing, Jamie. I know that’s a relationship that mattered a great deal to you and you were sad to lose. I’m glad you’re feeling like you’re in a better place to accept it.” Jamie’s gaze sparkled.

“So, could I do some of these activities with her?”

“Yes, you can, but I also want you to make sure you’re doing these activities alone. The point of this is for you to take care of yourself. When you fall into a pattern of needing someone else to comfort you, you make yourself vulnerable to falling back into that cycle of being so intertwined with someone else’s feelings that you can’t separate them from your own. We’re trying to break that pattern. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. It does.” Jamie spread her fingers apart and flipped her hand around to show Ella. “What do you think?”

“I love it.”

“Thanks, Ms. Rose.” She paused for a moment, then added, “For everything.” Suddenly, the amulet around Ella’s neck vibrated, directing purple light to lick up her throat. “You’re being summoned,” Jamie said, tipping her chin towards Ella’s necklace.

“I can feel it.” They’d reached the end of their session anyway. “I’ll walk you back to the Varmin sector.”

Ella and Jamie broke apart once they approached the Varmin sector, Jamie veering in a separate direction to go find her friends. In the distance, Ella could hear the faint sound of children playing in the snow, their joyful screams rumbling across the campus. She followed the blissful melody, as that’s where her amulet led her anyway, and marveled at the magnificence of Cavale’s winter on her walk to the dragon-shifter dome, the crisp, unpolluted air, the unspoiled snow, the festive atmosphere all combining to create a scenery alive with bliss. This kind of heavenly backcloth tricked Ella for a moment into considering what it would be like for her to stay in Cavale, even after the school year was over. Maybe she could live at Akio and Josefyn’s home during the summer break, or even with Kellen and the twins. She’d seen what good she’d been able to do here when the Primordials got over themselves and let her do her job, how much growth she’d already seen in Jamie, Laya, and Jarion through counseling. There was so much more left for her to do.

You can’t stay here, she reminded herself, shoving those outlandish longings into the back of her mind. You have Rylee and Mason waiting for you on the Earthly Plane. The Earthly Plane is your home. Not Cavale.

Those thoughts shrank into nonexistence, descending so far down into her subconscious that she couldn’t even remember what they were, the second she spotted Kellen’s silhouette by the dragon-shifter dome.

She’d learned over the past few weeks that Kellen didn’t need a jacket to stay warm. The dragon fire in his veins took care of that, so the only material clad over his chiseled muscularity was a red sweater—the same color of dark, wine red she’d just painted her nails—and black trousers, her favorite of his trousers due to the way they highlighted the shape of his ass. She lingered a few feet away for a moment, quietly enjoying the view of him surveying the horde of frolicking seven-year-olds in the snow. Ella once thought him to be a terrible teacher, from the way he’d treated Anastasia that day with the test. The more layers she peeled away from Kellen, the more she realized how wrong her first impression of him had been. There was so much complexity there beneath the surface, mixed with a sincere desire to help turn these kids into strong-minded warriors capable of handling themselves. His methods may have been harsh to her at first, but she understood them now, understood Cavale and him now, in a way that made sense to her.

Kellen turned like he’d sensed her behind him rather than heard her approach. The smile he presented her was filled with affection, outweighing even the desire that bordered the edges of his grin.

There she is, he sighed with relief, as if the sight of her gave him permission to finally catch his breath.

“Hey there,” she greeted softly, bounding through the snow to stand beside him. He was a full head taller than her, the top of her skull skimming his shoulder. “Why’d you call me down? Who’s the student in crisis?”

“There’s no student in crisis.”

Ella’s forehead creased when her brows pulled together. “Oh. Then why’d you call me down here?”

“Headmistress Dyer roped me into supervising the first graders during recess, and I got bored.”

She blinked at him.

“Let me get this straight. You called me down here, making me leave the comfort of my warm office, so I could, what…babysit you?” Ella crammed her hands into her jacket pockets. “You’re unbelievable. I’m leaving.”

“Wait.” Kellen wrapped his fingers around the inside of her elbow, guiding her around to face him.

Don’t go, Noella, he implored through their mind connection. I’m sorry I used the amulet. I should have just told you I wanted to see you, that having to wait hours to spend time with you is fucking torture. If you have a session right now, you don’t have to stay, but if you can, please, don’t go.

A million different emotions battled for dominance inside her, half the feelings fighting for her mind’s desires and the other half representing her heart. In the end, her mind’s inclination to return to the warmth of her office suffered a debilitating defeat at the hands of her heart, who just wanted to be close to him.

