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I let them come to all of those conclusions, played into them whenever I could, just as Arthur had. The one thing Arthur, the Dowager, and I all agreed on—my lack of magic must be kept a secret at all costs. If the royal council, my courtiers, ifanyoneknew… it would tear the kingdom apart. Perhaps even invalidate the treaty signed by the Ancestors seven thousand years ago ending the Great War between our two kingdoms.

Lyrena parried forward, catching my blade low.

I tried to hold on, but she was strong and the angle was bad.

I had no choice. I dropped the dagger, spinning away fast before she could nick me and draw blood.

I darted around one column. I used the second so I was out of sight to pull the other dagger from its scabbard and slip it down the front of my bodice.

A benefit of having such large breasts was the gap between them. They were a hindrance to my movements most of the time. But they were also a superb hiding place.

As I stepped into the open archway between the next two pillars, I pulled one of the slender curved blades from across my back.

“Hiding?” Lyrena teased, circling her wrist rhythmically as she spoke. Her sword moved faster and faster, a dangerous spinning scythe moving closer to me with every falsely casual step she took.

I shrugged, matching her easy manner. “Do you think I ought to hide from you?”

“I think it has been a long time since you’ve been bested in the training yard. It makes you cocky,” Lyrena said. Her voice rang with sincerity.

I wondered who had been the one to knock her down a few pegs. For her sake, I hoped it had been Gawayn or Arthur, rather than Evander. He was my least favorite, and the cruelest opponent among my Goldstones by far.

But Lyrena’s assessment of me was a mistake. I wasn’t cocky, I was confident. I knew her abilities and I knew my own.

She thought I was tired.

In a second, her casual stance morphed, a battle cry tearing from her lips. She charged, hoping to catch me off balance. I’d barely slept in days, I’d already faced two opponents, I ought to have been tired—my reactions slower.

I wasn’t tired. I was wide awake, this clang of metal on metal pouring energy into me more efficiently than sleep ever would.

I waited until she was close enough to hear my sharp inhale before I dashed to the side, spinning again. Lyrena caught herself before she careened into the wall, coming up with a brutal slash I had to twist to dodge. Even so, she caught the edge of my loose gauzy trousers.

I drew her out, across the courtyard, into the middle of the ring.

She accused me of hiding? A wicked idea formed in my mind, my mouth curving as it took root.

Around and around I drove her, our feet loosening the packed red dust in the center of the courtyard. I could sense her frustration growing. She wanted this to be over. She would make her final attack soon.

I waited patiently.

And when she lifted her sword above her head to strike the powerful blow to end it all, I ducked underneath and used all the breath in my chest, blades swirling in each hand, not towards her flesh to draw blood, but across the ground and up.

The red dirt we’d kicked up in our sparring swirled into the air, clouding it instantly. Lyrena’s choking cough filled the ring. But she recognized immediately the danger of it, swallowing down dust so she was silent.

It was too late.

By the time she found me, the tip of my curved blade was pressed against her throat.

“Do you concede?” I said with mock sweetness.

She laughed, even with my blade pressed to her throat. “It seems that I have no choice, Your Majesty.”

I released her, indulging myself in the pleasure of a small smile as I sheathed my weapon and gave her a gentle shove.

“Who’s next? I won’t be the last one to be embarrassed!” Lyrena crowed, pointing her sword in a wide arc at her fellow Goldstones as well as the palace guards further back.

Not a one of them spoke out.

Evander’s nose crinkled as if he smelled something unpleasant.