Raven's POV

Twelve Years Later

"Keep your head up, Aldric."

"I am keeping it up."

"No, you're not. You're just looking at your feet," I told him, adjusting my grip on the wooden sparring rod in my hand. "Your feet already know what to do, so your eyes don't belong down there at all."

Aldric straightened, his black hair falling across his forehead the same way Jaxon's always did, and tried the sequence again. He was quick, I'd give him that, but his footwork was sloppy and his left shoulder kept dropping every time he swung. Behind us, the older warriors were already deep into their own drills, the sharp...