Flashback ( PDFDrive )

And as soon as Gethen’s voice rattled through her brain, the
monster tried to stir.
“No difference with the echoes,” she said, gulping down deep
breaths to take back control. “I’m fine,” she promised Elwin. “I was
careful.”
He still insisted on checking her again, just to be sure.
“I must’ve chosen the wrong song,” Flori whispered, mostly to
herself. She stared out the windows at the darkening sky. “I’d like to
try again.”
“Not tonight,” Elwin told her.
“No,” Flori agreed, her gray eyes focusing on Sophie. “I think this
might require a new song to be written. It may take me some time,
but . . . when it’s ready, will you trust me to try it?”
“Of course,” Sophie promised.
And that seemed to settle things.
And not just with Flori’s singing.
The bodyguard debate also came to an end, with everyone agreeing
that Sophie’s first training session would be taught by Sandor and
would focus on daggers. The lesson would last one hour and one hour
only, and when it was finished, Sophie would hail Elwin to have him
come check her.
Assuming there were no setbacks, the next day she’d be allowed to
do the same, and if she made it through three days she’d be allowed to
extend her training to an hour and fifteen minutes—then to an hour
and a half if she made it another three days without problems, and to
an hour forty-five if she had three more good days after that.
It was a far cry from the intense eight-hour marathon sessions that
Sophie had originally envisioned.