Tassia opened her eyes to Charlus' screams. She darted out of bed and ran to his room. She pulled his door open and jumped on his bed, pulling his small body closer to her.

Tassia tried to hold his struggling body in place as she brushed his hair from his face. "Darling. Darling, wake up. You're safe. I'm here with you."

Charlus' thrashing stilled and he opened his eyes to see his sister staring at him, her brown hair falling out of the piece of cloth it was fastened with. Tears slipped out of his eyes as he drew himself into a sitting position, his arms wrapped around Tassia. "I had a nightmare."

"I know, darling." Tassia kissed his slightly damp forehead. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Charlus shook his head and pushed himself closer to Tassia, a sob erupting from him. There was a soft knock on the door and it opened to reveal Aleskand. His hair was messy and he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the lamp Tassia had lit in the room.

"I heard screaming. I went to your room but no one was there so I came here."

Tassia shifted herself so there was room for Alek to sit next to her. She wrapped her arm around him when he did, and he moved so he was sitting on half her lap with Charlus' legs on him. "Charlus had a nightmare."

Aleksand looked at Charlus and reached over and held his hand. "Do you want me to tell you a story?"

Tassia shook her head and chided her brother. "It's late and you had a long day. You both sleep and I'll tell you the story."

Charlus nodded. "Can you stay up to make sure the monsters don't come?"

Tassia was exhausted but she nodded and forced her lips into a smile. "Of course."

Aleskand looked at her. "When Charlus goes to sleep, can you tell me a story too?"

Charlus and Aleskand were polar opposites. Charlus liked light-hearted romantic stories with happy endings that lulled him to sleep while Aleskand loved gore and cliff-hangers so he could make up his own endings as he went to bed.

Tassia nodded before starting Charlus' story. "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away..."

The next morning Tassia could barely open her eyes. She asked the house for coffee and felt incredibly stupid asking a house for a cup of coffee until it arrived. She had four cups until the house refused to give her anymore and she dumped her face into a bucket of ice water.

When she finally felt like she wasn't going to drop, she opened her closet and wore pants with a soft blue t-shirt that ended right below her belly button. She had to admit, the Court of Dreams' attire was significantly more comfortable than the rags she was used to wearing.

There was a knock on the door and Tassia opened it to see a small servant with pointed ears and faint green skin. "Hello, missus. I am Kreel. Lord Rhysand said that I would be attending to your and your brothers' needs for however long you require me. Lord Rhysand requests your presence in the dining room for breakfasts with messers Aleskand and Charlus in 30 minutes."

Tassia nodded, slightly dazed that she had a servant. "Thank you, Kreel. And you can call us by our first names, please. There's no need for such formalities."

Kreel nodded and bowed her head. "Thank you mi- Tassia."

Tassia went back to Charlus' room that she had left an hour ago to shower and smiled when she saw her brothers wrapped around each other. She woke them up and gave Aleskand some clothes to change into after he showered before helping Charlus into the rather large bathtub.

She washed Charlus' hair and helped him into his clothes before walking to the dining room with him and Alek.

The others were already seated and Tassia slipped into her seat after apologizing for being late. Charlus was already talking to Amren about a gem that was as black as night while Alek was staring at Cassian's wings.

The meal was eggs and porridge. Right after Tassia had finished her food, Rhys started speaking. "You will be training with Cassian and me today. Cassian shall teach you the basics about fighting and I'm going to teach you how to shield your mind."

Tassia nodded and looked at her brothers. "What about them?"

"They can start school today. Mor can take the three of you there."

"Do they need to take anything?" Tassia asked, looking at Rhys.

"No. The school will provide everything. I told the staff that they would start today."

"Can we go now?" Aleskand asked, tugging on Mor's sleeve.

"Yeah! I want to go to school!" Charlus exclaimed looking at Mor.

"Sure, if your sister's okay with it."

Tassia nodded and Mor clenched Charlus and Aleskand's hands and Tassia held Mor's shoulders as they winnowed to the school.

"Alright." Cassian was pacing in front of Tassia, his long hair tied back with a strap of leather. She had just finished the warm-up exercises that he had set for her. "Now, I know you can hunt but I'm not sure where you are at fighting. So we'll start off with the basics. Sounds good?" Tassia nodded absently. "Okay."

He paused before continuing, gesturing to the path that wrapped itself around the house and the mountain. "Run along this path in a circle. I'm going to time you."

Tassia nodded and started running after Cassian counted down. Her limbs started aching after a few minutes and her breaths came in harsh pants. She was more out of shape than she had thought.

She ran at different speeds, running faster when she felt energized until she was sprinting and slower when she couldn't run anymore and was practically walking. When she saw Cassian, she sprinted the last few meters and collapsed on the ground, panting hard.

"An hour and 27 minutes," Cassian walked over to her, his dark hair shining in the sun, "that's quite decent."

Tassia just lay there gasping for breath until Cassian handed over a bottle of water. "Drink. You'll need to keep drinking throughout the day to keep from being dehydrated."

Tassia nodded and drank the whole bottle in one go. When Cassian gave her another one, she poured it over herself, relishing in the cold liquid.

"I'm out of shape. Charlus was sick so I had to take care of him and couldn't practice anything."

Cassian looked at her, his hazel eyes unreadable, "Rhys said that you have a two and a half hour session with me, so we'll cool down and end it here for today."

Tassia dragged herself into a sitting position and tried to stabilize her breathing. She got to her feet and almost collapsed. Cassian wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Crap. I didn't realize it would be this tiring for you."

