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Nearly a week after the ambush, I’m woken by the slap of leathers on my body.

I jolt, sitting up quickly as Ferox snarls at my side, clearly annoyed. Besides the big cat, the space next to me is empty, as it tends to be in the mornings.

Memnon’s already off to work. My throat tightens at the thought of him. I’ve been a little jittery around my husband, much to his dismay, since he cursed those Dacians.

Instead of Memnon, a mother-in-law-shaped shadow looms over me.

“Whatever it is,no.” I turn over, resettling myself into my bed.

The blankets I’m snuggled under are ripped away, and the leathers are picked up, then dropped on me once more

Tamara gazes imperiously down at me. “Today, you will train.”

“You do realize there are other ways to do this?” I say. “You don’t have to always wake me up to get what you…” Her words catch up to me, and my gaze moves to the leathers she dropped on me. “Wait,train?” I echo.

“Yes,train, dear girl. I hear you have little experience with a blade or a bow. Shame, considering I also hear you hate Romans more than I do.”

I clear my throat. “I have alittleexperience with a bow.” Specifically what Memnon, Zosines, Rakas, Itaxes, and Sattion taught me when we traveled here from Rome.

“A little will not save you in every battle. Nor will your magic, wondrous though it is.”

I rub my eyes.

“Well?” Tamara says, looking at me pointedly. “Up, up?—”

Biting back some grumbling, I rise. “Did Memnon put you up to this?” I ask, my voice hitching a little. Next to me, Ferox stretches out, unsheathing his claws and ripping a little of our blanket.

Tamara scoffs, moving to our weapons chest and removing my bow and gorytos from it. “That besotted fool is too in love to ask this of you.”

“And I’m guessing you’re not,” I say as she returns to me and hands the items over.

Tamara catches my chin, tilting my face so I get a good look at her soft, green eyes. “It isbecauseI love you, dear daughter, that I insist you become a dangerous thing. Otherwise, how can you protect yourself or your king? Or your people? Because you will certainly need to.”

At her words, my mind flashes back to bloodied, dying Memnon. I suppress a shudder.

“All right,” I concede. “I’ll train.”

She leans forward and gives my cheek a soft peck, then releases me. “Put the leathers on,” she commands like the queen she was a short time ago. Backing away, she adds, “Bring the panther if you wish for him to join.”

She heads for the doorway of our tent.

“I’m going to make a fool of myself,” I call after her.

“Good,” she says over her shoulder. “A little humility never hurt anyone.”

The sun is bright and the day is hot by the time I’m mounted on horseback, Tamara to one side of me, Ferox to my other. The only respite is the cool breeze that stirs the tall grass.

Puffy, white clouds roll across the heavens above us, and I stare in awe at them as the two of us head out into the steppe. Ahead of us, mounted men and woman ride across the plains with bows and arrows, aiming their projectiles at makeshift targets.

My own weaponry hangs heavy on my body, and I taste bile at the back of my throat as I watch those arrows arc across the sky. It was easy enough to shoot an arrow when I was simply hunting for game. But now, after seeing arrows kill humans—after killing humans myself with arrows—the thought of using these weapons again makes my stomach turn.

I killed so many people.

At the time, I felt like I had no choice. Now, however, I do. I can turn around right now and return to camp. I don’t have to be a warrior queen. My hands tighten on my reins.

In the distance, a familiar figure moves into my line of sight, distracting me from my thoughts. There’s no leaking magic and no regalia to indicate who he is, but Memnon never needs those tells. His long torso and broad back are enough—as is his shorn hair and the tattoos that run along his form.

My husband’s tunic is gone, and his sweat-slicked body gleams in the sun. He sits on his steed, one hand lazily holding his bow, his other holding the reins. He rides like he and his steed are a single, fluid being. Even far away he’s hypnotizing to watch.