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If I had to take a guess, this was a skilled hydromancer. Manipulating the water in the air to muffle sound while fighting took an immense amount of focus and practice.Thatdid narrow my list of possible enemies a bit.

If this guy was going to hide our little skirmish, I took that as permission to go all in.

He swung wide, leaving his whole left side open for me to spin under his arm and grab the back of his hood from behind. I used it to jerk him over my shoulder, throwing his bulk as I hunched over and as he howled with pain at the chunk of hair I took with the cloak. He reached up to snatch my wrist and twist it painfully to release my grip on the fall, bringing us both to the ground in a flailing pile of jabbing elbows and thrown fists as both our swords skittered across the ground. I managed to detangle myself first and pull a smaller hunting knife from the small of myback. His hand wrapped around my ankle, trying to pull me to the ground again.

"Fuck!" I spat and swiped my knife toward his arm, cutting another long gash along his forearm that made him flinch back enough to let go of me. He was back on his own feet in the next breath and we both danced out of range from each other, chests heaving and eyes burning holes in the other’s faces.

His hood was down now, and the face it hid had me baring my teeth.

Gennel Rhen stared back at me, his blonde hair disheveled and ripped from the braid that had tied it back out of sight beneath the hood. An ugly snarl twisted his delicate features as he charged to deliver another powerful blow to my right side. That wrist throbbed painfully from where he wrenched it and made my block weak. I stumbled to the side, staggering my stance to favor that side.

“So, the head of the snake reveals itself,” I said bitterly. We circled each other in the wide alley, neither of us willing to blink or lose the advantage of distance. “I’m shocked you would do dirty work like killing me yourself.”

Gennel laughed, but it was more of a growl. “Trust me, this is too personal to let someone else do.”

“What the hell did I do? I barely fucking know you!”

“Cut the bullshit!” he roared. “A hundred years later, and you are still a fucking scourge of Ber’s earth!”

His words chilled me straight to the core, so surprised I almost broke concentration enough for him to stab me straight in the gut on his next move. I whipped my elbow up hard enough to crack his teeth together, and he stumbled back out of reach.

“What do you mean by that?” My lungs struggled to get enough air. I’m sure Gennel had something to do with that as well, making the air heavy and limited in this close space. I couldn't see it, but I was almost positive there was a sphere of hisinfluence around us that he was manipulating the water in. Too bad for him there was not much water in this hot land to use.

Gennel rubbed his jaw and turned his head to spit out a glob of blood. He must have bitten his tongue with the last blow. “My family has been looking for you for a long time, Haron. Or rather…Princept Morrette Hilj.”

So, the day has finally come.“Color me impressed,” I snapped. “I suppose you won’t be going into detail with your villainous monologue, will you?”

“Fucking spare me! The villain here isyou,you fuckingabomination!”

He lunged again, but I anticipated his emotional outburst and slid to the side just enough to step inside his left side. My blade swept across his chest as he passed by, and I spun out and away to face Gennel again. I knew it wasn’t a fatal cut. The blade didn’t have that satisfying feeling of cutting through soft flesh. It had scraped against something dense, like trying to cut a slab of rock. Briefly, I glanced down to check if the sword’s edge had been damaged. It looked fine, so I gathered Gennel did something with his hydromancy to protect himself from being cut.

He whirled to face me again, and his secret was revealed in the gaping slash of his shirt.

The complete shock I felt manifested in a barked laugh. “Looks like we both kept our secrets close to our chest…my lady.”

Where my blade had cut what I thought was skin wavered like a disturbed puddle. And beneath the watery layer was the thin cloth wraps of a chest binding. A binding that I was very familiar with in my old life, when I kept my breasts pressed tight to keep them out of the way of sword fighting and social expectations.

The fact that Highlan Gennel Rhen—supposed treasurer of all the male-run guilds in Gilamorst, and a noble on top of that—was a woman in disguise was the most twisted irony I couldimagine. If she weren’t trying to actively kill me, I would even applaud the deception.

Gennel huffed and scraped loose hair back from her snarling face. “It will not be an issue for long, because you’re not leaving this alley alive.”

The air grew heavier, to the point condensation began to collect on my exposed skin and soak through my clothes. It was starting to weigh me down, so I tossed the leather coat off my shoulders to smack against the wall behind me. “I don’t give a single fuck whether you’re a man or woman. I’m not even sure what your problem is with me, exactly!”

"It doesn't matter, if I kill you anyway!"

I pushed the offensive this time, feigning a slash to the right for her to block and cutting low across the top of her right thigh instead. She bellowed angrily and swung at my open right side as well, except her weakened leg made her stumble and barely catch the next blow. My block was too slow and the blade glanced off hers. Bright pain flared across my ribs as her sword slashed through my leather vest and the thin tunic beneath it. I turned with the swing, elbowing her on her temple and causing her to stagger into the brick wall. I swung across her body, the sword going wide when she recovered and slammed her fist into the side of my jaw hard enough to make me see stars.

I tried to distance myself as much as I could in the narrow alley, desperately trying to catch my breath with heaving gasps that rattled with the collecting of water in the back of my throat. It was getting too difficult to get enough air in my lungs, likely from Gennel manipulating the water content in our small area. But magic did not create from nothing, and it did not destroy to nothing. She had to be using the water from her own body—or some hidden container on her person—to saturate the air. Which meant this was a battle against time. I had to end this quickly, before I drowned or got stabbed to the point I couldn’theal this body. How she sustained herself without sucking all the water from herself was a testament to the precise control she had over her hydromancy.

Another thought barged into my mind at the worst possible moment. There was another incident, very recently, that would have required this level of proficiency. “You were the one who murdered Trisne Pid, aren’t you?”

Her bitter laughter was the only answer I needed. “Is that what you should be worrying about right now? Your priorities are horribly skewed.”

My vision reached a crimson so deep I may as well be looking through blood. I could feel the hair not bound by my braid lift from my head with the burst of unfettered magic coursing through my body. Rage the likes of which I had not felt for a hundred years almost dragged me under its influence and turned me into the berserker I kept locked away. Gilamorst was not equipped or wholly capable of handling that version of me.

Gennel didn’t seem to realize the danger she was in. “Oh no, did you care for dear Trisne?” Her voice was lilting in a sing-song taunt. “Would you care to learn how long she survived without her liver? Or her lungs? I saved the heart for last, it was my personal favorite to harvest. All for a good cause, I assure you. I could even say I wouldn't be who I am today without her help. That ritual has been passed through the Werren family for generations, hoping to one day use it to finish off your despicable family!” A dreamy, demented look took over her face as she stared me down like I was a juicy steak she would devour. "Oh, the magic I could harvest from you…"

Slowly, not taking my eyes from her, I pulled the glove of my left hand off with my teeth. Her attention snagged on the action and Gennel tilted her head. From how saturated the air became—to the point water gathered in my mouth with every breath and I had to spit it out on every exhale—she obviously suspectedsomething would happen and was trying to weigh me down further.