He was immune to it.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
The blow from his fist sent me flying to the ground, throwing stars across my vision.I ejected the knife in my fingerless glove, lurching to my feet and grasping for my bearings with my distorted vision.He had gotten the advantage over me once.
I wouldn’t let it happen again.
His fist flew again and I parried it, kicking him backward.He struck again, unfazed.I deflected, snatching a sheathed knife with my other hand and darting in and out, trying to get a hit in.Strike.Parry.Miss.Repeat.He was quick.And smart.And strong.That drove me as I fought against him.I couldn’t let him venture close enough to get a hold on me.We weren’t built the same, and I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could beat him with brute force.But I was smaller.Faster.More cunning.I had to keep him moving.
I slashed out with my knives.Deflected each of his blows with my forearms.Kicked at his shins.His side.His groin.One of his blows broke through my barrier and hit my jaw.I tasted blood in my mouth.I lunged to the side, jumping off the wall and shoving into his shoulder, knocking him back.His leg came around, slamming me flat on my back, but even as I couldn’t breathe I rolled out of the way.A knife slammed into the stone where my chest had just been.
I kicked his knee sideways, getting a grunt of pain from him, but I didn’t have a good angle to do enough damage.The blood from the hit on my face soaked through my mask.
You’re better than this, Analleia.
I didn’t spend endless brutal hours training in the tower to be outdone by the brother of the king.I leapt to my feet.Struck again.I heaved for breath as I struggled to stay ahead of him, but I couldn’t get anywhere.Couldn’t gain the upper hand.If I had known he would be this difficult I would have brought Desmond.I moved faster.More determined.Doubled back.Struck, but he deflected it.I maneuvered myself to outwit him again and again, but it was almost like—
He anticipated every single one of my movements.Knew exactly how and where I was going to strike next.
I altered my maneuvers, diversifying my plan of attack.He anticipated those actions too.Without blinking.Without effort.
He’d been trained for this.He’d—
I wrenched myself back, putting enough space between us to elicit a respite.
“Who trained you?”I demanded, making my voice low and menacing, unrecognizable.
A cruel smile traveled along his lips.“I could ask you the same thing.”
I stared at him.If he had trained in the tower, I would have known.I would have been warned.The headmistress kept careful tabs on all of her trained assassins.He had to have been trained by someone else, but their ways were equal to if not better than ours.
“But you didn’t.”I threw a knife past his left ear, distracting him as I darted forward, tackling him and pinning him to the ground, throwing a punch before I reached for the ring on his right hand.
The second I touched it an invisible barrier shoved me back with so much force I flew into the stone wall, the impact forcing the air from my lungs.
He snatched one of my discarded knives from the floor.“At least I know who you work for now.You can let her know that as long as I live, she will never get this ring.”
I gasped for breath, my strength drained.My pulse pounded, my body aching.I darted in again, but I was too slow.He deflected my knife with his own, sending mine clattering down the floor of the corridor.His other hand came up and the knife pierced through the flesh on the right side of my abdomen, sinking to the hilt.I gargled as pain burst through me, blinded me.I wrenched away from the impact and stumbled into the wall.Pain.Everywhere.
I pressed a hand to the wound in my side.Blood gushed through my fingers.Soaked through my clothes.Dripped onto the floor.Athello stalked forward like a predator cornering its prey, knowing it had won.
“I think it’s time to remove that mask now.”
He watched only my face, paying no attention as I positioned the heel of my boot against the toe of the other.He drew closer, reaching for my hood.I clicked the boots together, activating the knife that shot out from beneath the toe of my boot and sank into his flesh above the ankle.
Too bad it hadn’t hit an artery.
He doubled over with a guttural yell and I snatched my knife free from his hand, shoving him onto the floor.He was speaking, but I couldn’t understand him.The only thing I could focus on was getting away, my hands and body sticky with blood, my energy draining.I couldn’t fight him anymore with this wound.He would win, and when he found out who I was this whole operation would be over.
I staggered to the nearest window, straddling the ledge to climb down, but there was no strength left to hold me.I toppled over, falling.Falling through air.Through nothing, as if in slow motion.I hit the ground a story below, my legs taking the brunt of the blow and crumpling beneath me, the rest of my body slamming into the ground.The impact snatched the breath from my lungs for the second time in what felt like minutes.
Blood pumped through my veins, leaked from my wound, urged me with every pulse to get up.To escape.To flee.He would be coming for me.I cried out as I forced myself to stand.Blood splattered all the way down the front of my clothes.I was cold, so cold, finally registering that it was raining.It pelted against my skin, stinging my eyes.
I leaned against the wall for support, leaving a bloody handprint behind that the rain quickly washed away.The bleeding.I needed to stop it or it would lead a trail right to me.
An airiness infiltrated my head, my thoughts growing fuzzy.I removed my cloak, wrapping the fabric around my midsection as tightly as possible, then securing my belt around it.Tears streamed down my face as I bit my tongue to keep from crying out at the pain.
My feet sought purchase as I fumbled my way out of the dark courtyard, disappearing into the mist of the rain.I clung to the shadows, nearly pitching forward every time I moved.
