D E L P H I N I U M

I flinched as Orion reached out and hit me across the face.

"You failed me. I let you resume your old position and yet your targets still live."

Kneeling before him, I desperately rambled, "I'm sorry, Unul Exaltat. It will not happen again, you have my word." I hated knowing how I'd disappointed him. I'd sooner die than willingly come back empty-handed.

"It seems to me that your word means nothing, Reaper." His booted foot lashed out to kick me in the side and I grunted. But I did not move from his feet, for I knew I deserved it. He could kill me for failing him and I'd gladly take it. I would drive my own knife through my heart right now if it was what he wished.

"I've already dealt with Benton. He also said that those wretched criminals were able to come together and blind you, rendering your abilities useless."

I looked back up at him. "That is true." It was hard to say, hard to admit they'd warded us off.

His hand came down to hit me across the face again. I let the blood trickle from my nose, not bothering to wipe it yet because I was unsure if he'd want to hit me again.

"You will be punished for your failure, Delphinium. For letting your old teammates overpower you, you will be blindfolded and placed against my other children. If you win, we will make new plans for you. If not..." My master paused. "The others will not show mercy to you." He addressed the soldiers I'd entered with. "Take her downstairs."

I let the soldiers escort me to one of the large training rooms, a familiar place. This was where I'd been trained by Tsolvskein, my old teacher. It was where I'd become a brilliant weapon in Orion's hand.

Against the wall, standing at attention with straight spines and expressionless faces, were Orion's other children. Twelve in all, not including myself. Long ago, they had been initiates—all of them orphans but Benton and me—that Orion had seen potential in at a very young age, so he'd called them to work under his just and merciful throne. He'd given us a second chance.

I scanned their forms. Four muscular males that towered over me, one scrawny one with a knife-like gaze, two small twin females and three more of larger stature. And Benton Shires. When I'd first come here, I'd been unsure. Many of the other children had been as well. Their level of loyalty to Orion was unknown to me.

The cold metal mask was placed securely over my face and I was shoved into the center of the ring. I had no weapons, no way to use my power. But I was my own weapon. I needed no other.

When the soldiers stepped back, they muttered the signal in Romanian and a few of Orion's children lunged for me. Four, by the sounds of their footfalls. I was hit in the head and spine once and twice in the stomach before I was able to gauge their positions and lash out. As hard as I could, I elbowed the largest one in the face, my bone digging into his eye socket. A punch in the face and a sweep of the legs knocked another. One was trying to get their hands around my throat, so I grabbed ahold of their wrists, yanked them forward and felt the satisfying crack of a face against my metal mask.

More approached. I couldn't tell how many were still conscious. They were all trying to go for me at once, yanking back my braided hair, throwing blows for my abdomen and throat, wanting me to fail. But I would not. I simply ducked and dodged all the incoming blows I could and swung my fists for anything that moved. They connected with faces, arms, stomachs, chests—anything I could get. There was a cruel smile under the mask when a nose broke under my knuckles. It widened as my fist connected with a throat and a girl choked for breath.

A small knife sank into my thigh and pain shot up my leg. I'd noticed earlier one of the twins had been hiding it. Someone behind me hit my spine. Blood dripped from my face both underneath the mask and outside of it. Some of it mine, most of it not.

I dragged the knife out, savoring the way it felt while sliding out of my injured flesh. In one solid movement, I lashed out with it for the one who'd stabbed me, simultaneously swinging my leg out backward to hit whoever was standing behind me in the center of the chest. Both blows landed. Whirling, I sank the knife into a small body—probably the other twin. Not even bothering to pull my arm back to yank it from the cut, I simply slashed it out and it found a third target in someone trying to creep up behind me.

There were only a few left now. Maybe two. They fought with the brilliance and ferocity of any of Orion's assassins. But I was better. A hand yanked my hair back again, trying to get me down. So I grabbed ahold of it, spun around, and slammed the arm against my bent knee. Bone broke. A scream.

