Divine Illusions

by Alix Sharpe

  Angeline whipped out a short blade from her arm band and sunk it into the Elf’s head. Then she turned foot and began to run back across the clearing. “Teach her,” she spat at Hale as she passed by. She disappeared in the brush and left Keira alone with the Elf corpse and her jerk of a trainer.

  Hale, still on his knees, chest heaving, turned to glare at the spot Angeline had disappeared through.

  “No ‘thanks’ for saving the oracle prodigy?” he said, rolling his eyes, pushing himself to his feet.

  “Maybe if you had kept an eye on me you wouldn’t have had to,” Keira said, folding her arms.

  “Maybe if you had used that big, giant Diviner brain you wouldn’t have gotten yourself into such a stupid situation,” he said.

  “Why do you hate Diviners so much?”

  He dropped his eyes to his feet. “I don’t.”

  “Oh, so it’s just me in particular you hate then?”

  “No,” he said, “I don’t even know you, how could I hate you?”

  “You knew enough to know right off the bat that you wanted nothing to do with me,” she said. Keira felt a little twinge in her throat. Maybe they could have been friends, if she’d been given a different color amulet.

  “Well that’s changed,” he said, dusting off his pants.

  “Yeah, only because the Captain ordered you to train me.”

  “There’s that…” he said, a sly smile tugging at the corner of his handsome face.

  “And something else?”

  “And,” he took a step closer, an unwelcome flush rising to Keira’s cheeks at his proximity, “you’re the only person I’ve ever seen touch one of those things without vomiting. Maybe there’s some strength in you after all.”

  She scoffed, shoving away the hint of lingering attraction she felt for him. She was so sick of everyone assuming she was weak. “Of course I’m strong. They wouldn’t have sent me out here otherwise.” She took one last look at his infuriating grin then shoved past him and trudged back towards camp.

  CHAPTER 4 – HALE

  “So,” Hale said, beginning to pace back and forth in front of Keira, “am I correct in assuming you have little to no combat training?”

  “Obviously,” she said. “Do we really need to rehash yesterday when I completely froze and then hid behind a rock?”

  “That’s not where I was going with that,” he said. It had briefly crossed his mind, but if he was going to get her to listen, he couldn’t have her throwing up her defenses immediately. “I was going to ask what training you do have, not as a Diviner, but in life. What did you do for fun back home?”

  “I don’t know, whatever I felt like doing,” she said, crossing her arms. Crap, there go the defenses. She rolled her eyes.

  It was his fault, really, he shouldn’t have been such an asshole the day before. He stared down at her, debating if he should apologize or if that would make things worse by bringing it up again.

  “Fine,” she said, “Books. I read a lot. I volunteered at the library. Stargazing. Open mic. Ceramics. Played pickup soccer on occasion—“

  “Soccer! Perfect!” he said, throwing his hands up. He could work with this. “Okay, so in soccer, you have all these other players doing their own thing, and a ball flying around that could smack you in the face at any second. Right?”

  “Are you going to throw things at me?” she said, raising an eyebrow at the sticks in his hand.

  “Well. Yes. But not yet.”

  “Am I supposed to predict when the sticks will be thrown at me and dodge them?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Can I finish?”

  “Can you?” she smirked.

  “Hilarious,” he said, rolling his eyes. Yet he couldn’t help the smile beginning to tug on his lips. She was joking around with him. Did that mean she’d forgiven him? Either way, it was nice to laugh a bit.

  God he’d been around serious Salamanders for too long. He was actually starting to find her middle school humor endearing. Plus, she was cute as all hell, which made her bad jokes a little more tolerable. Okay, a lot more tolerable. His gaze dropped to her mouth.

  He cleared his throat and forced his brain back on track. “In soccer, you can determine where the ball is going to go next based on the location of the other players, the way they position their bodies.”

  “Honestly, I’m not that good, I just kick the ball in the right direction if it comes to me.”

