I chose a Shiangan single-edged sword, with a tapered blade that narrowed at the hilt and widened slightly toward the top. It wasn’t made quite as finely as the ones I was used to training with in Daybreak, purchased directly from the traders at the port, but it was familiar in my hand and the right size and weight for parrying. I swung it in a few careful arcs, testing the weight and balance as I walked back toward the center of the arena.
When I glanced up, the king was watching my testing moves with a curious tilt to his head. Shit. I’d already fallen into my muscle memory.
There was a large white circle drawn on the dirt. I took my place at one end and fell naturally into my fighting stance, with my left foot forward and the sword in my right hand. Ten yards away, Rona stood in a similar stance, with the sword gripped so tightly her knuckles were white. Anger and anticipation radiated off her, and she didn’t hesitate to bare her teeth in a snarl intended to intimidate.
I took a slow inhale and a long exhale. I turned my focus to Rona and let the roar of the crowd become white noise. My heart beat fast and steady. Rona was a brawler. She’d be fast, impulsive, sloppy. She might even drop her sword and use her fists instead. All I had to do was stay on my feet and let her wear herself out. Maybe get a few good hits in of my own, if the openings appeared.
“Begin!” Rose bellowed.
I expected Rona to lunge forward immediately, but she lingered in place, nostrils flaring as she watched me.
“Come on,” I said, just loud enough for her to hear. “I’ll go easy on you.”
That made Rona bare her teeth and growl. She dropped into a lower stance, took the hilt of her sword in both hands, and charged at me.
I sidestepped it easily, and Rona nearly fell out of the marked circle. She caught her balance at the
last moment, staggered to her feet, and then swung the sword in a wide, arc right at my head. I blocked it easily and bounced to the center of the ring. I heard Barion’s voice in my head. Control the space, he said. Let your opponent wear themselves out.
Rona whirled, eyes blazing, and lunged at me again. This time she swung her sword at my gut; I stepped back and to the side, then smacked her flank with the flat of my sword. The crowd booed, but the thwack sound made me grin. She growled again—yes, that had embarrassed her, just as I intended.
Again, she moved toward me, swinging her sword violently, only for me to block or parry, then step in close and tap her with the flat of the blade. I could’ve hurt her, using the blunted edge to bruise or even break bone if I really wanted to, but it felt more effective to dodge. Get her riled up. She was getting so frustrated—her attacks got even sloppier, and her rage was visible in her glowing yellow eyes. Her face reddened with frustration and exertion, and her breaths came in great heaves. I felt fine —I’d hardly broken a sweat.
The next time she swung her blade at my face, I dropped down and elegantly swept her feet out from under her. Rona squawked in surprise and toppled backward, landing flat on her ass in the dirt, while I stood back up into my casual fighting stance. She snarled and clawed her way backward as the crowd was split between loud boos and drunken laughter. She glanced around furiously at the stands, then narrowed her eyes at me and shifted. The crowd went ballistic.
Her fine dress split down the back as her wolf emerged, bigger than I would’ve expected, colored the same chocolate-brown as the servants’ wolves. I took a step back, eyes wide as my grip tightened on the hilt of my sword. What did she think she was doing? This was a sparring match—but from the way her lip curled back, exposing her sharp teeth, she’d forgotten that minor detail. Her hackles lifted. She growled through her teeth.
“Enough!” the king roared from his box in the stands. He stood up and braced both hands on the railing.
A tense silence fell over the crowd. I kept my sword in hand as I turned to face the king, and Rona turned too, her ears flattened back to her head.
“You disappoint me.” The king glanced between us. “Both of you. This was intended to be a wellmatched spar. Lady Reyna refuses to engage, and Rona of Nightfall brings out her wolf. Are these the behaviors of potential queens?” He raised his eyebrows.
I bit back a sneer, but the king had a keen eye for my expressions at this point. “An explanation, Lady Reyna?” he asked.
I swallowed. “Apologies, Your Majesty.” I ducked my chin in deference.