“If I stay,” she eventually postulated, humor coloring her words, “what will you give me?”

Kellen couldn’t contain a grin. “You’ll have my undying respect.”

“I already have that,” she challenged, arching a brow with a proud smirk.

Gods, you’re glorious, he gushed into her mind, heat fulminating between her legs before he said aloud, “If you stay, I’ll make you dinner tomorrow night.” Ella’s mouth popped open, then sealed shut.

“You cook?” she spluttered, her chest fluttering.

“Why is that so surprising?” he laughed, the fabric of his red sweater cohering to his strapping chest when the wind pelted him.

“I can’t really picture you doing anything domestic.” That wasn’t entirely true. Her heart had spent the past three weeks crafting fanciful fantasies about a life with Kellen, while her mind grew talons to claw those visions apart, spilling venom between the fissures to remind her that those stupid wishes weren’t possible.

“I’m a very good cook,” he assured, “if I’m to believe what my siblings have told me all these years.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she quipped, and his eyes lit up like glittery emeralds.

Is that a yes? he whispered into her mind. You’ll let me cook you dinner for our first date, Rose?

Is that what you’re asking for, Kilic? A first date?

I mean, I’d rather ask for every night of the rest of your life, but I’ll take a date for now if that’s all you’re offering.

Ella was rendered speechless for a moment.

Instead of verbally answering him, she turned to face the children and bumped her hip flirtatiously into his. Kellen threw his head back with a delighted laugh, then repeated the gesture and bumped his hip against hers with little force, just a playful tap. She knocked hers into him a little harder, which prompted Kellen to give her the full range of his strength and slam into her side, launching her into a heap of snow.

“Shit, Rose!” he yelled, lunging to offer her his hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

Ella pulled on his arm, wrenching him down into the pile, and crawled on top of him to shove his face into the snow, smearing the frigid sleet onto the back of his neck and entangling the slush in his black curls with a maniacal laugh.

Kellen choked on a gasp and a mouthful of snow. “I did not see that coming,” he chuckled.

“Everyone!” Ella screamed to the children. “Get Mr. Kilic!”

All the Primordial children steered their focus onto Kellen, gathering snow in their tiny palms and bending the snow into the shape of spheres. They then hurled the snowballs at the Varmin department head in a synchronized succession of launched missiles, the ether filled with the sound of youthful mirth. Kellen, with supernatural swiftness, rolled both him and Ella to dodge the frigid bullets, so she now lay beneath him and his knees dug into the snow on either side of her hips, effectively trapping her under him. Ella’s fingers collected as much snow as could fit in her hands and rammed it in his face, just as he returned the gesture and wiped a handful of sleet down her cheek, their laughter combining into one unique, beautiful noise of ample happiness.

Make me a promise, Noella, he entreated amidst of their hysterical laughter. Promise me that, no matter what happens, you’ll never stop laughing. It’s the greatest sound in the universe. Laya had told Ella that Kellen was worth loving.

As she gazed up at him and whispered into his mind, I promise, she suddenly wasn’t afraid of heights anymore—not if it meant she could remain on top of the world, cradled by the promise of his devotion, for the rest of her life.

“You two need to fuck already,” Josefyn declared.

“JO!” Ella shrieked, shushing her. They were in Delmarth’s faculty gym, which was swarming with people, including Oliviana Bryan and Daniel Madix, occupying the treadmills in the back and shooting daggers at Ella over their shoulders. Akio and Josefyn had just run Ella through a series of drills. She asked them a few weeks ago to begin training her to fight, so she’d never end up in a position like she’d been in when she first arrived in Cavale where she couldn’t defend herself. She’d been just as surprised as they were by how quickly she picked up the moves, how natural she’d been with a sword. She’d just finished what had become a daily ritual of practicing with one of the dragon-simulators to properly seat a dragon and was stretching her aching legs, her inner thighs burning. The machine consisted of two levers to hold onto, emulating the kind of spurs you’d find on a dragon, and a widespread bench that imitated the back of a dragon, coated in leathery scales. The machine mimicked what flight would feel like, rocking you in several directions to try to buck you off, but you had to cling to the handles and squeeze your thighs inward to keep your seat. She hadn’t told Kellen she’d been practicing this, to keep his ego in check.

“No one’s listening,” Akio insisted despite Ella’s panicked, wide eyes. “And you know it’s true, Rosie.”