  “Okay if you’re not going to cooperate, I’m not going to play Mr. Understanding-Mentor. I was trying to tie the lesson to something you knew, but if you’re so eager to just learn already—“

  “Didn’t the Captain basically say we could die at any second so we should probably hustle? Isn’t this horde of 50 Elves supposedly unprecedented? Couldn’t they change their battle strategy and come here instead?”

  “Accurate,” he said, tossing a stick at her before she could react. It slapped against her jeans.

  “Hey!” she said, rubbing the spot even though he knew it didn’t actually hurt. She turned and smacked him in the shoulder, lips curling in satisfaction at her successful retaliation. “I wasn’t tapped in.”

  “Good,” he said, trying his best to ignore the pleasant tickle she’d left on his skin, “I don’t want you to be. Today we aren’t using your powers.”

  “What?” she said, pursing her lips sideways in skepticism.

  “If you had let me finish I would have told you that. Too many trainers focus on the magic and forget to teach the fundamentals. I could help you hone your ability to predict my next move with your Sight, or you could just open your eyes and watch me. Which one do you think is going to help you more in battle?”

  Keira scoffed, but didn’t say anything clever.

  “I’m not just picking on Diviners,” he said, “same goes for Salamanders and Mages. They can learn to throw a massive fireball or a deadly weapon, but if they don’t know how to read their enemy, they can easily miss their mark if the enemy dodges or lunges suddenly.”

  “I understand how this is valuable. You don’t have to continue trying to sell me on it. Let’s go.” She placed a hand on her hip, drawing his gaze downward.

  Crap. How was he letting himself get this distracted? He needed to stop with the staring and start with the training. He threw another stick.

  To his surprise she smacked it out of the way midair with her other hand. “Nice reflexes,” he said in all honesty.

  “You’re just easy to read,” she smirked, “I saw you shifting it into your right hand while you were talking.”

  Shit. Hopefully she hadn’t been able to pick up on his other thoughts as well. Was he really that easy to decipher? “I guess I’ll just have to try harder to keep you on your toes,” he shrugged. He threw another stick, this time straight from his left hand.

  She blocked that one too.

  “Good,” he said, a strange rushing in his chest. Maybe she wasn’t a total lost cause. If he could just stop getting distracted and do his actual job, maybe she’d even learn a thing or two. He took a deep breath and hopped back into training.

  As they continued, she turned to watch his every move. He watched her eyes study the placement of his feet, the elevation of his hands, the angle of his arm. She quickly figured out the stick game. He needed to switch it up before she got bored and abandoned the lesson.

  He began to wind his circle tighter, drawing closer towards her with each step. He’d expected her to shift uncomfortably under his proximity, but she didn’t. She kept her expression neutral, her eyes locked on his. This was not the same girl from yesterday who giddily spazzed out when he’d swept her off her feet. He’d have to up the ante. He had to make her nervous, she wasn’t anxious enough for this to be effective battle training. Maybe he could distract her if he started flirting with her again.

  “You know,” he said, dropping his voice lower, “Diviners aren’t the only ones who can read minds.”

  “Oh?” she said, lip turning up in amusement.
She didn’t appear the slightest bit thrown by his shift in demeanor.

  “Yeah,” he said, taking another step towards her. There was only a foot or so between them now, close enough to feel the heat radiating off her skin. Wait. Was this really a good idea? He bit the inside of his lip. Well, he’d already started it, if he stopped now, she’d win this battle. He had to keep going. “I can read your mind too.”

  “What am I thinking then?” she said, dropping her eyes to his fistful of sticks. Good. At least her instinct told her to keep an eye on his weapons. Time to see if she could keep her focus on the rest of him simultaneously. That is, if he could keep his focus on the game long enough to finish his little test. God, why did she smell so good?

  “You’re thinking you’re starting to like me,” he said, making his voice go all husky, tilting his head back with forced confidence.

  “I don’t even know you, how could I like you?” she said, unflinching. Crap. This wasn’t going how he’d planned at all.

