Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (best adventure books to read .TXT) 📗

“I believe you,” I conceded. “That isn’t what concerns me. When our mission is over, she’ll have to give a report to Virram and his council. If she knows anything about our magic when that happens, she will tell them about it. Once they know, it’s only a matter of time until every soldier in Yoria knows. Soldiers like Jack, and his thugs.”

She put a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened, and she began to cry. I rocked forward onto my knees and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry, Lia. I really am,” I whispered softly as she cried into my shoulder. “Magic is incredible, when incredible people like you use it. But there are terrible people out there, too. I can’t allow them to learn what we know.”

We sat for a moment in silence as I scratched the back of her head with long, soothing strokes. Eventually she pulled away and looked up to me with a sniffle. “So, we can’t use any magic around her?”

“Not exactly,” I replied. “Valandra already knows I can use magic, although she doesn’t know how and to what extent. It’s fine as long as she doesn’t learn how it works.” I put on my best reassuring smile. “If she ever brings it up, I just want you to blame me, okay? Tell her I said you can’t tell her anything about it, and that she should ask me directly.”

“Okay,” she nodded. I was satisfied with how the conversation had gone, all things considered, and stood to begin preparations for our sparring match. Lia stood as well, but she caught my hand and tugged at it gently. “Lux, I’m...sorry.”

It was my turn to be confused. I turned back to her with my head cocked to one side. “What do you have to be sorry for?”

“It’s just…” she trailed off and looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry for crying all the time. I really am trying my best to get stronger, like I promised I would, but sometimes—”

I cupped the side of her face and tilted it to look at me as I leaned in close, cutting her off. “Lia, never apologize for that. Your emotions are not a weakness.” Our faces were so close that I could feel the heat from her cheeks against mine. “You are an amazing person. You are compassionate, and kind, and you actually give a damn about other people. That’s not something you should ever change. It’s one of the reasons that I lo—”

The word caught hard in my throat. Say it. I knew I had to say something, but my mind was blank apart from one word floating at the forefront. Don’t be a coward. Say it. “I-It’s one of the things that makes you who you are,” I finished awkwardly. All at once, the intimacy of the situation crashed over me. I let my hand slide from her face as I straightened and looked away, trying to hide the flush in my cheeks.

The silence that fell over the field was heavy; every second it continued felt as though a weight was stacked on my chest, threatening to crush me if I let it linger too long. “If we don’t get to training soon, we’ll be up for half the night,” I called out as I walked away from her to grab my sword. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

“But it’s already dark out,” Lia said, her voice still shaky. It was true: any sunlight that remained when we left to train had faded during our conversation, and the moon was mostly obscured by the overcast clouds above.

I drew my sword and turned to face her. “Are you making excuses to get out of practice early? We both know you can see in the dark.”

She raised an eyebrow, her face mixed somewhere between amusement and confusion. “You can’t.”

“I can’t?” I replied mockingly. “If that’s the case, maybe you’ll be able to land a few hits.” The runes on my sword flashed to life, and the surrounding field seemed to brighten. To my enhanced senses, the moon provided more than enough light to meet my needs, though everything looked smudged in shades of grey.

Lia smirked as she retrieved her sword. She pulled the weapon from its sheath and began to mutter a string of combat enhancements under her breath, but was interrupted as I lunged forward with a quick stab. “That was just a lucky strike, I guess,” I taunted as she spun away and finished casting her spells. “After all, I can’t see in the dark, right?” She returned with a flurry of blows a moment later, and our training began in earnest.

The field was filled with the sound of steel against steel for over an hour, until every muscle ached and my lungs burned. I called off the fight and we collapsed side by side in the grass, panting heavily. “That was...good work tonight. Let’s head back.”

“No magic practice?” Lia asked as she rolled onto her back and stretched.

I mirrored her movement, drawing a loud pop from both of my shoulders. “We’ll meditate before bed. Our next new lesson requires daylight. Plus, I’m tired.” We waited a few moments to regain a small portion of our strength before making the short trip back to camp. Valandra still sat in the spot we had left her in, tending the fire with a gnarled stick. “I’ll take the second watch,” I called out to her as I passed through, not pausing on my path towards the wagon. “Wake me when you’re tired.”

She nodded silently, not looking up from her current task. When we reached the wagon, Lia punched me in the shoulder. “Goodnight!” she called out to Valandra happily as she glared at me.

“Goodnight, Lia,” Valandra replied, turning to give Lia a small wave. We rounded the corner of the wagon and climbed into the back to prepare for bed. I pulled out the bedrolls from our stash