Despite Darian once more half-heartedly insisting Liz and Quell should return to the capital, leaving her and her soldiers to ride to warn stahat night we all leave together. Liz refuses to abandon her brother, Quell refuses to break his promise to me, and even Ear and Xamireb throw their names behind me. When did I get so many people who have faith in me? I barely have faith in me.

  Now that we have three star drakes, travel is signifitly more fortable. Netting squished between two sweaty humans—Hah. I guess I really don’t see myself as one anymore. But adding ara seat as a buffer between me and Quell means I actually enjoy the ride, and practice a little magic while I’m at it.

  I try Attuning more of my blood, despite having Attuned all of it prior to now, and find there’s some new blood that’s unAttuned. I guess that ahe question of if I’ll o Attune any new blood my body produces. Kind of annoying, because that means I’ll have to do a little each day—or at least set aside one day a week to catch up. This has got to be the most frustrating magical affinity out there. I open my eyes as I return my attention outward, and find myself looking at Quell’s back.

  Then again, I could have an illusion affinity and not be able to make illusions.

  As daroaches, we stop to make camp once more. I’m sure Darian would rather we press ahead, but even if we didn’t o rest, the star drakes do. As the tents are pitched and diarts cooking, Darian takes me aside.

  “e on,” she says. “One day off is plenty. Back to training.”

  I hesitate as I follow her a short ways from the campsite. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. The shield was in attack mode when I stored it. I don’t want it to hurt you.” Or anyone else.

  “All the more reason for you to take it out now than when you actually ,” she says. “What’ll you do if we get in anht? You don’t have any other ons.”

  “I have my Attuned blood,” I suggest.

  Darian raises a skeptical eyebrow. “Do you know how to fight with that?”

  “I could,” I insist, though I actually have no idea if that’s true.

  “Show me.”

  I really should have expected her to call me out on that. Well, no bag down now. I hold up my hand, and focus on the blood that’s in my palm. When I mentally pull at it, I feel it move, pressing against my skin. It’s extremely uling. But if I want to use it as a on, then I’ll have to get used to it.

  Hemetic Hardening, I think, activating the spell to solidify a portion of the blood. I picture what I want: a small spear-tip. I wince as I feel it form, like a stone in my hand, its tip prig against the underside of my skin. All I have to do now is bring it out.

  Steeling myself, I pull the arro, breaking through my skin.

  “OW!” I grab my wrist, hung over as the pain spikes up my arm. “Fuck! Shit!” A dozen more profaream from me as I squeeze my wrist and st to pull the blood from my hand. That fug hurts!

  Darian bursts out ughing. I wince as I dispel the Hemetic Hardening, and the small point of blood that had broken through my skin pools into my hand. Gritting my teeth, I use Coagute to scab over the wound. My hand still pulses with hot pain from the injury.

  Quell pokes around one of the tents. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yes,” Darian says, still ughing as she wipes a tear from her eye. “We’re just experieng a learning-opportunity moment.”

  I gre at her. With my other hand, I gesture for the Attuned blood still sitting in my palm to rise into the air, and it obliges. The sphere of blood is barely the size of a marble, but I shape it into an arrowhead anyway, then use Hematic Harding once more. The tiny spear-tip bees solid. Putting all my will behind it, throwing it as hard as I , I unch the projectile at Darian.

  [Range limit,] Echo says right as the blood vanishes from my mental hold. The speartip makes it a few feet beyond my arms before its trajectory abruptly nosedives into the ground. The blood spshes against the dirt and is quickly absorbed by the dry cy.

  Darian ughs harder.

  I let out an annoyed huff. Range limit? I ask Echo.

  [An Attuned element may only be trolled within the user’s range of Attu. The range may increase as the user’s level or spell level increases.]

  And my range is…?

  [5.5 feet,] Echo replies.

  Well that’s going to signifitly reduce the usefulness of my Attu as an offensive ability in a fight. I guess I’d have to use it as a sword or khough how much blood that would take, I’m not sure.

  Darian subsides into chuckles, gesturing for Quell to return to camp; he doesn’t, and Liz and Ear have e to watch, too.

  “Thanks.” Darian is smiling as she shakes her head at me. “I hat.”

  “Gd my pain and iude could bring you some joy,” I grumble.

  “You wouldn’t have listened if I’d just told you it was a bad idea,” Darian says.

  “I would have!” I object. Then I think about it for a sed. No, she’s right: I would have still tried it. “Alright, you’ve made your point.”