  Then for a split second, he swore he saw a spark of intrigue flash across her big, grey eyes. She lowered her lashes as if trying to hide the thought. A sudden urge swelled in his chest. He had to get closer.

  He stepped toward her, erasing the gap, the buttons of his shirt dusting her left shoulder.

  She didn’t budge.

  He had to keep going. He dipped lower, his face mere inches from hers. “You know enough to think I’m cute.” He reached out and tucked a few stray hairs behind her ear, the thick, black strands felt like silk under his fingers.

  She didn’t respond, her eyes fixed on the sticks.

  He should stop. This clearly wasn’t going as intended. He could throw another stick and back away. Or not. A very bad idea flitted across his mind.

  He leaned forward and pressed his lips to her cheek. The split second that his kiss landed on the warmth of her skin, his subconscious yanked him backwards and broke them apart. What the HELL did he think he was doing? His whole body went rigid, unsure what to do next.

  She turned toward him slowly, expression unreadable.

  His heart pounded in his ears as he awaited her reaction.

  Finally she crossed her arms. “I don’t do cute.”

  He leapt back placing a comfortable distance between them again. Okay, so his stupid little test hadn’t done a damn thing except get him all riled up. He needed to knock it off. Immediately.

  With his soldier-focus, he exhaled and snapped back into trainer mode. It was all just a training exercise, he’d just gotten turned around for a second. He owed her an explanation. “Apologies, that wasn’t exactly a standard training exercise, but I had to try to mess you up. You’re better than I anticipated. I figured with the way you reacted yesterday when I picked you up—“

  “I wasn’t reacting to you,” she said, tone suddenly sharp, “I just couldn’t let anyone see me being carried like a giant helpless baby!”

  “What?” he said, confusion bubbling in his chest.

  “Everyone assumes I’m weak, a pushover. Like I’ll just take whatever crap they dish at me, just because I’m a Diviner. I didn’t want you to carry me because I didn’t want them to be right.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, scrunching his brows together in embarrassment. Shit, he had read that situation completely wrong. Now he felt like even more of an idiot.

  “I’m not weak,” she said, standing up a little taller. “Yesterday with the Elf, that was a mistake. A dangerous one. It’s not going to happen again. I won’t be vulnerable, I’m done with that.”

  “Good,” was all he could think to say. Her reaction… was it about the Elf, or the kiss? Or maybe something else altogether.

  “Now keep those sticks coming,” she said, dropping into a defensive stance, “and stop taking it easy. I’m warmed up now.”

  CHAPTER 5 – KEIRA

  Keira bent over, hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath. Two hours straight of having sticks flung at her and only 4 had landed, including the first which Hale only got because he was babbling so incessantly that Keira let her guard down out of boredom.

  It wasn’t that Hale Draven himself was inherently boring. Far from it, she thought, eyeing his responsive, supple arm muscles, rippling invitingly every time he launched another projectile in her direction. And that kiss. Such a sneaky, yet amusing, tactic.

  She’d almost flinched when he did it, but something deep inside her yelled at her, commanding her to deny him the satisfaction. And something else deep inside her told her to kiss him back. Good thing she’d ignored that second voice or she would have looked like a total moron.

  No, Hale wasn’t boring, it was the way in which he tried to caudle her that she found so infuriating. She wasn’t fragile anymore. She didn’t need anyone’s pity.

  But she did need lunch.

  “Do warriors get to take meal breaks?” she asked, pushing herself upright.

  “I’ll allow it,” he smirked, dropping the sticks. “But you owe me. I’ll draft an IOU for you to sign.”

  She shoved his shoulder playfully, her touch lingering for just a moment too long on the hard curl of his bicep. Though he didn’t seem to notice, she decided she better deflect anyway.

  “Great,” she laughed, as they began heading towards the dining tents, “I’m scared to see the massive IOU list I’m sure you’re dreaming up. I am not washing your socks, that better not be on there.”

  It was strange to her, how natural it felt to joke with him as they walked. Most guys refused to let their guard down enough for that, like they could sense how badly she’d been hurt. It was just as well, joking meant friendly, and she couldn’t afford to get friendly with any of them. Feelings were dangerous.

