Nyx's POV
That afternoon's session was even more brutal.
Kael had decided that if the Council wanted to see me under pressure, he'd create pressure.
"Magical reserves," he explained as we returned to the yard. "Are finite. When you're exhausted, when you've used too much power too quickly, you need to be able to fight with whatever you have left. So we're going to simulate that."
"How?"
"You're going to create ice constructs continuously for thirty minutes. Walls, weapons, barriers—I don't care what, just keep creating them. Drain your magic down to almost nothing."
"And then?"
His smile was not reassuring. "Then we spar again. With whatever you've got left."
It was worse than I'd imagined.
Thirty minutes of continuous magic use left me shaking and dizzy. The world had a gray quality, like someone had drained the color from everything. My hands wouldn't stop trembling.
"Good," Kael said, looking at me critically. "You're running on fumes. That's the state you need to learn to function in. Now defend yourself."
He didn't even give me time to catch my breath before attacking.
Fighting while magically exhausted was like fighting underwater. Everything was slower, harder, less responsive. My ice barriers formed weakly, full of cracks and gaps. My movements were sluggish.
Kael's practice blade found me within seconds.
"Again," he said. "You can't quit just because you're tired. In real combat, the enemy doesn't care if you're exhausted."
We ran through it five more times. Each time, I lasted slightly longer before he landed a blow. Each time, I learned to fight smarter when I couldn't fight harder—using positioning instead of barriers, conserving the tiny amount of magic I had left for critical moments.
By the time he finally called a stop, I was on the verge of collapse.
"Enough," he said, and his voice had lost its instructor's edge. I felt his concern surge. "You pushed past your limits. That's good—that's what we needed. But now you need to rest before you hurt yourself."
I wanted to argue. I wanted to prove I could keep going.
But my legs gave out before I could form the words. I sat down hard in the dirt, breathing raggedly.
Kael was beside me instantly.
"Breathe," he said. "Slow and steady. Your body is in shock from magical depletion. Give it time to adjust."
He pressed a water flask into my hands. I drank shakily, focusing on breathing like he'd instructed.
Through the bond, his worry was almost overwhelming. Along with guilt that he'd pushed me to this point deliberately, and now he was second-guessing himself.
"I'm okay," I managed. "Just… need a minute."
"Take all the time you need." He sat down beside me in the dirt, close enough that the bond hummed with comfortable proximity. "I pushed you too hard. Too fast."
"You pushed me exactly as hard as I needed." I took another drink of water. "The Council won't care if I'm tired or scared or uncomfortable. You're teaching me to function anyway."
"Still." He was quiet for a moment. "There's a difference between pushing someone to grow and breaking them. I need to remember that."
"You're not them," I said quietly. "Your old instructors. You're not doing to me what they did to you."
He looked at me sharply. "You can feel that? Through the bond?"
"When the emotions are strong enough, yeah. I get… echoes. Impressions." I hesitated. "I'm sorry. For whatever they did to you. No one should be trained like that."
"They were preparing me to save the world." His voice was flat. "The ends justified the means."
"Did they?"
The question hung between us.
"I don't know," he finally admitted. "All that preparation, all that pain, and in the end the wolf walked right past me. So maybe not."
We sat in silence for a while, both of us recovering—me from physical and magical exhaustion, him from old wounds that had never properly healed.
"For what it's worth," I said, "you're a good teacher. Better than whoever trained you. You push me, but you also know when to stop. You challenge me, but you don't break me. That's…" I searched for the right word. "That's worth something."
His emotions shifted. First it was surprise, then it was warmth, then it became something complicated I couldn't quite identify.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
We sat there until my breathing returned to normal and the gray quality of the world faded back to color. Until my hands stopped shaking and the life-bond settled from worried concern to content companionship.
"We should get inside," Kael said finally. "You need real food and actual rest. Tomorrow will be intense too."
"They're all intense."
"True." He stood and offered his hand. "But tomorrow we start working on your strategic thinking. The Council won't just want to see you fight. They'll want to see you think."
I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. My legs were steadier now, though everything still ached.
"Kael?" I said as we started toward the cottage.
"Yeah?"
"Three days from now. The demonstration. What if I fail? What if I'm not good enough and the Council decides I'm not worth training?"
He stopped walking and turned to face me fully.
"You won't fail," he said with absolute certainty. "You've come further in five days than most people do in months. You're smart, adaptable, and you have more raw power than anyone I've ever seen. The Council will be impressed. They'd be idiots not to be."
"But what if…"
"Nyx." He cut me off gently. "Stop. You're catastrophizing. The what-ifs don't matter. All that matters is that we train hard for the next three days and you walk into that demonstration ready to show them what you can do."
Through the bond, I felt his confidence. Not just in my abilities—in us. In what we could accomplish together.
"Okay," I said. "Three more days. We can do this."
"We can do this," he agreed.
That evening, after dinner, I retreated to my room with every muscle screaming and magical reserves still dangerously low.
'You did well today,' Frost said as I collapsed onto my bed.
'I almost passed out.'
'Yes. And you learned what that felt like. Now you'll recognize the warning signs earlier and manage your power better.' Her tone was approving. 'The boy taught you good lessons today.'
'He has a name.' At this point, I'm certain she is just rage baiting me.
'So you keep reminding me.' I could feel her amusement. 'You defend him now. That's progress.'
'I'm not defending him. I'm just…' I paused. 'What am I doing?'
'Learning to see him as he is rather than through the lens of past hurt.' Frost's voice was gentle. 'That's growth, child. For both of you.'
I thought about that. About how five days ago I could barely look at Kael without feeling the sharp edge of betrayal.
I sighed. We have really come far.
'The demonstration,' I said, changing the subject. 'Do you think I'm ready?'
'I think you're more ready than you believe. And I think the boy is an excellent teacher, even when he doubts himself.'
'He worries about you,' Frost observed. 'More than he should for a mere training assignment.'
'It's the bond. He can feel when I'm hurt or exhausted. Of course he worries.'
'If you say so, child.'
I ignored her knowing tone and closed my eyes.
Three more days.
Then I'd stand before the Council and show them what five days of training with Kael Stormborn had accomplished.
And maybe, just maybe, prove to myself that I could do this.
That I could become whatever they needed me to be.
With Kael's help.