Frankie shoved up her glasses, which had slipped to the tip of her nose. “She’s already lasted longer than you did against Zeran.”

“Get your eyes checked, dork,” Winston countered. “I went toe to toe with that freak.”

“You will refrain from name-calling, Winston,” August said, clearly taking his job seriously, “or I will have to report you to Ogun.”

While I was distracted by the side conversation, Zeran took flight and slammed into me. We both hit the floor this time and rolled. First, he pinned me to the ground, then I had him. Another roll and he was on top of me again, his knee pressed against my chest. “Do you yield?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

I wanted to scream in frustration, but I could hardly breathe. “No!”

Zeran threw up his arms. “Why do you have to be so stubborn all the time?”

“It’s one of my best qualities,” I answered, forcing a smile.

Ogun reappeared and walked over to where we were sprawled on the floor. From this vantage point, he was so tall that it was like looking up the length of a skyscraper. “The match goes to Zeran.”

“But I haven’t yielded!” I protested, keenly aware of the indignity of my situation. Here I was, flat on my back with a darkbringer’s knee crushing my chest.

“In all these months of lessons, you have yet to learn how to accept defeat gracefully, Ms. Abeola.” Ogun clucked his tongue. “You must know that you cannot win every fight. No one can.”

It wasn’t that I wanted to win every fight, but I couldn’t afford to lose. How could I help protect our world from the Lord of Shadows if it still took me so long to call my magic without my staff? It wasn’t enough to be a guardian of the veil in training. If it weren’t for my mistake, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Zeran stood up and offered me a hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet. I wasn’t mad at him—not really. I was angry that I still wasn’t good enough. When the darkbringers came, they weren’t going to take pity on me or anyone else. We all had to be ready.

“Are you okay?” Zeran asked once Ogun moved on to call the match between Jaylani Carmichael and Nate Townsend. “Sorry if I was a little rough on you.”

I sighed. “I need to be better.”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” Zeran said. “You don’t think I got better overnight, do you?”

I pursed my lips, feeling my anger disappear. “Thought you said that you were born good.”

“You do have a point.” Zeran laughed, then he shifted on his heels awkwardly. “I have to leave training early. I’ll catch up with you later.”