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“Okay,” Kate said. “What does she look like so I can avoid her.”

“Good question,” he said. “Hold on.” He held out his hand and an image hovered above it. A dark-skinned woman with long black hair, glowing blue eyes and wings of pale blue ice. “This is Alsia.”

Kate stared at the image, there was something familiar about the woman but she couldn’t place her and she was certain she had never seen anyone with ice wings. She commented on that and he snorted.

“Yes, she has a human identity as well,” he said. “I won’t tell you who because I still hope I can bring her round.”

“And betraying her confidence won’t help with that.”

He nodded. “One more question what would you do if Ophelia tried to kill you.”

Kate twitched at the question. “I… Much as I dislike her I don’t think she’d murder me,” she said. “But if she did I’d defend myself. That I am sure of.”

“Even if it meant killing her.”

Kate hesitated a moment but then nodded. “Yes.” She saw him relax visibly and frowned. “You had a servant like me who refused to defend themselves?”

He nodded. “It ended badly for everyone,” he said. “I doubt it will be a problem this time. For now let’s get on with your training. I want to refine your aim so you make Ophelia think that you are trying to kill her when you’re not. You have to be a convincing threat if you are going to get her attention.”

“Oooh, that makes sense. Are we going to practice now? What if my parents wake up and find I’m gone?”

“We’ll practice in the garden,” he said. “Don’t worry no one will notice? us and I’ll keep an eye on your parents. If they start to wake up I’ll teleport you back to your room before they have chance to notice you are gone.”

“Okay,” she said and a moment later they were in the garden where several targets had already been set up.

“I also want to see if you can levitate yourself later but first…” He handed her the knives. “I want you ro throw these with your mind until you can consistently hit the bullseye dead centre. I want to see a knife in the centre of each target.”

Okay!” She levitated one of the knives at eye level before turning to face the first target.

Whoosh! The first knife shot through the air and missed the centre of the target by less than an inch. She turned her attention to each target in turn and her aim quickly improved. After she had tried with each target she recalled te knives and tried again. It took her five more circuits but she did eventually get a knife in each target in one run.

“Yes!” she punched the air.

“Well done!” Darlryan said. “Do it again.”

“Again?” Kate frowned at him. “Why?”

“I want to be sure you can do it every time.”

“Ah!” She turned her attention back to the targets and did as he said. “I do have a pretty good aim anyway, you know. Can’t I just throw them with my hands?”

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