I moved on to the last one. After taking a few hard hits, I was able to gauge where they stood. My free hand shot out to where the throat should be. Squeezing tight, I cut off all air flow. My opponent struggled and fought, but I settled them with a few quick jabs of my knife. I didn't let go until the body went limp and unconscious—Orion would never forgive me if I killed any of his children. But they would be severely wounded.

No one came for me. I stepped back, forcing down the weakness in my legs from fighting for so long. "I did it," I told whoever was listening in a voice stronger than steel. "I'm done."

Soon, I was before my master again, the mask removed. We were back in the throne room and I kneeled before the throne, sprayed with blood over my black clothing. Dropping my head in a bow, I told him, "I was victorious, master. I fought well for you."

"So I heard." He hardly sounded impressed. "My other children will take several days to heal, especially when we still do not hold the healer under our power yet. I have half a mind to send you to retrieve her from Neve Baqri."

Orion cocked his head and watched me for a moment, eyes indistinguishable under his black mask. "Both you and Benton have proved unable to take care of your former teammates. And they were able to take advantage of your weakness, your one weakness."

I was silent. They'd known I couldn't use my power without vision and had used that to win. If only I could be blinded and still telekinetically move things...

My master had the same thought. "You will begin training now with Ronashki, your new teacher." I hated how he stressed the word new— for I knew I'd killed Tsolvskein, my old teacher, in the fire. "He will teach you to use your abilities purely through sense."

"Yes, Unul Exaltat. I am glad to do it."

"But before that, go see the medics about your medicine. It's been seven days."

I nodded in obedience. Every seven days, I was injected with a drug that would greaten my healing ability. It was a new invention to make Imperium soldiers even more unstoppable, even better than normal humans.

"Now go. And do not disappoint me in training, Delphinium. I will eradicate this weakness in you."

I rose to my feet and bowed before him. His mercy would not go unreturned.

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

Ronashki's voice filled my ears. "Stop fighting it, let your senses take over." He was circling me, from the sound of it.

I kneeled on the ground, a bag over my head. My goal was to shatter a bottle sitting before me. It had been two days since I'd started. So far, I had made no progress.

"Focus, Delphinium. You need to retrain your brain to sense out objects around you without vision."

I'm trying, was what I wanted to say. But the guilt stopped me. I was the Reaper, Imperium's best assassin, and I couldn't even shatter a bottle with my mind?

I was trying. For my master, I was trying as hard as I could. For two days, I kept waiting for the pull deep inside my body that came whenever I was moving an object with my mind. But it never happened.

"This is completely different than normal," I told him, unsure of where he stood in the room. "I don't know how to start." It was shameful to admit.

"It is indeed very different than how you're used to carrying out your power. But it is still the same power that lies within you. Use that power to sense your surroundings. Once you feel the bottle before you, you will be able to break it."

I was silent for a long time. My vision was darkness, so black that I felt as if I was inside a void. My eyes closed. I went deep inside my mind, so far that I wondered if I was near the source of my power. Once I focused hard enough, I tried to harness my power outward the same way I did when I could see.

There it was. There it was. For the first time in two days I'd actually gotten somewhere.

For a split second, I could feel the room around me. I could feel every object in the room, everything that was capable of being moved by my thoughts. Ronashki was nowhere to be seen inside my mind, but I wasn't surprised; I'd never been able to manipulate humans or any other creatures.

"I had it," I whispered. "It was there. But only for a moment."

"Very good. Do it again."

I focused every part of myself into feeling everything in the room again. Again, I did my best to use my power without seeing.

It happened again. Inside my mind, I could feel the room itself, clearer this time. For a moment, I could feel the glass bottle on the floor before me. Then it all went away.

"Now focus solely on the bottle," Ronashki's detached voice said. "Focus all of your power onto it. Ignore everything else."

So I did what he commanded. There it was again, the skeleton of the room inside my mind and all around me at the same time. It was almost overpowering, seeing everything all at once. Too much input. But I sought the bottle before me, obeying Ronashki and ignoring the rest of the room.

I felt it. Felt the cold glass, felt the curve of the edge. It was almost as if I was reaching forward and physically touching it.

Then I forced it to explode.

From the smashing sound of glass falling all around us, I knew I'd done it.