By Friday, I'd managed to go an entire day without exploding anything.
Okay, that's a lie.
I'd exploded one pen, but it was a cheap pen, and it happened in the privacy of the bathroom, so I was counting it as a win.
The training sessions were helping. Four nights of Azryth barking instructions while I attempted to not destroy increasingly expensive objects, I was getting better, slowly, very slowly.
Thursday night I'd managed to levitate a coffee mug for thirty seconds without incident. Azryth had actually said "adequate," which from him was basically a standing ovation.
Friday's training session started normally enough.
"Tonight we're working on directed force," Azryth announced, standing in the center of the gym mats. "Not levitation, actual offensive projection."
"Offensive like attacking?"
"Offensive like defending yourself." He gestured to a training dummy in the corner. "That demon courier who delivered the poison was a low-level, barely threatening, but there are worse things that might come for you. You need to be able to protect yourself when I'm not available."
"You're always available, we're literally bound together."
"We're bound, not conjoined. I have meetings, business, situations where you'll be alone." His eyes flickered. "And I need to know you can handle a threat for the thirty seconds it might take me to reach you."
The concern in his voice was becoming less subtle every day, the binding was definitely working on him, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
"Okay," I said. "How do I... project force?"
"Same principle as levitation, but instead of lifting, you're pushing." He moved to stand beside the training dummy. "The energy builds in your core, travels through your arms, releases in a concentrated burst. Try it."
I focused on the dummy, felt the warmth in my chest that I was learning to recognize as infernal energy, pushed it down my arms, through my hands, toward the target.
A small burst of force hit the dummy, it rocked slightly.
"Stronger," Azryth instructed. "That wouldn't stop a determined attacker."
I tried again, more force this time, the dummy fell over.
"Better. Again."
We practiced for an hour.
The dummy became my nemesis, I knocked it over, scorched it, once accidentally set it on fire (Azryth put that out with alarming casualness), and finally managed to blast a hole clean through its torso.
"Adequate," Azryth said, examining the destroyed dummy. "Your control is improving significantly."
"I destroyed it."
"In a controlled manner, that's the point." He pushed the dummy aside. "Now try it on a moving target."
"A what?"
"You need to practice against something that fights back." He moved to the center of the mats. "Attack me."
I stared at him. "You're joking."
"I don't joke about training."
"You want me to attack you with the power that just punched through a training dummy."
"I'm significantly more durable than a training dummy." He settled into a fighting stance. "And you need to learn to direct force at something that's actively trying to evade. Come on."
"This is a terrible idea."
"It's not, now attack me before I get bored and make this harder for you."
I focused on him, on his chest specifically, felt the energy building.
"Not my chest," he corrected. "You'll crack ribs, aim for my shoulder. Non-lethal but still effective."
Right. Non-lethal. Great.
I aimed for his left shoulder and pushed.
He sidestepped easily, the blast of force hit the wall behind him.
"Too slow, I saw it coming from your stance." He moved slightly. "Again, faster."
I tried again. He dodged again.
"Your tells are obvious, you tense your shoulders before releasing. Control that."
Again. Dodge.
"You're hesitating, commit to the strike."
Again. Dodge.
"Stop thinking about hurting me, I'm a centuries-old demon, you can't hurt me."
That was probably true, but something about the dismissal sparked annoyance in my chest.
I couldn't hurt him? We'd see about that.
I focused harder, built more energy, aimed for his shoulder and released without hesitating.
He dodged, but barely, the force clipped his arm, spinning him slightly.
"Better!" He actually sounded pleased. "Again, more of that."
The annoyance was building into something else. Frustration, anger at being patronized, anger at being bound, anger at this whole situation.
The energy responded to my emotions, growing stronger.
"Riven," Azryth's voice held a warning note. "Control your emotions, don't let them control the power."
But it felt good, letting the anger fuel the energy, letting it build and build and build.
"Riven. Stop."
I released.
The blast of force was bigger than anything I'd produced before, a visible wave of distorted air and crackling energy that shot across the gym.
Azryth tried to dodge.
He wasn't fast enough.
The force hit him square in the chest and launched him backward, he flew across the gym, hit the wall hard enough to crack the concrete, and dropped to the floor in a heap.
For a second, everything was silent except for my ragged breathing.
Then the reality of what I'd just done hit me.
"Oh my god." I ran across the gym, dropping to my knees beside him. "Oh my god, Azryth, I'm sorry, I didn't mean.."
