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Fourteen

I hesitated. I was tired, and I had held myself back the entire match against Fimo.

There were more advanced moves, but I didn’t want to show them to these commanders, to let them see the complicated nuances of wielding a wolf’s claw.

Most of these men were good enough that if they saw my moves, they would be able to come up with effective counters for them.

Rede was the best of the lot, trusted by the high general, which made fighting him a particularly bad idea. Still, after all my years of training, I was curious.

Could I stand up to some of the Imperium’s best? I had trained my whole life, my entire existence revolving around one purpose, and now there was a chance that I might not have to fight at all. My victim might simply submit to my blade, even if I could not press it through my husband’s throat.

I looked at Tallu. He had stilled, hands clasped in front of him. His face showed nothing, but I saw a slight twitch in his fingers. Was he considering raising them, considering saying stop ?

Blinking, I turned back to Commander Rede. “Yes. But let us move at half pace. We’ve been training for hours, and it will allow others to see how the moves work.”

And would give me moments to consider the best way not to reveal advanced northern attacks.

Commander Rede nodded and put aside his wolf’s claw, taking out his imperial blade. It had the same carvings as Fimo’s but looked more expensive, the metal better maintained.

We bowed to each other, then started.

Immediately, Commander Rede confirmed that he was an entirely different fighter than Commander Fimo. Fimo fought fast and hard, used to killing enemies who weren’t trained enough to fight back. That made sense if he had cut his teeth on killing blood mages and other citizens of Ristorium.

We circled each other, Rede stepping forward and watching how I retreated. He swung, his eyes following my dodge. He swung again, this time anticipating my movement, but we were still working at half speed, and I spun in a different direction.

He nodded, then began a series of moves that I was familiar with.

Yor?mu had drilled them into me, and I already knew exactly how to defend against them.

Dodge left, come up and under, get too close in order to disrupt the flow of his movements.

Commander Rede seemed to anticipate that, adjusting the angle of his blade, but I was ready, my wolf’s claw pressed against the bottom of his jaw.

He grinned, sweat lining his hairline. He was panting just enough that I didn’t feel embarrassed by my own tiredness. “You truly are a master.”

I shook my head. “You as well.”

“Can we go again?” Commander Rede asked. He shrugged his shoulders, tilting his head from side to side as he stretched.

I nodded, aware that I was beginning to feel the heat of the day, sweat trickling down my back, glad for the sleeveless shirt.

This time, Commander Rede moved first, his attack no longer probing my abilities. Instead, he pressed what he thought was an advantage, my inclination to dodge before attacking.

He anticipated where I was going to move, having a leg ready to trip me, but I saw the shift of his hip and pulled back instead of to the left. Then I pressed forward as soon as his blade was overextended, tapping the flat of mine to his shoulder.

He grinned and pulled his leg back, kicking out at my knee at the same time as he swung his blade toward me. For the first time in our entire fight, I saw the crackle of electricity.

Fimo had used electricity as a matter of course, exhausting all of his power within our short sparring session. Commander Rede used it more cautiously. He clearly had fought in enough battles to know that his power needed to last for hours, not minutes.

I pushed back, pulling my knee out of the way just in time, but I wasn’t fast enough to raise my blade. The strike of electricity was precise and singed my arm, but my retreat lessened it from a crippling burn to a glancing hit.

Rede used my distraction, sprinting close, and we weren’t at half speed anymore. Instead, we were so fast I barely had enough time to think of my next move before I was making it.

The art of using a wolf’s claw lay in the flexibility of the weapon and its wielder.

The same beginner moves could be strung together into something complicated enough to hold off any foe.

When fighting with a group of men, it was nearly impossible to beat.

A pack wielding wolf’s claws would always win.

I swept my blade down, aiming for his ankle, and he answered with an open palmful of electricity, but I was able to press the flat of my blade to his hand and shove it off target.

The buzz of it against my blade vibrated the hilt held tight in my hand.

Then, I was close enough that my blade ran along his arm, slicing him.

We both retreated, stark red blood dripping down his fingertips.

“You fight well,” he conceded. “But you still aren’t winning.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, I reminded myself to be cautious, to be careful, but I had never fought a real electro mage before.