“The explanation,” Barion boomed as he strode out of the staging area with a very distraughtlooking Lady Glennis behind him, “is that Lady Reyna of Daybreak has not been faced with an adequate challenger.”
“Oh?” the king asked. “A soldier of Daybreak questions my Choice?”
I stared at Barion, willing him with all my might to shut up and keep whatever crazy idea he had to himself. Of course, it didn’t work. When Barion got an idea in his head, he was just as stubborn as I was.
“Not at all, Your Highness,” Barion said. “But if you wish to see what the Lady Reyna is capable of, you must provide her with a well-matched opponent.”
“And who would you suggest, soldier?” the king asked. “I trust you don’t mean yourself.” “No, King of Nightfall,” Barion said. “I meant you.”
9
T
he crowd exploded into cheers at the suggestion. The duchess leaned back in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose.
The king grinned. He spread his arms wide to the arena. “Well, my subjects?” he asked. “Would you like to see if this soldier speaks the truth?”
The cheers only increased in volume, mixed with the thunderous stamping of feet and sporadic wild howls. Rona’s head only dipped lower, her tail tucked between her legs. Lady Glennis looked just as irritated as the duchess as she summoned Rona off the field and back into the staging area.Then I was alone, standing in the middle of the arena with my sword in hand, as I looked up at the king.This could not be happening. I felt like I was standing slightly outside my body. Like at any moment I’d wake up from a terrible nightmare. Spar the king? Was Barion mad?Barion just winked at me. He stood just in the doorway to the staging area, arms crossed over his chest, grinning like he’d just pulled off the greatest scheme of all time. If I had actually wanted to win this contest, I would’ve agreed. But now—now I wouldn’t be losing to Fina as I expected.What did the king want out of this? Would he want to prove something to me? Or was this just a show for his subjects? Fear gripped my heart
I ducked lower and shifted my weight, so I was behind him again, and raised my sword just quickly enough to block another overhead swing aimed at me. With one hand on the hilt and the other palm on the flat of the blade, I pushed back against his sword, grimacing with the effort, digging my heels into the dirt of the arena. “A sneaky maneuver,” he said through gritted teeth. “Your escort spoke truth.” I said nothing, focused entirely on the effort of holding his sword back.Then, suddenly, the pressure was gone. He stepped back, but before I could regain my bearings, he slid his blade beneath my sword, still brandished as if to parry, and flicked it back toward himself.I lost my grip on the hilt and my sword went flying into the dirt.I hopped back into my stance, hands raised defensively, half-expecting another strike.The king only straightened his posture. He stuck the blade of his sword into the dirt like a flag claiming his victory.The crowed exploded into cheers. Had they been
Immediately, I was entranced by the detailed maps drawn carefully in the very front of the book.The city of Efra was bigger than I’d even imagined—and it was smaller now than it had been in the past. The map in the book showed Efra sprawling out across Frasia, its neighborhoods almost reaching Daybreak and the other packs. Huge. As if the city of Efra was the entirety of the continent. Ismoothed my finger down the map. What had changed to shrink the city so much, and to break the land into the separate domains of the packs?Amity and Rue arrived with breakfast, and I dismissed them just as soon as it was set up. I stayed in my pajamas as I sipped my coffee and nibbled at toast, the small tome open flat on the table beside me. There were few pleasures better in my life than a lazy breakfast and a good book.I was only a few dozen pages into the introduction to the book and the history of author Hae Blaylock’s life when a brisk knock at the door shattered my attention. I pressed my li
