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Kenzie didn’t stand a chance. Her attitude resembled that of a soured grape or prickly pineapple. Beautiful girl as she was at freshly twenty, she’d need to be coached on keeping her mouth shut and her vile, judgmental opinions to herself.

Thankfully, I was too old. Caine must not have realized, unable to see past the dollar signs in his eyes. And since Eucinda wouldn’t miss the chance to be the girls chauffeur so she could attend the glitzy soirees, I could avoid the entire charade altogether. For the best. The thought of surrounding myself with people who only cared about their own exorbitant amount of wealth and status made my skin crawl.

And subjecting myself to any sort of interaction with the prince? I’d end up in the castle dungeons, and he with a broken nose and two matching black eyes. Maybe they’d go nicely with the kingdom blue he was sure to adorn for every event.

I silently retreated to my room, keeping my steps muted. After climbing the first few stairs, Eucinda said, “Don’t tell the girls about this. They needn’t know the weight of the matter.”

“Yes, Ma'am,” I answered and continued upstairs.

10

Nora

Clashing steel reverberated through my hands, the zing of it reinvigorating those parts of me that constantly felt hopeless. Only one palm gripped the hilt of my lonely dagger, a little less satisfaction from the activity than normal since one hand remained empty. Recalling the last time I'd seen my missing dagger, it was soaring through the air aimed right for that masked stranger. With the fighting that ensued, it’d slipped my mind to retrieve it.

I’d passed Mrs. Gallagher’s backyard on my way to Odion’s today and scoured the garden from the alley, but found no trace of it. Splintered frays protruded from the wood where it’d struck and had clearly since been ripped out.

If I asked Mrs. Gallagher about it, she’d question why my dagger assaulted her fence and possibly call the guardsmen. I didn’t need that kind of attention, especially if she had the weapon as proof and could identify me.

The entire walk here I’d mourned its loss. Odion’s training became all the more difficult, essentially forcing me to relearn every approach I had thus far, since I could only reach for one blade.

Our steel kissed each other in a standoff, but even with both of my wrists locking my small dagger against his sword, he had the advantage of his massive biceps to further drive it down.

My knees quaked while a bead of sweat dripped down the side of my face. My arms wobbled against this unrelenting strength, crying out to buckle under the force. But buckling in a real scenario would mean death, so I stretched my heel further behind me, planting it firmly against the ground.

Use his momentum against him.

In what I hoped would be a seamless transition that left me without a scratch, I allowed his blade to drop, but didn’t let mine separate. A controlled fall. I waited until he finished the swing toward the ground, then rotated my steel around his, taking control of his aim. I thrust the sword away, forcing him to twist and expose his side to me.

With a war cry, I swung my lonely weapon, pausing it on Odion’s ribs. He looked over his shoulder, down to the spot where I would have sliced into his right kidney. The twinkling sheen of his bald head made my smile widen.

“I win,” I said with a cocky smirk and ragged breath, the euphoria of victory coursing through my veins.

We parted, relaxing our stances. I used the underneath of my sleeve to wipe my brow and dab around the back of my neck. So much for being freshly bathed.

“Proud of you, Nora. Next time, I’ll teach you how to defend yourself if someone pulls that same maneuver on you.” He walked over to the basin of water and cupped his hands, splashing his face.

“Didn’t look like you had much time to defend yourself.” I couldn’t mask the snarky smirk on my lips. I savored every syllable that rubbed in my win. He didn’t let me have many of those.

He chuckled, shrugging off my verbal jab with ease. “Alright, alright. Give me three defensive stances.”

My shoulders dropped, and I tossed my head back, complaining to the sky. “Can’t you just let me have one win?” My limbs held the strength of limp pasta after that last spar.

Water splashed as he cleaned up in the barrel. “There was an incident by the docks…” His voice shifted from something light and entertained to weighed down.

Requiring way too much effort to raise my head back to level, I looked at him. “Oh?”

“A murder.” Odion dried his hands on a nearby rag.

“Oh my stars. Who?”

“Don’t know. Someone not from here.”

Realization dawned on me why he wanted me extra sharp.

“Apparently, there was a group of five or six, my source said. Up to something shady, no doubt. Why else would anyone be skulking around the docks at that hour? They were lugging something. Cargo of some kind is my guess, though I can’t recall any docked ships coming in yesterday."

“Who’s this source of yours?” I inquired.