I’d never fought someone who had trained to use their lightning skills in war, and I had spent so long wondering if I could do it, how much a proper mage would exceed the facsimiles I’d trained against.

I glanced at Tallu. My victim. The man who intended to let me finish the quest my mother had sent me on.

Tallu had leaned back in his chair, a glass of wine held lazily in his fingers. He looked as though he didn’t care about the match; he was only here for the possibility of blood. Swirling the liquid, he raised it to his lips, and I caught his russet-brown eyes.

I wanted to win for this man. I wanted to prove to all of them that I could win, that Tallu, who wielded me as a weapon, was stronger than any of them knew.

But that was wrong.

Tallu was wrong. About a lot of things, but he was wrong that any of these men needed to see how strong I really was.

When he’d had me take on Kacha’s soldiers at our wedding, he’d said he wanted them to see me as he did, but the opposite needed to be true.

They needed to see me as nothing so that they let their guard down.

Tallu and I were going to plunge our blade into the heart of this empire and kill it from within, and it pained me to realize my mother had been right.

I needed to be invisible, a nonentity. Eona? had been the one all the attention was supposed to be on so that I could be a shadow, a ghost, a shade in the dark. And even though I was her twin, I couldn’t play both parts.

My head spun, partially from all the thoughts but partially because I finally saw the whole picture clearly, and in order for us to obtain that future, I had to lose here and now.

Nodding my head at Commander Rede, I put my blade in the ready position.

I needed to lose, but only by enough that no doubt could be cast on my victories over Fimo and the three soldiers at our wedding.

It was like sailing through the ice in the far north; navigating such a narrow path to success seemed impossible.

But I could do it, be it: strong enough that I could beat Fimo but weak enough that Rede would be able to beat me.

Rede came forward first, and I met him head-on, using two quick strikes to send him back but leaving my side open.

Our blades were still ringing when he lunged forward, and I spun away, frowning like I hadn’t expected the move.

He pressed the advantage, sending me back until we nearly hit the other commanders.

A pair of narrow wrinkles formed between Rede’s brows, and he stepped back. I might have gone too easy, and now he was wondering what I was planning. Mentally swearing, I made a show of wiping sweat off my face with the back of my hand.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Ready,” he responded, his frown growing.

I attacked, a quick series of movements designed to throw an opponent off-balance, keeping him on his back foot. Rede’s face lost its uncertainty as he defended himself.

His blade crashed into mine, the impact cracking the metal plating of my wolf’s claw, sending a shiver of shock up my arm to my shoulder. I pushed him back just enough that he had room for a new swing.

Our blades weren’t a match. The heavy imperial one would eventually splinter mine if we went on too long, but it let me get close enough that I could make a very obvious attempt at his throat as he gathered a handful of electricity I pretended not to see.

Then he shoved it into my chest, and it exploded, throwing me backward. I flew through the air, seeing streaks of color before I hit the ground, my head cushioned only by the grass. The sky was blue, and three ravens sat on the wall above me, each looking deeply judgmental.

“Poor showing,” Terror said.

“Is this really the one we’re putting our faith in?” Dawn asked.

“I ate the mother mouse,” Ratcatcher said. “Haven’t had time to tell you yet.”

“That’s fine,” I said, aware of salty blood in my mouth, hoping it only meant I’d bitten my tongue and not that I had some internal injury.

Rede’s face blocked my view of the ravens, his mouth forming the words “Your Highness!” but his words faded to a buzz, a flood of white noise echoing in my ears.

Asahi shoved him aside, a blade at his throat, pressing him against the wall of the garden.

Rede didn’t even resist, hands held up, expression drawn.

“It’s fine,” I said, louder. I sat up, blinking at the overbright world. Terror flew down, landing next to me and pecking affectionately at my hand until I lifted it and ran it down his back.

The courtyard was motionless, and I blinked, still seeing color more than actual objects. Purple waved like froth on ocean waves, and then Tallu was crouched in front of me. He put a hand to my cheek.

His mouth formed my name, and I blinked up at him.

“Husband,” I said. “I think your soldiers are stronger than me.”