Queen of Night

14. Mischievious Deeds

The frost had completely melted by mid afternoon. In fact, it was warmer than normal. Iyan wiped some sweat from her brow and fell into position once more. She'd opted to do some training with Arius, following their trip to the chocolate shop.

I might as well learn to fight while inconvenienced, she'd thought. After all, it's not like animals or enemies are going to care about my womanly issues if they're trying to kill me.

Arius was very obviously going easy on her, though, for which she was grateful. He stretched his wings as he waited for her to move. Iyan sprang into action, slamming her wooden stick against his.

Arius pushed her back and whirled behind her. She ducked past his blow and struck again. Iyan grinned as her blows began to match with his. Arius seemed faintly surprised, but he grinned as well.

Iyan's gaze slipped past him. She sent more force into her next blow, driving him back a few paces. Before he had a chance to recover himself, she attacked again. Arius gave a shout of surprise and toppled backwards into the weapons shed. Iyan slammed the door shut and held it tightly.

In a heartbeat, Arius teleported out of the shed. Iyan twisted, pressing her back against the shed door. "Was that an attempt to capture me?"

"A poor attempt, yes." Iyan sighed, feigning frustration. "This isn't going to work. I don't have iron to nullify your magic so you can easily escape any trap I set or trick you into." She crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping he'd take the bait.

"You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to capture me," he teased, tweaking her nose. Iyan stiffened as he continued. "But, I suppose I should play fair. If you capture me, I won't use my magic to escape."

"Do you promise?" Iyan prompted.

Arius watched her through shrewd eyes. "I promise." He picked up his stick and balanced it over his shoulder. "We're finished for the day."

"We've only been out here for two hours." Iyan returned her stick to the shed and followed him to the manor.

"Three more humans were taken. I'm going to track them."

"Sybella will..."

"I'm going to teleport to the Vetiti and follow the tracks on foot. She said I'll be able to fly like normal by the end of the week anyway."

"If she knew that you went flying last night, she would probably change her mind."

"I promised not to use magic to escape your traps. Now you had better promise not to tell her about that."

"I won't, provided you obey her instructions while you're gone."

Arius tilted his head. "How many deals are we going to make today?"

"Do you have a counter offer for that?"

"No," he admitted after a moment. "All right. If you don't tell Sybella, I'll follow her instructions until she deems me fit to fly again."

"Good." They reached the manor presently. Iyan headed up the stairs to her room, while Arius entered his father's office.

Gabriel and Esen were waiting in her room, as she'd asked earlier. Esen perked up when she arrived. "Well?"

"He promised not to use his magic to escape my traps."

The Twins smirked and handed over a good length of rope. "What's your plan?" Gabriel asked.

"I'll fill you in later. Just know that Arius will be very grumpy when he gets home," Iyan replied with a laugh.

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