Page 28

The crowd had grown, she noticed. To run would look weak to everyone here. And she needed to look strong. And for the Venyatux to look strong.

She sighed.

Revek had stumbled when she’d dodged him, but he was facing her again.

“We don’t need to do this. It’s not going to end well, no matter who wins.”

Like before, her words seemed to snap something in him, and he charged again. But this time, when she ducked to the side, her cloak swirling, he managed to get hold of the fabric in a bunched fist and rip it off her.

It seemed to burn him, because he let it go with a cry, and Ava watched as it fluttered to the ground.

Now, she was in trouble.

Talking had so far done nothing but further enrage him, so she kept quiet as the fight became life and death for her.

She began to strike out. There was only so far she could go to not hurt him, while he was trying to kill her, and she had reached that point.

She went for the places Carila had taught her. The throat, the back of the knee, the pressure points; getting in lightning strikes when she could, keeping out of reach when she couldn’t.

She felt the air stir past her sweat-slicked skin as he got better and better at judging her dodges, and then the blinding, white hot pain as he clipped her shoulder when she didn’t dodge fast enough.

She would not last much longer. This man wanted her dead and he hadn’t held back.

She was leaping back from a massive roundhouse swing when Luc stepped between them.

It was so sudden, she almost attacked him, her next move already clear in her mind. One moment she was facing her opponent, the next, Luc stood in front of her, facing Revek.

Revek reared back, as confused as her, and then went still.

“What are you doing, Rev?” Luc asked.

Revek shuddered, a full body vibration, and then rubbed a hand over his eyes. “She said . . .” He looked over Luc’s shoulder at Ava. “She said she didn’t want to hurt me.”

Luc swore softly. “And that was enough to attack her?”

She wondered what was on his face, because the look on Revek’s slowly changed from the red fury of the fight, to the drained gray of defeat.

He turned on his heel and walked away.

Luc turned slowly to face her, his gaze on her face. “Those words are a trigger for him. I’m sorry he attacked you after you said them but—”

“He had just tried to take my head off with a sword when I said it.” Ava was in no mood to hear excuses for his friends. “He was already attacking me.” She turned away, found a wall of people in front of her.

For a moment she just stared blankly at them, chest heaving. Sweat had stuck her short, shorn hair to her forehead and cheeks, and she pushed it back with her arm.

She remembered her cloak and turned back, found Luc had picked it up and was holding it out to her.

The woman who had originally blocked her way had appeared again, and was standing behind Luc.

“Thanks for starting this,” Ava said to her. “And for all your help.” She pulled the cloak from Luc’s fingers as he turned his head in surprise to look at his friend, held it close to her chest, and pushed her way through the crowd.

As she went, the Venyatux rubbed her shoulders, as was their way, to show pride and congratulations, and around her, she heard arguments about who had actually won.

It was the second time Luc had stopped a fight, although she had no complaints about either time.

Revek was bigger than her in every way. If he’d managed to land more than a glancing blow, she would have gone down. And she didn’t know if she’d have been able to get back up again.

As soon as she was free of the spectators, she settled the cloak around her again, pulled her scarf out of a pocket and wrapped it around her neck.