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Tuva. The gold and brown bird had something clutched in her talons.

A sword.

The moon was rising as the owl released the blade.

It fell, not as I had moments before with a painful thump, but with grace and purpose, spiraling through the air until it landed with a resolute thud on the blackened earth in front of my feet, dust and ash rising around it.

In a heartbeat, I had snatched it up and gripped it in both hands.

As I lifted the blade up in front of my face, the moon broke into full view above us.

Excalibur hummed with energy. The gleaming blade pulsated under the moon’s gentle glow.

Overhead, Tuva hooted softly and flew off. I kept my eyes on my brother.

“Well, at least you haven’t lost it as I’d feared,” Daegen said, curling his lips.

But I knew he was unnerved by what had just happened.

“A small complication?” I suggested. “I won’t be going willingly. No matter what family secrets you tell me.”

“Fine,” he snapped. “Let’s deal with one problem at a time then.”

He raised his hand, but this time I was ready. As a blade of shadow flew from his palm towards Draven, I moved Excalibur to block it. The shadow blade bounced harmlessly off the sword and vanished like mist.

“If you were a true Valtain and one of us,” my brother snarled, “you would put him down yourself, even if he is your mate. He’s weak. He’s a burden to you. Free him from his misery.”

I held Excalibur sideways with my right hand and lifted my left.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m no Valtain,” I snarled back, letting flames dance across the blade, turning it a hot, glowing red. “Because the only one I have any interest in putting out of his misery is you, Brother dear.”

And then we danced.

Beneath a full moon, we danced, while beyond the grove, the clash of steel echoed through the night as the battle for Brightwind raged on.

I knew Daegen had been given instructions not to harm me. I also knew those instructions did not apply to Draven and that Daegen would defend his own life no matter what it took.

So to me, it was a dance of death.

I was an average swordswoman at best. When practicing in Sir Ector’s training arena, I had been proficient. An apt pupil, not a brilliant one.

But with Excalibur in my hand again, there was nothing I could not do. My swordplay knew no bounds.

The air buzzed with tension as Daegen and I circled each other, eyes locked in unspoken challenge.

I lunged forward, Excalibur cutting through the night with a sharp hiss.

I missed but caught the look in my brother’s eyes as he saw the flames dancing along the blade.

“Not afraid of a little heat, are you, Daegen?” I goaded him. “Don’t tell me that pretty Valtain armor has a boiling point.” I stepped away quickly as he slashed out with a black shadowy blade. “But then, it did the trick with your foot soldiers. Their armor melted and so did their flesh.”

“I’ve been wounded before,” Daegen said, a little breathlessly. “I have lived for countless millennia. I was here long before you were born.”

But it wasn’t true. I could see in his eyes that it wasn’t true and wondered why he’d said it. Why lie about such a thing as being my older brother?

“Do you really think you can kill me, Sister? I, who have stood at our father’s side for so long?”

“No,” I said calmly. “But Excalibur can. Have you ever been touched by such a blade as this?” I let him get a good look at the flames that still moved like living fire over the blade, casting an eerie glow and illuminating the dust kicked up by our footwork like countless, tiny fireflies. “Tell me, has our father ever turned his fantastical weapons of power upon you?”