The Untamed

Chapter 17: The Eighty-Ninth Kin

   While his lessons with the Queen continued, one hour lessons with Aaron Ayman also continued. Of course, his lessons with the Queen were far more effective since she was more of a tutor that didn’t leave Clyde alone until he understood the topic. Not to mention that Ayman was probably keeping much info of the Kin from his class simply because he was Seyth’s personal trainer.

   No one really knew about the sessions Clyde was having with the Queen except for the other royals. King Zane, Kassy, Jassy, and Seyth were informed, but the only bad thing about the private lessons was that Seyth was more of freak than ever.

   Luckily, if it wasn’t for the king’s order to keep this information classified, Seyth would have told the entire island by now that Clyde was doing something illegal. No one was allowed a personal trainer until they passed the exam. Seyth of course, was the only exception.

   Other than that, Clyde spent most of his time with Anya, studying for both schools. On the weekends, when their heads were fried, Kassy would walk them around and show them the some of the shops. Jassy never really had much of a chance since she was always behind on her homework.

   Clyde didn’t see much of Kane, however, and that in particular kept him on his toes. The only reason why he wasn’t buried was because of Kane – if something happened while he wasn’t around, that would be asking for trouble. And every time Clyde thought of this, it only made him more determined to pass the exam.

   Like this, time flew and before he knew it, the exam was only a week away. When Ayman informed them of this, Clyde jumped to his feet and exclaimed, “What?” in front of the entire class.

   “Hopefully you’re all prepared – those of you taking the exam this year that is,” Ayman continued. “From tomorrow, those of you testing will be given a handout that you need to review and sign. Already, your Kin have been assigned and they are currently being held in custody until the day of the exam.”

   Even though it was so long ago, it felt like yesterday that Clyde had first met Kane. Almost three months ago, Kane had mentioned something about an exam, and now, here he was – one week away from it.

   Clyde eventually seated himself back on his chair and he thrust his glance at the ceiling. What was he going to do? Despite all of his training, he still couldn’t put out that fire. He worked not only under the Queen’s instruction, but in his apartment too with the candles.

   Kassy explained to him that it took her two months to figure out how to do it. Jassy took six months and Seyth took one.

   “How do you do it?” Clyde asked desperately as they walked towards the palace.

   “You just kind of learn, I guess,” she said, placing a finger on her chin. “The idea is for you to figure out what your limit is. That’s why it’s hard to explain since everyone’s different. It’s all part of your training – don’t get too worked up…”

   “The exam is in a week. I still can’t put out that fire…”

   “Well, you can always wait till the next session–”

   He rounded on her and wrinkled his eyebrows. Did she already forget about everything that had been happening recently? He mentioned The Vault and how the mystery was still yet to be solved and how the culprit was yet to be caught. For all he knew, danger could be lurking up any minute and he wouldn’t be prepared.

   “That’s true, but think of it this way. Even if you pass the exam, the Kin you Tame will despise you. My mom’s told me that building that bond is the second phase of training. No matter how powerful that Kin is, if it doesn’t like you – it may lose a fight on purpose so that its Tamer can be killed and so it can go free.”