  “It takes a lot of willpower to injure yourself like that,” Darian says. “Especially on your hand; more nerves. If you’re ever really desperate, the back of your arm is a better pce to work with. Larger area, less sensitive.” She flexes her hand. “Won’t stop you from holding a on.”

  I flex my fingers, and the neulls painfully at my hand. Good point.

  “Not to mention,” Darian tinues, “throwing your blood around in a fight isn’t the wisest move when you might be fag other dhampyrs. If your blood mao cut into oh the Bloodlust, you’ll activate their ability, and now you’ve just upgraded ao very powerful and out of trol.”

  Anood point. I feel kind of dumb for not thinking of these things already. “You didn’t seem entirely out of trol,” I say.

  The humor in her expression fades. “I trained for years in trolled enviros to be able to exercise as much trol as I did when fighting the Umbral Bdes. And trol is still barely applicable to what I was exerg. Stopping myself from eviscerating Felicity was a feat unto itself.” Her face hardens. “What I did was impulsive and desperate. It is not to be used as an easy power-up, do you uand? If you try the same, you’re likely to hurt an ally—or worse.”

  I nod. “I’ve no iion to.” And that’s the truth. As much as I try not to think about what I did to those Moonfall soldiers who had Quell, ss of gore and screams still creep their way into my dreams.

  “Good.” She pnts her hands on her hips. “Now are we going to get bae actual training?”

  I goward the campsite. Liz is sitting cross-legged on a boulder, tossing pieces of crusty bread into her mouth like pop. Ear leans against the rock, arms folded. At least Quell has the good seo look ed.

  I still edge a few more steps away from the campsite. “Give me some space while I summon it.”

  Darian also steps back, gesturing for me to tinue. I hold my arm out to the side, brace myself, then summon the Crimson Aegis.

  The shield appears, and its emotions crash against my mind like thundering waves. I flinch as a variety of thoughts hammer against me in rapid succession. There’s a fsh of surprise—an undercurrent of fear—the briefest glimpse of relief—and then it’s just pissed.

  [Blood Ward activated.]

  It grabs onto my arm, squeezing painfully tight, as it unfurling whips of blood which blindly sh out at the air around me.

  “Stop!” I call out. “The enemies are gone.”

  Are they? Are they? It wouldn’t know, bei in such a dark ae pce! We were in danger, and it was trying to protect me! Why did I punish it? I could have died without its help! What would have happeo the Aegis if I died while it was in that silent, lifeless pce?

  I blink, caught off guard. That was a good question, actually. I hadn’t even sidered it.

  It doesn’t matter, I tell it. I didn’t die, and you’re out, now. It all worked out for the best.

  The Aegis simmers in its anger. Maybe everything worked out for me, but it didn’t know what happened or if it would ever be released from the nothingness again.

  Er. Sorry? I was expeg it to be in attack mode, but I wasn’t expeg all of this. It’s mad at me, but I feel what’s driving that anger: it was scared. It feels… betrayed by my as. Sheesh, and I thought arrogant was about the oion it was capable of.

  You didn’t give me much of a choice, I tell it. I told you not to attack those people and you were going to do it anyway.

  It stiffens with offehey were attag us. Was it supposed to let us lose? Unthinkable.

  No, I sigh. But there are other ways to win.

  The Aegis isn’t vinced. And it’s still stewing in its frustration. But it’s calmed down a bit, and has eveantly aowledged we’re no longer in the middle of a fight. The threads of blood stop aimlessly shing about, gradually slowing their motion, until they abruptly dissolve into the air, flickering out.

  [Blood Ward ended,] Echo reports.

  I let out a relieved breath, sciously f all the tension out of my limbs.

  Liz lets out a whistle. “That’s some shield.”

  That’s one way to put it.

  “It’s the Crimson Aegis,” Quell says, excitedly leaning over to Liz. A pained look immediately sches her face. “Remember hearing about it in our history lessons? No? What about the Crimson Scimitar? Oh, gods, I have so much to tell you. Well as it turns out…”

  “Good job.” Darian steps bato position, and I tu Quell’s recap of the ons, which is quickly transitioning into a history lesson. “Now, reactivate that ability.”

  “What?” I say, baffled. “No. It will skewer you.”

  “It didn’t skewer you,” she notes.

  “Because it knows not to.”

  “So tell it not to skewer me.” She unbuckles her sword, sheathed for my prote, as always. “e on. You want to be able to use these abilities in a fight? Learn how to use them outside of one.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” I object. “The other abilities are ones I trol. They’re all defensive spells. But the Aegis owns the Blood Ward, and it’s not the same. It’s a on. The Blood Ward is only desigo kill.”