“I swear, every time I leave after spending time with the two of you, I need a cold shower.” Josefyn fanned herself, her violet hair spilling down to the floor when she tipped her head back.

“If she’s taking cold showers, then you’re not doing your job right,” Ella taunted Akio, prompting him to flip her his middle finger.

“Oh, trust me, El. He’s great at his job.” Josefyn winked at Akio.

“Kellen’s cooking me dinner tomorrow night.” You’d think Ella just told them Kellen proposed to her from the way the two of them erupted into squeals and crowded around her to give her individual hugs.

“Fucking finally!” Akio burst, ruffling her ponytail.

“Our baby’s growing up!” Josefyn shook Ella in her embrace before smacking a slobbery kiss onto her cheek.

“You two are insane,” Ella reproached through a laugh. “It’s just dinner. Doesn’t mean anything is going to happen.”

“Wear something hot,” Josefyn recommended. Ella frowned.

“I don’t own anything hot, other than that corset top I wore to The Dow.”

“You want to borrow some of my clothes?” Ella’s eyes scraped down Josefyn’s willowy physique.

“If you have anything that would fit these,” she touched her breasts, “then please, pass it my way.”

“Why is Rose grabbing her breasts in a crowded room?” Kellen asked when he sauntered across the gym to join them. The moment he stepped into the room, Ella felt Oliviana’s gaze stick to him. Ella’s hands fell away from her chest, heat blasting through her veins to boil her cheeks. “Sorry I’m late,” he added as he plopped down on the ground next to Ella, his knee kissing hers. “I was meeting with Markus.”

“How’s that going?” Akio asked. Kellen’s pinched lips said more than words could.

“Not great, but he shows up every day to our meetings even if he barely participates, so that’s something.”

“Is he doing enough work to pass the class?”

“He just passed his last exam with a sixty.” Akio and Ella reacted to that as if Kellen had said Markus scored a one hundred.

“That’s amazing!” Ella rejoiced, proffering her hand first for a high five to Akio, then to Kellen. Kellen’s palm slammed into hers before his fingers curved around her fingers, refusing to liberate her hand from his grip.

“What were you doing that’s got you so sweaty?” Kellen asked her, lowering their entwined fingers to the floor. Somewhere in the back of the room, Ella heard a shrill grunt that had to belong to Oliviana.

“Ran some practice drills, and then…” She decided to just tell him. “I’ve been practicing how to properly seat a dragon with the dragon-simulator.” Ella was left winded by the volume of sheer delight oozing from Kellen’s smile.

“This I’ve got to fucking see.”

Kellen’s eyes swung between her and the machine as a subtle implore for her to show him. Ella huffed, then willed her tired legs to rise from off the floor and head back to the dragon-simulator, crawling onto the gargantuan bench and spreading her legs to assume the correct position.

“ Fuck,” Kellen growled as he approached the machine. “This is definitely going in the spank bank.”

“Alright. I’m getting off now.”

“Not before I get off, Rose.” Ella whirled her head around to pin him down with a glare. His smile was pure sex and mischief. “Can I make some adjustments to your form?” She squinted her eyes.

“Is this to actually help me, or just to touch my ass?”

“A little bit of both?” Ella laughed, then waved her hand to grant him permission to touch her.

Kellen’s long fingers bowed around her waist before he pushed her closer to the handles, straining her hamstrings from how wide this spread her legs. She hissed between her teeth at the acute discomfort.

“Are you hurt?” He immediately lifted his hands from her.

“I’m fine,” she assured. “I’m just not super flexible, so my legs aren’t used to being spread that wide.”

“You were sitting too far back,” he explained, walking around the machine to face her. Kellen, her friend, was no longer in the room, replaced by Mr. Kilic, the brilliant instructor who she found equally attractive. “The dragon-simulator is good for knowing what it feels like to sit on a dragon, but it doesn’t account for the environmental factors you face during flight, like wind. If you sit too far back, your hands are more likely to slip off the spikes when the pressure of the wind picks up. If you’re going to practice, get comfortable with the proper form.”

“Got it. Thank you, Mr. Kilic.” Her smile fluctuated from grateful to wicked. “Look at you! You didn’t even touch my ass.”

“Told you I had self-restraint, Rose.” Similarly to her, but in the opposite direction, his smile switched from roguish to sincere. “When you’re ready to try on the real thing, I’ll be here.” Ella beamed.

