#Chapter 41: Barbaric Beauty

Raven The morning sun had barely crested over the castle walls when Ember and I made our way to the training yard. I’d hardly slept at all last night, tossing and turning after my little late night run-in with Hannah. Ember was still watching me out of the corners of her eyes, clearly waiting for me to elaborate as to why I had woken her to help me build a barricade in the middle of the night. “Are you going to tell me what happened now?” she asked, tossing me a short practice sword for today’s session. “Oh, not much.” I shrugged, trying to sound casual. “Just a little chat with our favorite person.” Ember’s eyes narrowed. “Are you referring to Hannah?” I nodded. “She cornered me last night. With a knife. Said a few things about me being weak, useless… you know, the usual.” We went through some warm-up exercises as I explained last night’s little incident. But to my surprise, instead of looking concerned, Ember snorted—actually snorted—and a laugh es