  “And a sword isn’t?” Darian ters. “Don’t be naive, Nye. If you draw a on, you best have the willpower to use it. But a sword cut an enemy as easily as an ally, if you don’t have the trol to wield it properly. trol es with practice. You want to feel safe using that thing to protect yourself? To protect others? The’s practice.”

  I grimace. She’s oversimplifying things with the Aegis. It’s not the same as swinging a sword; this entity has a mind of its own. But she’s at least right that I’ve nothing else to use if it es to a fight. Even if I started training with a sword today, it would take years for it to be as effective as this magical on. If I want to survive future fights—if I’m going to protect Quell, and trek across treacherous nds in seary brother—I o master the resources at my disposal. I don’t have to like it for it to be true.

  Alright, I think at the Aegis, and it grumpily rouses from its sulking. We’re going to get in anht.

  Its irritation vanishes in a fsh. Good! This is adequate reparation for my prior affront. It accepts my ato. When? Where? Who? Oh, that person! We will destroy them.

  No! I hurriedly think as its attention tches onto Darian, her sword leveled toward us. No. That’s not how we’ll win this fight. And seriously, how do you nnize her by now?

  The Aegis bristles with indignation. It is not the shield’s fault all these squishy anic creatures look the same!

  “Ready?” Darian calls.

  “One minute,” I say. “I’m still w something out.”

  For this fight, you’re allowed to use the Blood Ward, but you’re not allowed to kill or maim her, I tell it. You ’t even make her bleed.

  The Aegis is skeptical. Killing is the most effit way to win a fight. And a quick defeat is a clear dispy of its superiority!

  Talking to this thing requires the patience of a saint, I swear. Not in this case, I say. For this fight, drawing blood from the enemy means we lose.

  Now the Aegis is extremely fused. But how? How o their enemy and still lose? This doesn’t make any sense!

  This one, uh, likes to bleed, I say, iing an admittedly awful lie using the only logic I think the Aegis would uand.

  It likes blood? The Aegis siders this. Well, that is a very uandable thing. pletely retable. But this presents a problem! How will we establish our supremacy if it wants to lose? If we win, then it loses, which means it wins, so we lose. But if we lose, does it wins, and its winning means it loses? The Aegis doesn’t uand! This is all so fusing.

  Oh no, I’m going to break the magical shield. We still win, I hurriedly tell it before it undergoes some sort of existential crisis. Darian be defeated by knog her down. More than anything, she doesn’t want to end up on the ground. I mentally picture us standing over a downed Darian, foot on her chest in some absurdly victorious posture.

  This, however, the shield uands. Yes! Victory. We will stand over our foes in triumph, and they will subjugate themselves before us!

  Yeah, I think, grimag. Something like that.

  I nod to Darian. “Okay. I think we’re ready.” God, I hope so.

  Darian charges toward me. I crouch behind my shield. Alright, I think to the Aegis. Let’s do it. Another Blood Ward. And remember, you ’T make her bleed.

  I get the mental equivalent of a blink from the Crimson Aegis. Blood Ward? It ’t do another Blood Ward. It’s all out of blood.

  I growl. “Are you freaking kidding m—”

  Darian’s sword crashes against the shield, rattling my teeth. I ch my jaws shut and activate an Eo stop the vibrations.

  How much do you need? I snap, stumbling back as Darian tio advance. She tries to hook my shield and go for my feet, but it’s a move she’s used before, and I know what to watch for this time.

  The Aegis use any amount of blood. But the more blood, the better its attack. So, lots of blood is best!

  I sp my retly-scabbed palm to the back of the shield, and activate a Devour. There! Take some. Not a lot though! I o stay on my feet.

  The Aegis delightfully agrees, bands of red magiapping around my hand to keep it pressed against the metal. A brief burniion against my palm makes me wihen I feel a distinctly unfortable su-like sensation as it pulls blood from my hand. And in a different, equally strange way, I se entering and being part of the Aegis’s magic. It’s my Attuned blood, now buried somewhere ihe shield. The realization is dizzying; it’s like I feel myself ihe metal. The liween us, blurred. I falter, briefly dazed and dissociated. Darian takes the opportunity to sm her pommel into the side of the Aegis, snapping my arms to the side.

  [Blood Ward activated.]

  The whips of blood snap from the surface of the shield, stabbing toward Darian. That shakes me out of it. No! I think, willing the spears of blood away from her. And they divert, stabbing iy space. The Aegis and I are equally fused, but I figure it out first. It’s my Attuned blood. I still trol it even after the Aegis has absorbed it.