“El, show Kell how good you are with a sword,” Josefyn urged. Something flickered in Kellen’s eyes when Josefyn casually called him Kell, the sweet intimacy of it seeming to catch him off guard, the ghost of a smile fiddling with the corners of his lips. He recovered fast enough that only Ella noticed the change. “Kellen, you’re going to be fucking amazed by how natural she is.”

“I can’t wait to see it.” Kellen lowered down to the gym floor next to Akio.

“Who am I fighting first?” Ella asked, grabbing the slightly curved blade with a black hilt that she’d discarded on the floor after finishing the practice drills. Josefyn dove to the ground to retrieve the other sword.

“Me,” Jo announced, skipping onto the matt across from Ella.

“My bestie? Fuck.” Ella mockingly pouted. “I love your face. I’d hate to mess it up.” Jo cackled.

“You’re going to eat those words, Rose,” Josefyn promised, her muscles primed for action.

Ella mirrored her stance, her own sword poised for attack. “Enjoy the taste of losing, Yilanci.”

With a nod of agreement, the two females charged forward, their swords clashing in a shower of sparks. Ella’s blade sliced through the air, while Josefyn’s movements were graceful and fluid, lithe like a snake. They moved in a dance of steel and skill, their laughter ringing through the gym. Josefyn was skilled, no doubt, but Ella clung to determination, her need to win heightened by Kellen’s eyes burning through her leggings and sports bra. With a swift and calculated strike, she parried Josefyn’s attack and countered with a powerful blow of her own. Josefyn fought back fiercely, throwing her whole body into their fight. Ella met every attack with equal measures of power.

Neither of them were laughing anymore.

With each strike, Ella grew more confident, her movements becoming more effortless, the act of brandishing a sword as easy and undemanding as breathing. Silence bandaged the gym, every Primordial halting their own undertakings to watch the skirmish transpire, a crowd forming around their mat. The only eyes Ella cared about, the only ones she felt traipse after her, were Kellen’s.

In a moment of perfect clarity, she saw her opening.

With a lightning-fast strike, she disarmed Josefyn, stealing her friend’s sword, and swiveled around to hold the weapon up to her throat, the point of her blade hanging precariously close to the feeble skin of Josefyn’s neck.

Her victory washed over her, settling around her bones. A triumphant smile splayed across Ella’s face.

“How does losing taste?” she asked Josefyn.

“I fucking love you,” Josefyn laughed, then extended her hand, silently asking for her sword back.

Ella received no applause from the crowd.

No one had been rooting for her—no one except the dragon-shifter still seated on the floor, whose gaze had darkened to a degree so extreme that she couldn’t even see the green of his irises behind the film of his expanded pupils. Ella’s chest heaved from exertion, savoring the pride flagrant in his smile, even as Oliviana’s scowl from within the crowd drew boiling lines down her body.

“You’ve never done this before?” Kellen doubted when he’d regained the ability to speak.

“Alright. I may have taken a few sword fighting classes in college,” Ella finally admitted.

“I fucking knew it!” Akio hollered, pointing accusingly at her. “I knew you were too good to be a beginner!”

“I only took three classes, though,” she insisted. “And I haven’t done it in years, so I’m rusty.”

“That was not the performance of someone who’s rusty,” Kellen challenged, blood pumping aggressively through her veins. “I don’t think you understand how fucking insane it is that you just won against a Primordial. I don’t mean this offensively, but you shouldn’t be able to do that.” Kellen elevated off the floor, then pilfered the sword from between Josefyn’s hands. “I want a turn.”

“You want to fight me?” Ella stammered. She watched Kellen climb onto the mat to meet her.

He hovered over her, his face so close to her that she could taste his breath as it peppered over her face.

“I told you to give me your worst, sweetheart. Make me earn it.” Ella simpered at his choice of words.

“What do I get if I win, Kilic?” She readied herself in a fighting stance.

“Me, Rose. You get all of me, whether you win or not.” She was so magnetized by that declaration that when he began sprinting for her, she hadn’t yet recovered, still standing there frozen, his words enveloping her heart.

She came to life just in time, deflecting his blade before it made contact with her cheek, spinning on her heel to dodge the next strike. Their blades sparkled when they collided, effervescent light sliding across the metal, a touch of Kellen’s fire frothing from the point of his sword. She mustered all her strength to swing her blade down and apply enough pressure for Kellen’s sword to fly out of his hand, elbowing him in the gut and shunting his back. Kellen nearly stumbled onto his ass.

