Page 27

Even without her cloak, she had confidence in her abilities. But with it?

She didn’t think she would go down easily, even against the giant of a man coming after her with deadly intent.

She had layered protection after protection into the heavy brown fabric that swirled around her. Even though she still didn’t know what her attacker had thrown at her, it didn’t seem to matter she hadn’t specifically warded against it—she hadn’t been touched by it.

If she could manage to stay unharmed for long enough to convince these people she was no threat, she might walk away from this.

She hoped.

They were Luc’s family, after all.

“Revek!” The woman who’d drawn the knife on her turned to the man who was picking himself off the ground. “What are you doing?”

He was still on his knees and he blinked at the woman for a moment, as if he didn’t know where he was.

“You try to kill all of Luc’s visitors?” Ava asked in the moment of silence.

The woman turned her attention back to her.

Ava saw her take note that she still had no weapons in her hands.

“While I appreciate you want to protect Luc, you might find it a little difficult to explain how you came to kill his . . . friend . . . when she came looking for him.” She opened her hands for emphasis and held them out, palms up.

The berserker who had attacked her finally found his feet again, and he lunged at her, quiet now. No more shouting, just deadly focus.

He must have drawn a sword while the woman and Ava sized each other up, and he swung it at her head.

She slid down, right leg extended, left knee bent so she sat on her left heel. She shifted her weight to her right foot, propelled herself with her left leg, spinning, so her left foot swept behind her attacker’s knee and he fell. Again.

Silence forgotten, he roared in frustration, and flipped up to his feet, more agile and fit than he looked.

“Avasu!” The shout from behind her made her turn a full rotation to check what was happening around her.

People stood in a circle, and the person who had shouted her name was Venyatux. She vaguely recalled him. One of the soldiers she’d sparred with when she’d first joined the column.

He was grinning, not understanding that this was deadly—not a sparring match at all.

“I’ll take bets, if you’re brave enough,” she heard him taunt the Rising Wave soldiers as she turned back to her attacker. She thought she saw a flash of hesitation in Revek’s expression as he, too, saw she had no weapons, and she took her opportunity.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized she had made a mistake. It was as if a lever had been pulled. There was no other word for the sudden fury that came over him.

He threw his sword to the side and came at her with his bare hands, like a battering ram, but whatever working she’d embedded in her cloak helped her not be there when he grabbed at her.

He would have had her without it. No question.

It made her feel exposed. As if she was giving away clues to her darkest secrets.

Perhaps she should simply run away.

That was the least dangerous for everyone involved.

She could find Luc later, have him introduce her to his lieutenants. There would be some embarrassment, perhaps, but no one would be hurt.

“Revek! Stop!”

She had completely forgotten about the woman, but now she noticed her circling the two of them. The woman looked over her shoulder, hailing someone in the crowd, and Ava heard her tell them to get Luc.