  “Oh look, it’s Ravin’ Draven and his Diviner pet.”

  Keira turned around to see Soren swaggering towards them, icy eyes narrowed, a posse of Salamander fresh-meat in tow.

  “She’s not a pet,” Hale said, squaring his shoulders.

  “Oh, Draven, always playing the good guy,” Soren said, tilting his jaw menacingly. He tipped his head in Keira’s direction. “You know it’s just an act, right? That’s how he gets them into the sack.”

  “Better than just waving my dick around until someone falls on it, like you do,” Hale said, his lip arched into a subtle snarl.

  “Speaking of falling,” Soren said, “has he told you what happened to his first trainee?”

  “Leave it alone, shithead,” Hale growled, fingers flexing. Keira glanced down at the swirls of shimmering blue magic beginning to pool under his nails.

  “Do you really want to do this, Draven? With all the fire-power I’ve got at my back right now?”

  “Do you really want all your new admirers to hear how you let an innocent woman die?” Hale spat.

  “They all know how it is out here, every man for himself. Or broken-hearted little girl in this case.”

  “You could have helped her,” Hale said.

  “I wasn’t going to risk my neck trying to fix your fuck up.”

  “It was two Elves, you piece of shit. I’ve seen you beat 10 in one go.”

  “I think we could argue that you are the piece of shit, Draven, the way you used that poor girl.”

  “I didn’t use her,” Hale said, jaw tense. Something shifted behind his gold-green eyes.

  Keira felt an inexplicable tug in her chest.

  “Well she certainly saw it another way. Maybe your Diviner friend here will find a way to See it too,” Soren stepped forward and shoved past Hale. He turned back over his shoulder once he’d put a few feet between them. “Maybe she’ll just stumble upon that memory and See for herself.”

  Hale shook his head, eyes dark, and refused to acknowledge Soren any further as he continued past and disappeared with the other Salamanders behind a row of tents.

  “I’m not hungry anymore,” Hale said. He ran a hand over his face, expression melting from rage to something else. “We’ll pick back up tomorrow,” he said,
patting her absently on the shoulder. He looked… hurt.

  Keira reached up, uncertain, and gently cupped the back of his hand.

  He paused for a second, eyes fixed on the ground, then with a heavy sigh he slipped out of her grasp and began to walk the other way.

  As the heat from his hand dissipated, the clouds in her thoughts cleared too. Nevermind how stirring bummed-out-Hale was… what the hell was all that actually about? Curiosity flitted about in her chest, nervous energy demanding an explanation. Her eyes flicked between Hale’s back, and the direction Soren and his posse had gone.

  She needed to know. The way he’d reacted, she knew Hale wouldn’t talk at the moment. Even if he did, what evidence did she have that she should believe him? His reaction had been so visceral, this was big. She didn’t know if she could trust her trainer yet, but she’d already made up her mind about Soren Eriksson. That thuggish Salamander would be sure to skew the story however he felt best suited him. Asking him would be pointless. Better to leave it alone for now. She shook her head and set off in the direction of the cook’s tent instead.

  After she’d scarfed down her meal in two minutes flat, she set off with her stack of books to do some reading on military strategy. Yes, the Elves and the death rate made strategy difficult to implement on this side of The Veil, but that didn’t mean it was impossible. She wanted to be prepared.

  She found a nice, surprisingly quiet perch on top of the artillery wagon. At least if an Elf snuck up on her there, she’d have a variety of pointy things to fling at it. She put her nose to her book and tried not to think about what Soren had said.

  After four hours of re-reading the same paragraph over and over again, she decided she should head back and maybe attempt to mingle with some of the other newbies. If she could find any that didn’t shrink at the thought of socializing with a Diviner, that is. It would probably be a fruitless attempt, but she had to try. She had to find something to distract herself. She couldn’t sit there and let her imagination run wild anymore. It was getting dark anyway.