It was the most he’d said to her other than to make fun of her. He was still pissed that she’d been arrested. Which was all well and good because she was pissed too. What Lorian had done was outrageous. She wasn’t going to let him win this one by giving up.

“I’m definitely willing to try,” she told him.

They descended into Enara Meadow, named after her grandmother. She’d been on the Society Council for nearly a hundred years and leader of it for several decades. Kivrin never spoke of her. So, all Kerrigan had were legends.

“This is sufficient,” Fordham said as he jumped from Netta’s back.

“I would hope so, considering this was where my grandmother trained before the Great War.”

Fordham glanced around at the beautiful meadow—as if seeing it for more than the barren, snow-crusted land it was—to the stunning visage of wildflowers, grasses, and blossoming trees. It was easy to imagine this as the perfect place to train during the springtime when everything was alive in Corsica Forest.

Kerrigan jumped down next to him, landing hard in the snow. “Ready when you are, princeling.”

Fordham’s eyes snapped to hers. “I thought we were beyond that nickname.”

“Ah, but it’s so fitting.”

He shook his head and then moved into a military stance. She didn’t know if he even did it knowingly. “We’re going to begin with steering. Like with a horse, we can direct our dragons with the use of the bond.”

I take offense to the metaphor, Tieran grumbled.

As if we could ever be as dumb as a horse, Netta said, nettled.

Tieran shot Kerrigan a look, as if to say, See.

“Regardless,” Fordham said, smiling at Netta, “it’s the same principle. And as with horses, we want to use a light touch. Jerking a horse around is going to do nothing but make them mad at you, possibly buck you off. Bond-strengthening exercises help keep the bond taut but not painful for either involved.”

“Okay,” Kerrigan said uneasily.

“So, first, we’ll work on strengthening the bonds each day through meditation. And then we’ll begin steering.”

Kerrigan gulped and met Tieran’s stare. Well, this was going to be fun.

She and Fordham burned away the snow in a small circle and then sat cross-legged on the dead grass. She put her hands on her knees, closing her eyes, as instructed. Then, Fordham took them through breathing exercises. She spent an hour on the frigid ground, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth, pulling on the bond to grow it between them. Except, of course, there was no bond. By the time they rose and stretched their muscles, Kerrigan felt nothing but tense.