Page 17

Mocking me.

I saw the similarities then. The ones Gerarda had noticed. His hood was fashioned exactly like a Shade’s. Like mine. His cloak was made of different material, somehow darker than my own. He even wore black trousers and a tunic.

I would have to ask about his tailor before I killed him.

“Glad to hear my message was received,” I said. I twirled my left blade, feeling the weight of it on my wrist.

“It would be impolite to ignore a request from the king’s Blade,” he said with a shrug. I cracked my neck, waiting for him to take a step toward me.

“You’re eager to die?” I paused my breath to listen for accomplices hiding in the shadows, but I could only hear his heartbeat and mine. My nose wrinkled when I realized mine was beating faster than his.

He let out a chuckle as if he could read my thoughts.

“Are you sure youcankill me?” he asked, slowly pulling his sword out of its holster.

He took a single step toward me.

“Are you so sure I won’t?” I challenged, lifting my blades.

“May the worthy win,” he said.

Then he charged.

Six steps into his run he leaped. Arms above his head, he drove his sword toward me. I rolled out of the way, dodging his swing. I spun on the ball of my foot. My blade swept his legs.

He lunged backward, but I nicked his boot. A thin slice in the leather, not deep enough to cut his skin. I stood as he swung again.

I ducked and jabbed with my blades. He jumped back.

I stepped closer, shortening the room he had to swing his sword. Every strike would be a risk with me so close.

He swung and I blocked it. His sword hung in midair between the cross of my blades. We stood frozen, our breaths melding together. He was big—much bigger—than me.

He swung again. I darted to the side, making two quick swipes with my blades.

He jumped over them. He was quick for someone so big.

“It’s been more than a minute and you have yet to draw blood,” he teased.

“Again, you’re so eager to die,” I said. Each breath burned my throat and my head throbbed.

“Death is the only certainty in this life,” he said, changing his sword hand as we circled each other. I stepped back. “I expected more from the king’s Blade. I was dodging blows like that as an apprentice.”

I snarled. I launched myself at him with full force, but he matched every swing, every strike.

It was like a dance as we moved across the floor. Circling each other’s bodies. Dodging life-ending blows and fielding our own.

He swung. I tripped and his blade fell only inches from my neck.

I could see the fog of my breath on the steel.

I dodged a second swing and widened the space between us. He rushed forward. His sword crashing down toward me.

I ducked under his arm and ran toward one of the benches. I could hear his ragged breath behind me.

I jumped off the back of a pew, flipping through the air above the Shadow’s head. He turned too slowly. I kicked his wrist, and his sword flew across the room.

He didn’t reach for his weapon but moved toward me. He grabbed my wrist and twisted the blade out of my hand. I swung the other at his neck. He caught my forearm mid-swing. I flinched. I could feel the bruise already forming where his fingers met my skin.