by Alex Lidell
Renee stepped closer. She laid her hand on Savoy’s forearm and felt it tremble. “You saved his life minutes ago. Don’t take it now.”
Savoy’s face twitched. He loosened his hold, letting the boy slide to the ground.
Jasper gasped for air, rubbing his neck and staring at the floor.
“Begging your pardon, Commander.” Fisker stood beside the waist-high step from which Renee had fallen into the room. He ran his hand along its edge and frowned. “There is something amiss here. Do you still have the amulet?”
“There is no mage work there.” Jasper’s voice trembled.
Renee rubbed her temple. The boy would do well to keep from attracting Savoy’s attention.
Savoy turned the point of his sword on Jasper. “Horse shit. What’s in that step, mage?”
Jasper scampered back, the seat of his pants rubbing the floor. “Nothing. I swear, Cat. Nothing.”
Savoy looked from the boy to the guardsman. Jasper was shaking his head like a wet dog while Fisker held up his hand, ready to catch the stone. Savoy tossed the amulet to Fisker.
A triumphant smile touched the guard’s face. The back of Renee’s neck tightened. She cried out a warning, but the guardsman had already turned and pointed the amulet at Savoy. The wristbands came alive at the amulet’s order, twisting Savoy’s wrists behind his head and pulling him to the metal ladder.
Fisker drew his sword. “Even more useful than I imagined.” He pocketed the amulet and turned toward the restrained Savoy.
“What are you doing?” Drawing her sword, Renee barred his way. A drop of sweat escaped her matted hair and stung her eye. She scrubbed her arm roughly across her forehead. Her heart sped.
“You know what he is.” Fisker’s face was dark, his lips set in a sneer. His shadow fell over her. “Did you not see the charcoaled bodies of those in the arena who died to buy him a few minutes of distraction? He is a corruption that poisons the Crown’s blood. He and his kind always have been.”
Renee adjusted her stance. The top of her head just reached the guardsman’s shoulder. “The Family started that fire,” she said, weighing Fisker with her gaze. She could do this, she’d dealt with large men before. “Commander Savoy knows nothing of his relation.”
“His ignorance of his uncle does not change it. People died regardless. They will continue dying unless I cut him down. Him, and then the rest of his vile bloodline.” The four fingers of Fisker’s free hand flexed. “Step aside, girl.”
Behind Renee, Savoy growled. “What bloody uncle?”
“Savoy is a Servant of the Crown.” Renee moved across the floor, circling Fisker. “Do you put your judgment above King Lysian’s?”
Fisker barked a laugh and rotated slowly to keep Renee in sight. “King Lysian wore swaddle cloths when I took up the sword.” He jerked his chin at Savoy. “I watched this disease grow, saw as his Family connections bought him escape from justice. But you want proof of your own, girl? Look at his deeds today, choosing to save a Viper boy over capturing the Madam herself.” He shook his head and held up his mangled hand. “I know the gods’ truth just as I know they chose me to correct their error.”
Renee gave up reasoning with a madman and tightened her grip on her sword. She slid toward Fisker, searching for an opening.
Fisker took the first move, slashing at her neck. Renee stepped in and parried the attack, her arm numb from the force of the impact. Had she moved a hair slower, he would have shattered her defenses. She took a breath to steady herself.
“He swings his blade like a club,” Savoy said behind her, a calm confirmation to her own conclusion. “Play—”
“A different game,” Renee finished for him.
Fisker slashed with wild fury and no pause, forcing Renee to dance from side to side to avoid getting cleaved in two. The strikes were crude but powerful. Very powerful. Fisker had decided to kill her.
Renee slid right to avoid another attack. She waited until the man’s blade whistled through the air, and closed in, crowding him. His greater reach turned to disadvantage in close quarters. Renee’s blade nicked his arm.