Except she didn’t feel rested at all. She wanted closeness, other wolves, either the handmaidens or Fina and Adora, or better yet, the king. That wasn’t happening today, though. I padded over to my dresser and pulled out the fine silver knife Barion had given me, sheathed in its leather scabbard embroidered with the Daybreak crest. Sometimes a wolf’s instincts were just a little overactive. I’d been through a lot of stress—the dinner, the sparring, and having the king show up at my door. My wolf was on high alert. Having the little knife on my person would calm her down, certainly. I slipped it into the waistband of my pants.It worked. My wolf settled, the weight of the knife a substitute for her bared teeth, and a tangible reminder of Barion, too. Then I tucked The History of Fae in Frasia into the crook of my arm and slipped out of my room. I didn’t leave a note for Amity and Rue, but I had a feeling they’d know where to find me.I made my way through the halls of the manor undistu
But what would a shewolf be doing creeping around the halls? It had to be a guard, or— Or something worse. Someone sent to find me.I swallowed, my feet pinned to the floor. “Can I help you?” I asked primly, the steadiness in my voice hopefully concealing some of my fear. But I didn’t doubt the wolf could sense the anxiety radiating off me. It crept up the stairs until it was on the balcony with me, its paws silent on the stone floor.Internally, my own wolf raised her hackles.“What do you want?” I asked, low.What did I expect? For the wolf to shift back into human form and explain itself? Of course it didn’t—it just pulled its lip back from its teeth in a snarl as a growl began to build.The yellow eyes fixed on me with the bloodthirsty gaze of a predator.This wolf wasn’t here to scare me.This wolf was here to kill me.11barely had time to acknowledge that truth before the wolf launched off its back feet with teeth bared. I scrambled backward, and my foot caught on the hem of m
“Where are we?” I asked.“My study,” the king said sharply.“Then what’s the room upstairs in the library?” I asked.“My archival study,” he snapped. “Why am I letting you ask questions?”He guided me to one of the chairs at the table and pushed me down to sit. I swallowed. Goosebumps rose on my arms. I was still riding high from the adrenaline of the fight and reeling from the way the king had carried me—I was offended while my wolf was preening. Right now, I was too tired to untangle those reactions. He exhaled. “Are you hurt?”I looked down at my hands. They were covered in blood, sticky and darkening as it dried, and it had reached my clothes as well. Certainly it had flecked my face, too. The same dark blood stained the king’s hands where he had grabbed me.“I’m fine,” I said. “It’s not my blood.” Suddenly, renewed anger surged through me. “Care to explain why I just got attacked in your library?” “Attacked?” the king asked.“Yes, attacked!” I tried to stand up to get in his face
The blood drained from my face. Poisoned. So that was why Barion had insisted I not touch the blade. I simply thought it was the weapons safety he’d drilled into me since I was a little girl. But no —it was poisoned, and he hadn’t told me. I hadn’t intended to kill her, just stop her—but would I have killed her with the blade alone if I’d had to?Yes, I realized. I would’ve done whatever it took to protect myself. My wolf and I were aligned in that way. Her instincts had pushed me to carry the knife with me, and if I hadn’t listened, my attacker would’ve torn out my throat without remorse.“I was attacked without provocation,” I said. I met the king’s gaze steadily. “She tried to kill me. I defended myself.”“A guest of my court cannot be carrying weapons like that,” the king said. “A scuffle should not result on the death of a wolf.”“A scuffle?” I balked. “She tried to kill me! If I hadn’t defended myself—”“A wolf should always defend herself,” the king said. “If a wolf threatens y
“Adora may be weak with a sword, but the resources she would bring to your court would empower you more than any show of strength on a battlefield.” “The council agrees with you,” the king admitted.I blinked. “They do?”“It’s an obvious choice,” the king said. “Adora is a beautiful woman with exceptional resources at her disposal. She impressed the council greatly during the first trial.”“Wonderful,” I said. “So it’s settled.” A strange dark disappointment washed over me.“The competition hasn’t ended,” the king said. “The council does not make the decision—I do.” I glanced up. “It doesn’t seem right to continue after this.”He took another sip of his drink. “I am not holding the Choice for purely political means.”“You’re speaking in riddles.” My head was spinning. Too much had happened in the past hour—I couldn’t keep up with the king’s tendency to talk around things. So the council had a favorite, but the competition was still ongoing, and Rona was dead. Where did we go from here