“Fine,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t give her away as she moved to where he’d indicated and lowered herself to the deck. “But next time, use common courtesy and ask nicely.”

“Says the female who was raised by a Weapons’ Master but who still cheated during a bout,” he said, positioning himself to stand in front of her.

With the way he looked, she’d be convinced he was completely unbothered by their exchange if it weren’t for the dark promise swirling in his eyes.

He cracked his neck. “Thyabathi zhe be.”

“Nlayi,” she agreed.

He’d demanded during their first practice that she only use Thyabathi when practicing her abilities to become more comfortable with it. He’d warned that although most Magyki knew both languages, very few used the common tongue.

She hadn’t argued. She remembered enough of her native tongue to communicate the basics, but the more practice she could squeeze in, the better. It was like stretching a muscle. She knew how to stretch it, but it’d take time and practice to get it loose and natural again.

She was already going to be judged for living in the Matherin Capital, she didn’t need another reason to stand out.

* * *

Jaren released a sound that might’ve been a sigh, had he not sounded like an angry bear as he made it. “You’re not trying.”

“Yes, I am.”

She hunched over her crossed legs, dragging her hands down her face, and wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep. Why did tapping into her abilities make her so gods damn tired?

He crouched down to her level and rested his arms over his bent knees. “You honed your power just fine on Aleron. What’s different now?”

“I don’t know,” she said, whining more to herself than him. She dropped her hands to the deck, running her fingers along the wood and letting the edges of splinters scrape against her skin. “I’m not sure how I did it then. It just kind of happened.”

“Replay the moment,” he pressed. “Go through each of your senses one by one and tell me what was happening. What you felt.”

Despite her exhaustion, she listened and closed her eyes, forcing herself to go back to that day. How the warm wind felt against her back as they left Midpath, the smell of Jaren that still lingered on her body, the rush of excitement for the future, and then the foreboding sound of hooves charging toward them.

She remembered her shock at seeing Eithan out of Matherin and her horror at what he’d said. Remembered the sadness in Trey’s eyes and the hatred in Hayes’s. But more than anything, she remembered the exact moment Hayes’s arrow had pierced Jaren’s body.

Vera’s muscles tensed at the memory, and her teeth ground together as she clenched her jaw. She swore she could still feel the residual sting of the wound and the burn in her throat as she’d screamed.