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Sweeping the weapon safely away from those clever hands, Seth slammed his other fist into Raider’s chest, sending the man staggering back.
Seth rolled his shoulders and studied Raider in a new light. The teasing, playful look was gone from his amber eyes, and in its place was a sharp intelligence that Seth had not perceived in their previous encounters.
He should have noticed. It was the very kind of thing he usually did notice: that someone was not what they seemed, that they were hiding something. His instincts rarely failed him, but Raider had a way of getting under his skin, of distracting him.
Not anymore.
Feinting left, Seth slammed his knee into Raider’s hip. He didn’t pause to glory in Raider’s bark of pain, instead grabbing for the man’s throat.
But Raider had already ducked to deliver a breath-stealing punch to Seth’s gut, doubling him enough that Raider somehow got him levered—and flipped Seth over his shoulder.
Seth slammed onto his back on the stable’s packed-earth floor, stunned—then furious. No one had put him on his back in years.
Raider was too smart to go after Seth on the ground, likely knowing it would only get him tossed over Seth’s head, or maybe knifed. He only watched as Seth got up slowly. Seth used the moment to recover his self-control.
Even knowing himself in check, he was sure the anger showed in his face, probably in his body too. Most men would have backed off. Raider’s eyes, however, sparked with excitement, and he drew the curved dagger from his sash, tossing the jeweled sheath aside.
Motioning an invitation to Seth, he challenged, “Show me.”
Seth feinted, lunged, parried. The two knives—one straight, one curved—clanged and scraped. Raider might be quick, but so was Seth, despite his size.
They fought for dominance, hunted for each other’s weaknesses, set each other up for mistakes. Briefly, Seth lost himself in the enjoyment of an excellent opponent, someone who could take everything he had to give, someone who forced him to dig deeper than he usually had to.
Despite his excellent footwork, Raider was losing ground, backing toward the stable doors. When they reached the entrance, Seth spun in close and slammed his elbow into Raider’s throat. At least, that was what he tried to do. Instead, he caught the fast-moving man in the jaw.
Before Raider could recover, Seth kicked him in the chest. The blow sent Raider flying back into the empty space of the public square.
One might have thought Raider’s enthusiasm would have been dimmed by that, but he rolled to his feet, grinning.
Seth sheathed his knife and reached above his shoulder to yank his sword from its scabbard. Clear of the stable, he could now wield the powerful weapon. And end this.
Seth spun, slashing right and left, sweeping the blade in deadly arcs. Raider ducked and wove around every cut. He was a flash of blue silk and bronze skin. He was mesmerizing.
Seth focused even harder, putting all he had into the fight. Anticipating Raider’s sidestep, a move he’d pulled before, Seth intercepted him with the sword. Seth nearly sliced into the man’s side, but Raider curved away from the blade at the last second. On his spin, Raider snuck in a slash at Seth’s upper arm.
Seth barely felt the pain—but he did feel the anger of allowing an opponent to cut him.
Picking up speed, he lunged and slashed with ruthless strength, forcing Raider toward the well.
When Raider stumbled against the stone, partially losing his balance, Seth brought his sword down in a brutal, fight-ending blow. He had enough control to check the weapon, to not kill or maim, but he had every intention of giving Raider a mark to remember him by.
But even that didn’t happen.
What did happen was hard to understand.
His sword rang against metal.
Where a second ago there had been only bare skin, gleaming metal appeared, ridges of it overlapping in a shoulder guard. The metal had a pearlescent sheen, and the light played over it in a way that made it seem to move, almost like liquid.
Stunned, Seth didn’t even see the coming sweep of Raider’s leg. It took Seth’s feet out from under him and he slammed, once more, onto his back.
Raider was on him in an instant, bringing that curved dagger to Seth’s throat. Raider’s lips had peeled back to bare his teeth in a snarl. That right eye flared fiercely, undeniably—but the left was even stranger.
Its pupil spun and dilated with arcane precision.
What the fuck—
“There’s far worse than me in the Kesh,” Raider said.
