Josephine's voice kills any man who hears it-except for the assassin sent to capture her for the king that's been chasing her all her life...but what happens when he decides he doesn't want to hand her over and keep her for himself instead?
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"Close your eyes, take three deep breaths, and ground yourself to the land beneath your feet as you feel its magical pull to your body."
The whistle of the wind harmonized on a flurried breeze as it swept through the trees and bounced and danced along the walls of the mountain faces carved into homes and other buildings.
"Are you concentrating, Princess?"
I ignored Soraya's commands and attempted to relax into my spot on the ground, legs crossed at the ankle while my hands reached into the verdant grass before me, fingers curling and squeezing fresh soil while the 'power' from the land was supposed to travel up and through me like a conduit.
Much like how the Sirens had given me their own source of energy when my powers had sought out the missing girl, the land was supposedly tied to the mysticism of Hefeta, and therefore a possible source for me to draw upon in order to exert my force without being in immediate danger so that I could practice and hone my 'skill'.
When I mentioned to Soraya and Olesia that killing wasn't necessarily a skill more than it was a curse, they just scowled in the way that only a Siren could, and then that was that.
"I don't think you're concentrating hard enough. Imagine you're in battle and your voice fails you. What then?"
"Then I suppose I'll use what little military training my brother-in-law gave to me before Oren took me, and pray to the Gods that it would be enough."
A sharp sting ricocheted off of my arm, and I recoiled with a hiss, opening my golden washed eyes to find that Olesia and the others had left, possibly long ago, and found only Soraya standing in the midst of a pigmented sunset bathed in red dipped oranges, pastel pinks and lilacs.
"How did you even know that was my arm and not my face?"
"I didn't. Now focus, we only have seven days until the Summoning, and I will not have us being found unworthy by the God we intend to raise up because you were unprepared."
Soraya's unseeing eyes did, in fact, see everything she needed in order to be an excellent teacher, but I was still wishing that Olesia had chosen Inala, Erinna, Sabira, or even Oren to watch over me as I attempted something I hadn't thought possible.
They wanted me to extend the smoke from me without my ever having to sing, which was the one place that it had only ever come from in the first place.
I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull it off, however, but that didn't stop Soraya from trying with all her might to exert her force over me to keep me still and quiet and 'concentrating', however the Everworld I was supposed to be doing that.
I felt no connection to the ground below me, no spiritual energy oozing from the land which my fingertips were squishing in and out of my palms.
There was no current, no zing of power that traveled its way up my arms until it spread out with a warmth of which there was no equal just as the Siren's power had done for me.