Blood dripped through Fisker’s sleeve. His eyes flashed and he growled like a bear whose wound stirred more rage than pain. Cocking his foot, Fisker kicked Renee. The heavy boot sank into her abdomen. She couldn’t breathe. She stumbled backward and lost her balance. Gasping, Renee rolled as she fell, racing to avoid the point of his blade. She got her legs under her just as Fisker’s sword struck. It hit the floor where she had fallen a heartbeat earlier. Shifting her weight to her arms, Renee spun with her leg outstretched, sweeping Fisker’s ankles out from under him.
Fisker toppled backward. Swinging his sword in savage arcs, he took several seconds to re-settle into a fighting stance. It was unfair that he could buy himself time for composure and Renee could not, but it was what it was. Fair was for the training salle.
Renee’s heart sped, feeding on her fear. Breaths chased each other in her chest. Another moment and she would be fighting herself as well as Fisker. To calm herself, she lunged in with a combination Savoy favored in their morning drills. Fisker danced from parry to parry, too busy fighting her off to offer an assault, and losing wind with each motion.
The momentum was hers. Renee’s hand tightened on the hilt, the tip of the sword aiming into his gut. Savoy shouted a warning but the words drowned in the hum. Renee drew a calming breath and let herself feel the rhythm of the fight. The rhythm she was setting. Her grip softened, giving her arm the freedom to adjust in mid motion. The guardsman may have started the bout, but now it belonged to her.
In her mind, she was fighting on the sands of a salle. Finesse returned to her fingers, her breath supporting her moves. The lives hanging on the outcome of the match faded from thought. This was about the song of attacks and parries, the conversation of the blades that was meaningful in itself.
The lunge at Fisker’s gut changed in mid-motion. Her wrist bent, tipping the blade up. The steel shaft of her sword sparkled with reflected light and pierced her target under the jaw. Blood bubbled from the wound. Renee watched it without understanding.
A sharp pain erupted above her elbow and she jerked away. Fisker’s sword slid free of her arm and clattered to the ground. The guardsman followed his weapon. The fight had ended with both partners hitting their mark. His heavier strike pierced her muscle clear through; her gentle one went little deeper than the skin of his neck, severing the artery that pulsed there.
Renee cleaned then sheathed her blade, while in the corner, the little girl who would prevent a war stuck her thumb into her mouth.
CHAPTER 45
“How do you feel?” Healer Grovener pressed his fingers against Renee’s wrist.
“Trapped.” She pulled away. In her time out of a cadet’s uniform, she forgot the limitations of the rank. Deportation back to the Academy the moment she and Savoy brought their charges up out of Catar’s underground had come as a crude blow. Once the Crown’s Healer had made the recommendation, not even Savoy stood up for her right to stay in the fight.
“Did headaches awaken you again this night?” Grovener’s pen hovered over his notes.
“No,” she lied. “Have you news from Catar?”
“I pay no mind to such matters.” His pen scratched paper. “Your visitor may know more than I, however.”
Visitor. She had been allowed none until now. Renee turned to the opening door. “Sasha!”
The girl hesitated in the doorway. Outlines of fading bruises still marred her face and she wrapped herself with her arms, but she was here, outside her quarters and braving the world. “I’m not so naive as to believe the Vipers castrated, but I don’t think they will target my family again any time soon,” she said quietly, a ghost of a smile touching her face. “Thanks to you.”
Renee vaulted out of bed, dodged the Healer, and threw her good arm around her friend. They held on for several heartbeats. “You’re safe now,” Renee whispered into Sasha’s shoulder before pu
lling back and guiding them both to the cot. “And Catar? How much blood . . . ” She trailed off seeing the other’s head shake.
“None. It was beautiful, Renee. The Crown’s forces”—she grinned, emphasizing the phrase that once more included Renee—“extracting our cousin from the heart of the Vipers’ lair sent a message that a troop of soldiers never could. Lys halted military action as soon as he had Claire, face and blood both saved. And to ensure his intentions sank in, he also seized the infrastructure of Predator competitions.”
Renee frowned at the word choice. “He closed the games?”
Sasha bit her lip. “No . . . It’s not so simple. Those games—”
“Hold up Catar’s economy. I know. If they dissolve, economic chaos will rein until the Vipers think up something equally vile to fill the void.”
