From the other side, Huang advances, blade down, tentative. “Hey, man, I?—”
Kai shoves him in the chest.
“That's it.” The ref sweeps in, arms wide to separate them. He holds up a black card. "Pendragon, out."
A gasp goes up from the crowd. No one's paying attention to the other bouts now. Just this. I get to my feet, throwing a nervous glance to the box. I can't read my father's expression. Certainly not the prior-at-arms. But my stomach is cold.
"Kai," I say urgently, striding to his side. "What are you doing?"
"As if it fucking matters," Kai says. "This is bullshit."
I turn to the ref, anxiously fast. "Wait. Just—wait. I know he shouldn't have acted like that, but clearly there's something wrong with his equipment. You saw that touch?—”
"Fencers may always request a reinspection," the ref says. "An outburst like that is not the way to handle this.” He points at me. “You, off the strip. You”—he points at Kai—“out.”
"Please," I say, "if he could just?—"
The ref flips around and holds a yellow card in my face. "This is a warning, Pendragon," he says to me. "Do I make myself clear?"
I'm genuinely taken aback. I fall back on my heel, eyes lowered. “I…yes.”
Damn it. I tense my jaw, look at Kai. His face is contorted.
"Whatever." He stomps off back to our bench.
I look at Huang from Villa Loyola, who understandably looks a bit stricken. Nobody likes to win by default. It's almost as humiliating as getting a black card yourself.
"I'm sorry," I say to him.
"Yeah, sure," he says, a little uneasy. "Whatever." He walks off back to his teammates.
I spin and go back to Kai, to the bench. It's only Lanz back there, Cal off bouting.
“Polish up your saber, pretty boy," Kai mutters to Lanz. “Looks like we need our trusty alternate because someone got the axe.”
"Yeah, Isaw,” Lanz whispers. "What the hell was that?"
I'm wondering the same thing myself, Kai.
Kai says nothing, just sinks to the bench, bracing his head with one hand. I crouch beside him. “Kai, what's going on?"
"Yeah," he says, "sorry. Threw a wrench in our chances for a shutout, I guess."
"I don't care about thebout," I say. "What's wrong with you?"
Kai looks up. His eyes meet mine.
"You're better than that, Kai," I say.
"Yeah, well, guess I'm not." He shrugs. "Hair trigger temper got the best of me again." He practically chucks his saber to the ground by his feet.
"Lanz," I dart a glance over at our alternate. "Go start warming up. You'll be in against Mountstuart on Sabre."
Lanz nods. "Okay."
Kai doesn't look up.
"I'm sorry," he says, after a moment. "I barely fucking slept last night.”
