“I’m not.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “You are.”
“I’m literally standing still.”
“You’re tense.”
“I can stand still and be tense at the same time.”
“That’s exactly my point.”
Despite myself, I almost laughed. Instead I forced my shoulders to loosen. The moment I relaxed, something in his expression eased too, like he’d been waiting for me to stop bracing for impact.
The warmth in my chest deepened, and then the sensation hit without warning, but it wasn’t violent like before, this felt softer.
The edges of the hall blurred for half a second, and suddenly I was standing in two places at once, the stone hall remained around me, dim and warm and glowing pale beneath my feet, but somewhere else unfolded over it.
Morning light spilled across an academy training field. Younger students
