The Song of the Wind by Nicolette Andrews

Author:Nicolette Andrews [Andrews, Nicolette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Magpie Publishing
Published: 2018-05-18T05:00:00+00:00

27

They returned to the White Palace and Suzume was blessedly saved from having to report to the emperor. On her first night back, she went straight to bed and would have slept the next day through had Ryuu not been there early the next morning, dragging her out of bed for training. She fought against him for as long as she could, because the very idea of using her power and potentially opening herself up not only to Kazue but also Hisato terrified her. But as he loved to remind her, it was the emperor's orders that she should train and so she went to the temple with him.

When she arrived at the temple, the old man, Souta was waiting to greet her. She was surprised to see him there, he'd come with them to the palace, she knew, but he wasn't alone either and he looked nothing like the infirmed old man she had first met. He stood upright and had the physique of a man a quarter of his age. From his confident stance, she would have mistaken him for a man closer to her own age, if not for the gray hair which he had tied in a top knot. Standing just behind him was Hikaru, also wearing the sparring clothes.

Being this close to two other pieces of Kazue's soul left Suzume with a buzzing feeling in her skin, as if every sense was alive. Hikaru must have felt it too, because he met her gaze and she saw concern there. Ashamed of her own lack of control, she turned away from him.

"I hope you're ready to work," the old man said with a smile. Either he did not feel what they did, or he was ignoring it.

"What are you doing here?" Suzume asked, before glancing sidelong at Ryuu.

"I thought I told you when we first met, I'm going to train you how to better control your powers."

"Then why is Hikaru here?"

"Master Souta thinks I need some additional training as well." Hikaru rubbed the back of his neck as if he was embarrassed. Unlike Suzume, who'd only discovered her power recently, Hikaru had been training at the White Temple for the past twenty years and before that he'd been a traveling exorcist with his wife, Rin, for centuries. If the old man thought he needed training, what did he think of Suzume's failed attempts to control her power?

"But Hikaru can control his powers," Suzume said, looking with suspicion between the three of them. Hikaru’s gaze was wandering, and the old man was smiling in a knowing way. As if there was some secret all of them shared that she wasn't in on.

"His problem is he's too quick to sacrifice himself." The old man pointed at Hikaru with a long, knobby finger.

Hikaru lowered his head as if chastised.

Then the old man pointed at Suzume. "Your problem is you take too much."

"Hey!" Suzume snapped.

The old man turned his back to them and started walking away, ignoring Suzume’s glare. "It is the nature of your elements to balance one another.

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