Sasha’s eyes widened. “I see my Lys is not the only one who moved beyond seeing the world in white and black. Your thinking is right. The games will go on, but under the Crown’s management.”
“The fighters?”
“Volunteers and convicts.”
Renee nodded. As good a solution as could be made.
Sasha went on, “Of course, Lord Palan tried to use his presence in Catar to leverage a larger portion of the veesi market for himself, but that’s hardly news. And I understand there is a newly registered boy mage who has provided vital insight into the operation.”
“Jasper.” Renee made a note to find the boy upon her release. She owed him that much. “What of Commander Savoy and the others?”
“They trickle back. Savoy and Diam should arrive by morning.” Sasha played with the bedspread and spoke to the floor. “Your lord father is here. He has been waiting to see you.”
A jolt ran down Renee’s back. She wished to believe that concern brought her father to her bedside, but the conversation with Lord Palan echoed in her head. He had claimed the Family’s innocence in her mother’s death. He even dared imply that her father stood to benefit from the accident. It was ludicrous to weigh the word of a criminal against that of her father, but she was yet to catch Lord Palan in a lie. She scrubbed her hand over her face. “Sasha, do you have a ring I could borrow? The bigger the better.”
Her face still, Sasha slid a ruby off her finger and laid it on the table beside the bed before leaving. She didn’t ask questions.
There was little one could do to make an infirmary look dignified, but Renee tried. She pulled the blanket taut over her cot—a tough trick with one arm in a sling—and changed into a pressed set of shirt and britches that Sasha had tossed through the window. The ruby ring and a folded piece of blank parchment lay on the small bedside table. She hoped to need neither.
Her head throbbed. She leaned against the wall and massaged her temple until a knock brought her to her feet.
Lord Tamath de Winter wore beaten britches and shirtsleeves instead of his typical formal attire. “The Healer permitted no visitors before today.” He shuffled his feet. “Are you . . . Good gods, Renee, how do you feel?” Crossing the room in a rush, he touched his fingers under her chin. His mustache twitched.
Renee tensed but stayed still. “I recover well, my lord.”
He let his hand fall to his side. “I hear the king himself now calls you friend and shares wine?”
She blushed. “A one-time audience.”
“Or the first.” He cleared his throat. “I wished to apologize for hasty words spoken without thought. Your home is yours as it has been always.”
Renee bowed, but the stone in her stomach remained in place. Lord Tamath did not keep the habit of apologizing. “How fare the estates, my lord?”
He shrugged. “All well. I secured a new contract for wool and goat cheese that will serve us fine.”
You have not secured it yet, Father. She smiled. “I’m pleased to hear it.”
He waved his hand in dismissal. “I would not trouble you over it, but my colleague may have forwarded the documents to you by error.”
And thus the dice settled. Renee was prepared for the wave of disappointment, but was surprised to find it tempered with relief. At least now she understood the game. “If you speak of Lord Palan, there was no error. He gave me the contract for review.” She let her gaze slide to the objects on the table. “Are you aware of his Family ties?”
Lord Tamath stiffened. “I am. I am also aware that should I fail to honor his demands, I will see grave ills befall the estate.” He reached out toward her. “The last time I refused the Family, your mother and brother paid the price. I fear losing you to the same fate.”
Renee’s head thumped with each heartbeat. Her father’s words directly contradicted Palan’s. “You do this deal only for protection?”
“Why else would I deal with a monster who killed my wife and my child?”
She licked her lips and smiled. “Then I have fortunate news. The contract is here.” She raised her finger to stay his reaching hand. “But Lord Palan needs a great service from me. In return, he is prepared to guarantee that no Family tentacle will ever touch the de Winter estates. They will collect no tribute and offer no menace. Lord Palan offers his ring as a token of guarantee. You can display it to any Family servant and he or she will let you be.”
Her father’s mustache twitched again.
Renee gestured to the table. “Which will you take?” She held her breath.
He reached out and snatched the parchment. “You will understand when you are older,” he said, and started to the door. Then he stopped, one hand on the doorknob. “What is the meaning of this?” Lord Tamath spun, his eyes flashing darkness as he waved the blank parchment in the air. “What did you do with my contract?”