"I ran for an hour and a half straight, Cass." She poked his arm muscles. "Not all of us are built like you."

"That's for damn sure," He grinned at her before letting go of her and stepping away. "You need to eat more. You're so thin I can almost see your ribs through your shirt." Tassia scowled and moved her arm to wrap around her stomach, albeit self-consciously as Cassian continued. "I'll have to set a personalized meal plan for you to get to a healthy weight."

Tassia nodded and shifted, slightly uncomfortable with Cassian talking about her body. He noticed it and immediately changed the topic. "Okay, I'm going to show you some exercises and I want you to follow me to the best of your abilities."

"Aye, aye captain."

Tassia took a freezing cold shower and was feeling quite awake as she went to lunch. After that, she followed Rhys into a library of sorts where he sat down on the floor and gestured to her to do the same.

She felt Rhys enter her mind and stiffened involuntarily. Alright. Now push me out.

Tassia let herself get lost in her mind and she felt the room she was in fade away as she entered a different world. It was a forest but not one she recognized ever being in. She felt something was wrong and followed the feeling until she saw Rhys or a figure she assumed to be Rhys standing next to a group of trees. It's good that you can figure out where I am. Now, push me out.

How?

It differs from person to person. Try imagining a gust of wind slamming into me and pushing me away.

Tassia closed her eyes and felt her real-life fingers clench in concentration. She tried to imagine the wind pushing against the figure in front of her but when she opened them, there wasn't even a faint breeze.

Tassia frowned and pictured a wall of pure black adamant wrapping around her mind. The ground erupted and the wall grew until she was trapped inside it. She could still look outside and saw the figure standing at the edge of the wall. She thought of the wall expanding, growing outwards until it pushed against Rhys and he left her mind.

When she opened her eyes in the real world, she was breathing hard and there was a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead. She kept her walls raised and looked at Rhys who nodded.

"That was quite good. Now, unless I ask you, I want your walls to be raised." Tassia nodded and Rhysand gestured to the library around him. "Choose a book and read it. At random points of time, I'm going to tell you to raise or lower your shield."

Tassia nodded and got up, grabbing a book that looked interesting. She curled up on the floor and began reading about gods and demigods.

"Lower your shields." Tassia didn't hear Rhysand and kept reading the book. "Lower your shields, Tassia."

She looked up from the book and blinked, slightly disoriented. "What?"

"Lower your shields."

Tassia did it before returning back to the book and getting lost in the fantasy realm.

"Raise them."

Tassia looked up from her book again and glared at Rhysand. "If you're going to keep interrupting my reading, can I at least choose a worse book?"

"No." Rhysand grinned at her and Tassia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. You have to get used to doing it even if you are distracted by other things. Now raise your shields.

It was a few hours of raising and lowering her shields before Mor walked into the room and told her it was time to get her brothers from school.

They winnowed to the black and grey building and Tassia stumbled, trying her best not to puke her guts up.

Charlus' class was already let out and he was waiting for them while talking to his teacher. When he saw Tassia, his face lit up and he ran to his sister, burrowing his face into her shoulder.

"You must be the sister." Tassia looked up to see a ridiculously beautiful woman who looked around her age. She had dark skin and straight black hair with brown eyes. "I'm Kaera, Charlus' teacher."

Tassia got to her feet, Charlus gripping onto her hand like it was his lifeline. "I'm Tassia. How was he?"

Kaera looked at Charlus and bit her lip. "I don't usually talk about students in front of them. How about we meet up for a cup of coffee sometime?"

Tassia looked back at Mor who inclined her head as though to say do whatever you want. "Sure."

"Alright." A smile broke out on Kaera's face. "How does next week, Friday, 4 pm, at the cafe near the big fountain sound?"

"That sounds great!" Tassia had no idea where the cafe was but she figured she could ask Cassian or Kreel about it.

Kaera nodded. "Alright. I'll let you get on with whatever you have to do."

Tassia and Charlus walked back to Mor who was shaking her head at the girl. "What?"

"You've been here for less than 36 hours and you've already gotten a date."

Tassia blushed and turned to where she was talking to Kaera and shook her head. "It's not a date. I doubt people spend dates talking about how their little brothers are doing in school."

Mor winked at her, "No, but they do go to the cafe near the big fountain which is the main first date spot in the city."

Tassia's eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"Do you even like girls?"

"I don't know."

Mor laughed, "Well, now's probably the perfect time to find out."

Tassia winced and looked at Charlus. "Sorry, buddy. Your teacher's really pretty."

"I know! I told her all about you and she said you sound like an incredible person." Tassia blushed again.

"Tell me everything you told her."

Charlus opened his mouth to reply but he was interrupted by Aleskand running and jumping on Tassia who stumbled backward before wrapping her arms around her brother. "Hey, darling. You missed me, huh?"

Aleskand shook his head and refused to move away from Tassia. "I don't want to go to school anymore."

Tassia knelt down and gently moved her brother away so she could see his face. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

Aleskand shook his head, his voice laced with disgust. "I learned about something called math."

Tassa tilted her head back and barked a laugh, "Wait 'till you learn about letters in math."

"You're joking, right? Tell me you're joking, Tas." Aleskand's eyes were wide and he was clutching the bottom of her shirt.

Tassia debated telling her brother the truth before deciding against it, letting him spend a few more years in blissful ignorance. "Of course, I'm joking, Alek. Anyone who adds letters to math is both crazy and a sadist."