“If you think I don’t have the same needs as you, you’re mistaken.”
Dax’s lips parted in surprise. And then his jaw went rigid.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll convince Safire to open the gate... on one condition.”
Roa crossed her arms. “And what condition is that?”
He nodded to the wall above his bed, where the two ceremonial swords they’d fought with last night hung. “You’ll have to beat me first.”
He wants to spar?
“Right now?” she asked, looking to the windows, where the sun was beginning to set behind the city walls. She needed to report to Rebekah by midnight.
“Why wait?” growled Dax, rolling his shirtsleeves up to his elbows and sliding off his boots.
From the look on his face, Roa could see she had wounded his pride. He wasn’t going to open that gate, no matter how she begged.
She would have to beat him quickly.
“Hurry, then.”
Dax fetched both swords and tossed her one. Roa caught it, then kicked off her sandals.
He raised the blade. “I’ve been dying to know: what’s so special about the heir of Sky?”
Roa raised her own blade in response and fell into her fighting stance, ready to finish him. “Theo doesn’t flirt with half the kingdom,” she said. “Nor does he sleep with my friends.”
Dax lowered the sword to his side. “Those are low standards, I must say.”
Roa lunged. Dax barely blocked her, falling back as she thrust again.
“Is it a joke to you?”
“Is what a joke?” he asked as their swords clashed.
“Sleeping with my friends.”
Dax threw her off, his brow furrowing. “Are you accusingmeof such a thing?”
Roa lowered her sword, remembering their last night in the House of Song. The sound of Dax and someone else outside the door.
“I heard you,” she said, her anger pulsing through her. “In my father’s house.You were in the corridor, bringing her back to our room.”
“Bringing who?”
“Lirabel!”
His eyes widened then. “You think”—his voice sounded strange—“you think I slept withLirabel?”
Roa gripped her sword hard, glaring at him. “The entire kingdom thinks it.”
“I don’t care what the entire kingdom thinks,” he said, his gaze boring into her. “I care whatyouthink.”
“Itiswhat I think.”
He stared at her like the words gutted him. “I wasn’t with Lirabel. I wasn’t even in the house that night.”
Roa narrowed her eyes, thinking of all the time Dax and Lirabel spent in private together. Lirabel didn’t spend that kind of time with anyone else.