  Offehe Aegis grabs trol of its blood whips once more. Why did I stop it? It was going to win!

  No! I think. Remember? We ’t stab her to win. We have to knock her down.

  ht. The Aegis fot about that.

  I try t the shield back around, but Darian takes advantage of our faltered attack. She grabs the shield with one hand, holding it to the side as she pnts a kick directly into the side of my ribs. I feel something creak, then I crash into the dirt, striking my head against the ground.

  Oh! The Aegis delights. Thanks! More blood.

  I groan, my armrinding into every joint and bone as I try to roll over. The packed cy out here is a lot less fiving than the sand dunes we’d started on. Darian stalks after me, pointing her sword toward my neck. “Dead,” I already hear her say.

  A line of blood snaps around her ankle, rising from where it had fallen to the ground. Darian flinches in surprise, but not as surprised as me when the Aegis lets out a victorious cheer. HaHA! Experience defeat by means of ground!

  The whip pulls tight, yanking Darian’s foot out from under her. She flips, her sword flinging from her grasp, and sms into the ground, back first. She lets out a gasp, the air forced from her lungs. I y there panting. The Aegis preens in victory.

  A face swims into view overhead. “I think that’s enough sparing for one day,” Quell says.

  A blood whip creeps toward his ankle.

  No! The fight’s over, I say, mentally grabbing the blood in its magid f it still. This isn’t an enemy.

  The Aegis is a little disappointed. Am I quite sure this one doesn’t also o be shown proper submission?

  Very sure, I think, trying to catch my breath.

  “You guys are going to beat the crap out of each other before we even find ao fight,” Liz says, Darian a hand up. Quell offers me the same. I take it aumbles forward, very nearly pulled to the ground. The guy must not have an ounuscle on him. I wince, pushing myself up to at least give the illusion he’s helpiand, and I stagger to my feet.

  “You okay?” I ask Dariaing go of Quell to hold my side instead.

  Darian huffs out a ugh, looking at me. “I’m not the one bleeding from the head.”

  ht. I start a Coagution before I lose any more.

  “But good job,” she says. “That’s the most clever I’ve seen you fight yet. I’d call it a draw.”

  I snort. “Don’t let the Aegis hear you say that.”

  We limp bap together.

  “Here,” Ear says, handing us each a fsk of water. Then he hands me a sed one. “You’ll want to make up for that blood loss so you don’t pass out.”

  “Thanks,” I say, gratefully taking both. Darian and I colpse back around the campsite. The first band of sunlight breaks over the horizon. I wi the light and ini.

  “We’ll practice each m until you feel fortable with the shield’s abilities,” Darian says. I’m not sure if that’s meant as a promise or a threat.

  I finish off one of the waterskins in a series of unbroken gulps, gasping at the end. “Actually,” I say, wiping my mouth, “I already feel a bit better about that.”

  “Oh?” she raises an eyebrow. “That was quick.”

  “It’s my Attuned blood,” I expin. “If the Aegis uses it for the Blood Ward, I still have some trol over it. I stop it if it tries to kill someone.” Finally. Some sembnce of autonomy once more. Not everything is outside my trol. This ohing, at least, I handle.

  Darian nods, but she doesn’t look as relieved as I feel. “That’s good. What if it uses blood that’s not yours?”

  Ah. Right. “I guess I wouldn’t be able to trol it then,” I say, some of my fidence faltering.

  “trol is good,” Darian says. “But I expect it goes both ways, with you and that shield. What you really need is cooperation. Trust.”

  “Trust.” I grimace. The Crimson Aegis is clearly something else. Something that has never been a person, never experienced empathy, never uood cepts of morality. It be directed, certainly. But trusted?

  “I’m not sure if that’s possible,” I admit. I don’t even trust other people unless or until they prove they’re good for it.

  Darian shrugs. “Something to keep practig during our sparring matches.”

  Liz sighs, rolling her eyes. “Soldiers, I swear. ’t you go one day without trying to hurt each other?”

  “It’s a good workout,” I admit.

  Darian nods approvingly. “They get it.”

  “I really don’t see the appeal,” Quell says.

  “Of course not.” I look back to Darian with a joking snort. “Royals.”

  Instead of agreeing with me, Darian smiles, leaning over to hook an arm around Liz and pull her over. Liz ughs, tumbling into her arms.

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Darian’s eyes kle as she looks down at Liz. “They grow on you.”