“What did you do with my mother?”
His jaw shut with a click.
Heat gripped her face. She advanced on him. “The Family did not kill her or Riley.”
He bowed lightly as if conceding a match. “No. The coach crashed in a meaningless accident. I thought having a culprit to blame would ease both our souls.”
It was plausible. Or maybe Palan’s supposition was right, and Lord Tamath had rigged the accident to gain ownership of his wife’s lands. Renee was beyond taking her father’s words at face value. Fatigue erupted from nowhere and washed over her. She gripped the edge of the table for balance, refusing to sit while her father remained in the room. “I don’t believe I will be returning to your estates, my lord.”
“My labors on the contract will not be annulled. Where is it?”
“Destroyed.” The steadiness of Renee’s voice surprised her.
Lord Tamath turned and left without another word, slamming the door in his wake.
CHAPTER 46
Sleep claimed Renee after her father’s visit, eating up the rest of the day and the night. The following morning, she awoke to an argument on the other side of the infirmary wall. She rubbed her face and sat upright, recognizing the voices.
“I came for Renee,” said Savoy.
“I little care why you came, boy. Your ribs are broken,” said Grovener.
A crash of furniture clattering to the floor echoed through the room, and a door banged closed. Renee scrambled from her bed and into her clothes, adjusting her shirt collar just in time to answer a knock.
Savoy strode in, pulling disheveled hair back into a ponytail. “Still Grovener’s prisoner?”
She left her sling on the table and wrapped her arms around him.
“I don’t do hugs.”
“You need the practice.”
Chuckling, he laid his hands on her shoulders and pushed away, his body oddly rigid.
Renee ran the back of her hand down his side, pressing hard against his ribs.
He tensed and caught her wrist. “Don’t do that.”
Lifting a brow, Renee twisted free from his grip but said nothing. Her point was made.
“Unrest brews on the western border.” He moved across the room. “The soldiers the Crown pulled away to attend to Catar return to their posts b
ut their numbers will not suffice. The Devmani Emperor is looking a little too covetously at Tildor’s commerce.”
Renee perched on the edge of the bed and looked out the window, as if troop movement leagues away could be made out. “War?”
Savoy shrugged. “Perhaps. The temptation to test a neighboring new king is hard to resist.”
Renee rubbed her arms. Fighters moved from post to post, campaign to campaign, greeting and taking leave of friends as often as the wind changed. Even if the gods rooted Savoy to Atham, Renee herself would be gone on her field trial before much longer. “When do you leave?”
“One week.”
She hesitated, the words balancing on her tongue. “I’m . . . I’m sorry about your parents.”
Savoy nodded. “We had little time for each other.” His voice asked her not to press and they shared a silence. He looked up after a few moments, catching her eye. “My family is here,” he said quietly, “as is yours.” He stretched his shoulders. “You’ll have the summer cycle to fulfill your missed schoolwork. Connor volunteered to oversee it.”
Schoolwork. She wanted to chuckle at the circle life had formed. She cleared her throat instead. “I, ah, I should write to Alec. Did you see him before you left?”
Savoy’s face was still. “Alec left Catar with some other young mages. Too many Crown’s eyes there now. Zev sent Connor a note.”
“That can’t be right.” Renee frowned. “No, he would’ve told me. Was there a letter for me with Zev’s . . . ” Seeing Savoy shake his head, Renee focused her gaze at the budding tree branch that swayed outside and pressed her teeth together.
“Renee!” A human arrow shot through the door. “You’re awake! Wanna see something? Healer Grovener taught me to glow just one finger!” Diam hurried to demonstrate this feat before throwing his arms around her neck.
“The imp, on the other hand, does do hugs.” Savoy backed away to give his brother room. “She’s all yours.”
Hugging Diam, Renee watched the closing door and shuffled through her memory. Was it her imagination or had Savoy flinched when his brother approached? She glanced at Diam and knew he’d seen it too. Rubbing her nose, Renee began composing a plea for release from the Healer’s lair. She had things to do.