He was staring at the ceiling, eyes wide. Not with pain, but with shock.
Pure, genuine shock.
"You..." He sat up slowly, touching his chest where the blast had hit. "You actually hit me."
"I'm so sorry.."
"You knocked me into a wall." He looked at me, and I realized his expression wasn't anger, it was... surprise? Wonder? "Full force, unrestrained, and you actually.."
"I didn't mean to! You said I couldn't hurt you, and I got mad, and the energy just.."
"Riven." He grabbed my shoulders, and his eyes were practically glowing. "That was extraordinary."
"What?"
"Mortal magic users train for years to generate that level of force, you've been at this for less than a week." He stood, pulling me up with him, his hands still on my shoulders. "How much energy did you channel?"
"I don't know! I wasn't measuring, I was just angry!"
"Anger." He looked thoughtful. "Strong emotion amplifies the power, I should have anticipated that, I should have warned you about emotional triggers."
"Are you okay? I threw you into a wall. There's a crack in the concrete."
"I'm fine, more than fine." He was examining me now, like I was a fascinating puzzle. "The binding is integrating faster than I projected, you're developing power at an accelerated rate."
"That doesn't sound good."
"It's remarkable." His grip on my shoulders tightened. "But also dangerous, uncontrolled power of that magnitude could level a building."
The weight of that statement sank in, I could level a building. Me, data analyst Riven Kael who'd spent his whole life being aggressively unremarkable.
"I need to stop training," I said. "This is too dangerous."
"You need to train more." His voice was firm. "Now more than ever, that level of power needs discipline and control, without it, you're a threat to everyone around you."
"Including you."
"Especially me." But he smiled when he said it, actually smiled, small, barely there, but real. "Though I have to admit, being knocked into a wall by my accidentally powerful spouse is a first."
Spouse. He said it so casually like it was normal, like we were actually married and not just magically imprisoned together.
"This is serious," I said, but there was no heat in it. "All of this is insane."
"Yes." He released my shoulders, stepping back. "But you're handling it remarkably well for someone who spent years suppressing any hint of supernatural ability."
"I'm not handling it well, I just knocked you through a wall."
"And maintained enough control that you didn't kill me, that's handling it well." He moved back to the center of the mats. "Again."
"What? No. Absolutely not."
"Come on, you need to learn to generate that level of force intentionally, not just when you're angry." He settled into his stance. "Again, Riven. And this time, try not to crack the wall, the contractors are getting suspicious."
"You're insane."
"Probably." That smile again. "Now attack me, and make it count."
***
Two hours later, I'd knocked him into walls three more times, scorched his shirt (he took it off, which was distracting and probably a violation of workplace safety), and once managed to create a blast strong enough that it knocked us both down.
That last one had ended with us on the mats, me on top of him, both breathing hard, staring at each other.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then Azryth cleared his throat. "That was too much force, you need to dial it back."
"Yes, too much." I scrambled off him, putting distance between us.
"We're done for tonight," Azryth said, standing and brushing off his pants. "You've made significant progress."
"Very significant, I assaulted you repeatedly."
"In a controlled training environment, that's good." He grabbed a towel, wiped sweat from his face. "Your power is developing faster than expected, we'll need to train daily now, possibly twice daily."
"Twice daily of me throwing you into walls?"
"I can take it." He looked at me, and something in his expression made my breath catch. "And I'd rather you learn control by practicing on me than by accidentally hurting someone you can't defend yourself against."
There it was again, that concern, that protectiveness.
The binding pulsed warmly, pleased.
"Thank you," I said quietly.
"You're adapting to an impossible situation with remarkable resilience." He moved toward the door, paused. "That blast that knocked me into the wall? I'm... impressed."
He left before I could respond.
I stood alone in the gym, staring at the crack in the wall where I'd thrown a demon lord, and tried to process the fact that Azryth Valek was impressed by me.
"I really didn't sign up for this," I whispered.
But the words felt more like a mantra than a complaint now.
A reminder of where I'd started, not where I was.
And where I was... was standing in a gym, having just knocked a demon into a wall, being trained by someone who was starting to look at me like I was something other than an inconvenience.
The sigil on my wrist glowed steady and bright.
I touched it, feeling the warmth.
Maybe I hadn't signed up for this.
But maybe, just maybe, I was starting to sign up for it now.