Chapter 35: The Space Between the Sparks
847 Words
The training courtyard was quiet in a different way this time.
Not peaceful.
Measuring.
Diana could feel it the moment she stepped in—like the air itself was watching her, waiting to see what she would do wrong today.
Or right.
She rolled her shoulders once, exhaling slowly. The early morning sun painted long golden lines across the stone floor, and faint residual magic still lingered in the training seals from the previous day.
She wasn’t alone.
Dylan stood near the far edge of the courtyard, half in shadow, half in light. As usual, he didn’t announce his presence. He didn’t need to. The space around him already shifted slightly, like reality adjusted itself when he was near.
Diana noticed it anyway.
She hated that she noticed it.
“Why are you here again?” she asked, crossing her arms as she walked to the center seal.
Dylan’s gaze lifted slowly. Calm. Unbothered. Focused.
“I was asked to observe your stabilization progress,” he replied simply.
“By who?”
“Maltida.”
Diana narrowed her eyes slightly. “Of course.”
A faint pause passed between them.
Then Dylan stepped forward, stopping just outside the training circle.
“You’re tense,” he said.
“I’m always tense in this place,” she replied immediately.
“That’s not what I meant.”
That made her pause.
Diana exhaled through her nose, forcing her focus back to the seal beneath her feet. “Then what do you mean?”
Dylan didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he studied her like he was reading something she didn’t know she was writing.
Then, quietly—
“You’re fighting something inside yourself before you even begin.”
That landed too close.
Diana stiffened slightly. “I’m not fighting anything.”
A beat.
Dylan tilted his head just slightly. “Then why does your energy hesitate before it rises?”
Silence.
That was the problem.
He noticed things too quickly.
Diana stepped fully into the training circle, ignoring the slight tightening in her chest. “Let’s just get this over with.”
The seal activated beneath her feet.
Light flickered.
Energy responded.
Diana closed her eyes and tried to draw power the way she had been taught—slow, measured, controlled.
At first, it worked.
The energy rose smoothly, steady and bright.
Then—
A flicker.
Not pain.
Instinct.
Something deeper in her reacted before she could stop it.
The energy spiked slightly.
The seal stuttered.
Diana’s breath caught.
“Stop—” Maltida’s voice echoed faintly from the side.
But Dylan moved first.
Not rushing.
Not grabbing.
Just stepping closer.
His voice was calm, but it cut through everything else.
“Don’t suppress it,” he said.
Diana opened her eyes sharply. “What?”
“You’re trying to force control,” he continued. “That’s why it fractures.”
The energy around her pulsed again, unstable.
Diana gritted her teeth. “And what, I just let it take over?”
Dylan met her gaze directly now.
For the first time, something in his expression shifted—subtle, but real.
“You let it exist without fear.”
That sentence hit differently.
Diana froze for half a second.
The energy wavered.
Then stabilized—not because she forced it, but because she stopped resisting it completely.
The seal steadied.
The light softened.
Silence returned.
Diana exhaled slowly.
“…That actually worked,” she admitted quietly.
Dylan didn’t move away.
“I know.”
That small confidence irritated her slightly.
She turned to him. “You always talk like you’ve already seen everything.”
A faint pause.
Then he replied, “Not everything.”
That made her stop.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
The wind moved gently across the courtyard, brushing between them like it didn’t know whether to interrupt or stay.
Diana shifted slightly. “You’re not what I expected.”
Dylan’s gaze sharpened faintly. “What did you expect?”
She hesitated.
Then shrugged. “I don’t know. Less… quiet.”
A faint flicker—almost amusement—passed through his eyes.
“You talk enough for both of us,” he said.
That got a short, reluctant laugh out of her.
And for a second—
The tension didn’t feel like pressure.
It felt like awareness.
Too close.
Too sharp.
Too noticeable.
Diana looked away first.
“…We’re not doing this again tomorrow,” she muttered.
Dylan’s voice followed calmly.
“We will.”
That made her pause mid-step.
“…Excuse me?”
“You need consistency,” he said simply. “Not avoidance.”
Diana turned slightly. “Who decided that?”
Dylan’s gaze held hers.
“I did.”
Silence.
Not angry.
Not tense.
Just charged in a way neither of them acknowledged out loud.
Diana exhaled slowly and turned away again, hiding the slight heat creeping up her neck.
“…Annoying dragon king,” she muttered under her breath.
From behind her, his voice came quietly.
“I heard that.”
“I know.”
And somehow—
That was exactly the problem.
- Writer
