Draven.
It was Valmora.
Her voice thundered inside my head, reverberating like a storm against stone, and I swore the air in the study shifted, heavy with her wrath.
"I will take care of her." Rhovan snarled back immediately, his voice vibrating with sharp defiance. š³šš²šš ššš»š¼š§š²š„.ššš¦
Before I could respond and even form the words boiling at the tip of my tongue, both of them vanished.
Rhovanās presence, gone. Valmoraās furious echo, gone.
I leaned back in my chair, my pulse hammering in my temples. My wolf had just cut me out. In fact, both of them had.
My teeth ground together. āWhat in the moonās name are you hiding from me, Rhovan? And Valmora... what are you planning?ā
The silence lingered, and my head felt too empty, as I fixed my eyes on the dancing firelight, and let the weight of everything settle. Pieces of a puzzle I didnāt yet understand.
Two truths formed in my mind, clear and cold.
First, Meredith had to learn control. If she couldnāt hold Valmora back when the time Rhovan all but admitted was inevitable, then Valmora would consume her, twist her, ruin her.
So, I had to train her, not just in combat, but in command of herself.
Second, I had to keep watch on Rhovan. He never responded to me. Not even when I asked what Valmora had tried to say before he silenced her, nor when I questioned why she hated him so much.
Instead, he had lured me into talking in circles for nearly an hour, feeding me fragments and evasions.
Valmoraās voice, calling him a āsneaky, lying bastardā re-echoed in my head. And she wasnāt wrong.
Rhovan was powerful, arrogant, and prideful. Too often, he wanted things his way. But for all that, he wasnāt Valmora. He wasnāt ancient, he most definitely wasnāt beyond me.
I could control him, and that was the differenceāthe safeguard.
And it was the very thing Meredith had to learn.
I drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, my fingers drumming once against the desk before I stilled them.
Yes. This would be my task now. Keep Rhovan on a leash, and make sure Meredith knew how to keep Valmora on hers.
---
~Hours Later~
The evening air hung heavy with the smell of sweat and earth. And I crossed my arms with my gaze locked on Meredith.
Dennis and Jeffery circled her slowly, each of them loose and ready, like predators stalking prey. She stood in the middle with her fists clenched, and her violet eyes alert but calm.
"Follow her rhythm," I said, my voice low but firm, meant for Dennis and Jeffery. "No sudden strikes. Allow her to block catch the flow. This is about control, not winning."
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