“Don’t let me win,” she growled, clenching the hilt of her sword. “Give me your all, Kilic.”

“Trust me, Rose,” he grumbled, shaking his arms. “I am.” He hadn’t expected needing to work quite so hard to battle her.

“You’ve got this, Ella,” Josefyn encouraged from the sidelines.

Kellen rolled his shoulders, cracking his bones to chase away the tension gathering there, and swept to the floor to recapture his sword. He rallied all his strength and came at her with brutal fortitude, the hard lines of his face rigid and drenched in firm resolve. Ella’s heart pounded in her chest as their blades twirled between them, pushing against her ribcage like it was trying to escape her body.

She regarded this fight as her final chance to banish all the resentment she’d bottled up over the way he treated her when she first arrived in Cavale. This was her opportunity to leave it all behind and prove, not just to Kellen, not just to all the Primordials watching, but to herself, that she was worthy of being here.

Kellen took advantage of the close proximity to seize her wrist and yank her into him, sliding his sword behind her back to keep her from tilting away from him. Her back arched to avoid the blade, her chest grinding against his. The fingers of his not around the hilt of his sword skated under her chin to raise it.

“Hello, gorgeous,” he drawled, his warm breath staffing her lips. “How pretty you look when you want to kill me.”

“You think you’re real charming, don’t you, Kilic?” she spoke in a breathless pant.

“Quoting the woman I most admire, who’s going to back me if I don’t back myself?” Kellen sloped his head closer. Ella’s breath hitched in her throat as he floated his lips across her cheek to reach her ear. “My lips are lonely, Noella,” he crooned, his teeth tickling her earlobe. “Please keep them company.” Ella pulled her face back, dragging her nose down the sharp delineation of his cheekbone.

Kellen’s breath stuttered in response. She had him.

“You look so pretty…” she whispered along the column of his throat, a heady groan echoing deep in Kellen’s chest. He was so distracted by the gentle, innocent way her lips lithered over the scales on his neck that he didn’t even notice her hand wrap around the hilt of the sword he still held against her back. “…when I’m about to win.”

Using her grip around the hilt as leverage, she spun out of his arms, then tugged the blade out of his hand and swung the sword over her head to direct the sharp point at the center of his chest.

“YES ELLA!” Josefyn cheered, jumping to her feet and whooping without a care in the world for how loud she was. “That’s my fucking girl!”

“Well done, Rosie,” Akio prided at Josefyn’s side.

Kellen gazed at Ella with such astounding awe that her legs buckled. They studied each other, breathing heavily but still smiling, feeling deep in their souls that their connection wasn’t just a bond of the heart, but a partnership of equals.

The crowd began dispersing now that the fight had concluded. Oliviana was the last to linger there, tossing a wad of spit at Ella’s feet before following Daniel to the exit, leaving the door to the gym swinging behind her.

“I don’t know what you are, Rose,” Kellen exhaled when everyone had left, “but I’m not convinced you’re human.”

“Searching for a reason to say I cheated? No one likes a sore loser, Kilic.” Kellen strolled over to her and stole his sword back, then lightly tapped the end of the blade on the tip of her nose to make Ella giggle.

“Guys? Has anyone checked their emails?” Akio asked the group, his eyes pasted to his phone.

“We’ve kind of been busy,” Kellen answered through a laugh, his tone of voice lighthearted.

“What’re you looking at?” Josefyn peeked over Akio’s shoulders. Her eyes bugged out at whatever she read on the screen. “Oh fuck .”

“What is it, Jo?” Ella asked. Josefyn gulped.

“Bryara Cavalian is visiting Delmarth tomorrow.” Kellen’s sword clattered on the ground when it plummeted out of his hand.

“Are you fucking serious?” he exclaimed.

“Cavalian?” Ella repeated in surprise. “I take it she’s a God, then.”

“A Goddess,” Josefyn corrected. “She’s the Goddess of Penance and the original Cerebri image-manipulator. She runs Terminus. She’s fucking ruthless.”

“And she’s coming to Delmarth?” Ella gasped. To a place filled with children? “Has a God ever come to Delmarth before?”

“No,” Akio replied with a shake of his head. “Never.” Ella’s chest tightened.

“Why do I have a feeling this is going to be blamed on me?” she groaned, massaging her temples with the tips of her fingers.

“Cause it probably will.” Kellen used the end of his blade to lift Ella’s chin, forcing her eyes to cinch with his. “Keep this on you tomorrow,” he advised her, “Cause I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”