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‘Who would you rather train you: a man who throws around a hammer? Or the Warsword trained by Talemir Starling, dual wielding champion?’

Furies save him, it was the second time that jealousy had reared its ugly head. He needed to get himself under control. He was the Hand of Death, for fuck’s sake.

Her mouth quirked. ‘Alright, then. Teach me your ways, Warsword.’

Wilder’s heart stuttered at the gleam in her gaze, and he took up his position behind her, the echoes of steel from the training around them fading away.

‘Feet apart. Left foot forward.’ His voice was husky and he didn’t miss the soft intake of breath from Thea as she did as he bid. ‘Arms up. Guard position.’ His whole body encircled hers, his rough hands brushing against the bare skin of her forearms, warm in the afternoon sun. ‘If you wish to dual wield effectively, your blades should be of equal weight. How do these feel?’

‘Good,’ she murmured. ‘They feel good.’

It was all Wilder could do to stop himself inhaling the scent of her. Gods, he’d craved her, her closeness, for what felt like eternity. ‘Distribute your body weight evenly so it’s easier to pivot at the last second,’ he instructed, fighting to keep his words even.

She shifted her feet.

He made a noise of approval. ‘Remember, you should use an unexpected combination of the blade’s edge and its point.’ He moved the swords in her hands so that they glinted in the sun, the light reflecting off the edges and then the tips. ‘Start with a reversed downward cut. Bring this sword over your head to better charge the blow. Then, launch the cut forward and bring your left sword up to cover the exposed side.’

Wilder could feel how tense her body was beneath his, how determined she was. She allowed him to steer her arms through the drill, allowed him to meld his body to hers and lead her through the rotation.

He could feel the eyes of their fellow warriors on them, watching where they were joined, how they moved together. He could sense the undercurrent of their fascination, their recognition.

Let them see, Wilder thought irrationally.Let them see that she belongs with me.

‘Remember to change your lead leg. Remember to maintain that lightness on your feet,’ he told her softly. ‘The advantage you have is that the rules have not been etched into you over the decades. Your movements will be unpredictable, fresh, unconventional… You learn the fundamentals, and then you can leverage them to surprise your rival.’

Thea flexed her fingers beneath his around the grips, and he continued to guide her through each movement, each slice, each slash, ready to end any enemy.

He recalled the words Talemir had once said to him. ‘You need to hone a tunnel of focus around you when you swing any blade, but especially when you wield two. It’s just you and these swords, an extension of yourself, of your strength and power. And any man, any monster who breaches that tunnel… Death awaits them.’

The rest of the arena fell away and it was just the two of them, moving as one, sharing the same breath, blades carving through the air.

Heart pounding, he broke away from her. ‘Show me.’

Thea looked equally shaken, but she squared her shoulders and planted her feet apart again, exactly as he’d demonstrated.

Then, she unleashed herself upon her imaginary opponent.

She was good.Reallygood. Her blades lashed at the air, through the neck of an enemy he couldn’t see, delivering slices to their ribs, their vulnerable tendons.

‘You need to learn to read a man,’ he offered.

‘Or a woman,’ she countered through her teeth.

‘Or a woman,’ he agreed, pushing the thoughts of the Daughter of Darkness away. ‘You can read an opponent’s intentions in their eyes, in their hesitations and their footwork.’

‘I’ve seen it,’ she said, not stilling for a moment. ‘People are easy to read. But what of a monster’s intentions?’

‘You’ve seen a monster’s intentions up close already, which is more than some Guardians can ever say.’ He followed her across the space as she moved. ‘Mind your footwork. Two steps forward is more than enough there.’

She delivered a brutal double slice. ‘That’s only one type of monster. There are more than shadow wraiths and reapers.’

‘There are,’ he allowed. ‘What creatures have you heard of?’

Thea continued to hack and slash her way across the arena, her fellow Guardians leaping out of her way. ‘Cyrens, teerah panthers, arachnes, sea and mountain drakes, sea serpents, reef dwellers… I read about a cyren queen who has a host of drakes at her call… But what makes a monster a monster? How do you discern between a monster and a beast that just serves its own instincts?’

It was the most she’d said to him in a long while.

Wilder didn’t take his eyes off her as she cleaved through her imagined opponents. ‘Talemir always said that beasts kill out of instinct. Monsters, and humans, kill out of cruelty, greed, selfishness, agenda…’