Page 32 of Blood of the Sands

I would have to get in close to force an opening.

With a side sweep of my blade, I knocked one of Aderyn’s swords out of the way, pushing in close. I kicked out, foot striking her forearm and knocking it aside to make my opening. I advanced, but she was no longer there.

Instead, she used the momentum from my kick to circle around me. Before I could turn, her blade was at my throat, her breath tickling my ear as she panted in triumph.

Raising my hands in defeat, I shook my head. “You’re incredible with those.”

Aderyn did an unnecessary flip with the weapons in her hand, giving them a fond look. “They’re my secret skill. To be honest, I needed to break them out today for the sake of my pride.”

“Your pride?” I echoed dubiously. Aderyn never struck me as somebody who struggled with confidence, her commanding demeanor projecting self-assuredness.

“You’ve been keeping me on my toes more than I’m used to,” she admitted ruefully. “It used to be that nobody—except maybe one person—could best me consistently.”

“I got lucky one time. That’s hardly ‘consistently besting you,’” I argued. “Besides, keep breaking out those sickle swords and you have nothing to worry about.”

“My father taught me how to fight with them. He was a clan rider when he was younger, before he married my mother and they settled in Kelvadan.”

I contemplated her. I knew she had been born and raised in the city, but I found myself curious.

“Have you ever considered joining one of the clans?” I asked. “With your skill, you could be named warlord.”

“And leave Kelvadan? Never.” Aderyn looked out over the edge of the stable roof that served as the training area.

Everywhere in the top tier of Kelvadan afforded a great view of the city…and the desert beyond. If I hadn’t experienced the endlessness of the sands myself, I could almost imagine the glimmer of the ocean on the horizon.

“I would miss the people, the energy on the streets,” Aderyn continued, gazing out at the buildings below, the colorful forms weaving between them looking small from this height. “Here, there’s always so much to see. A neighbor to visit or a new market stall to peruse. Out there in the desert, there’s so much… space.”

She said the final word with a shiver of disgust that almost made me laugh, even as I found it odd that she would miss the constant crush of strangers and stone around her. I supposed you got used to it. Maybe I would too, with time.

Footsteps on the stairs interrupted our conversation. I tore my eyes away from the horizon to see one of the palace attendants crest the edge of the roof.

“I’m sorry, I’ll be right there,” I said, hastily mopping sweat from my brow. The queen and I had pushed my lessons back by an hour for the past several weeks so I could spar with Aderyn after training with the recruits. Knowing I could swing as hard as I liked after helped me stay in check and stick to the drills during training, although everybody but Dryden still avoided pairing up with me whenever possible. Although, his persistence picked at something in me even as Aderyn would raise her brows at me over his shoulder. Her expression clearly intimated a dare to act on Dryden’s flirtations, but I simply didn’t have it in me—not when casual touches still had me ready to fly out of my skin. Still, I appreciated his steadfast friendship.

The attendant shook her head, bringing me back to the present moment. “The queen requests both of your presence in the study this afternoon.”

Aderyn frowned. “She must have something to discuss.”

We hurried to clean up and put away our training weapons. In the palace, Aderyn led us farther up the winding stairs through the center of the structure than I had been before, past the terrace where the queen and usually drank nauseating tea together. My thighs already ached from hours of training and nearly burst into flames by the time we finished our climb.

It seemed that we wouldn’t be able to rise too much higher before reaching the spire at the top of the palace, but as Aderyn turned off a landing, several more flights ascended out of my view. She led me into a round room, where the queen already sat at a circular table in the center.

Around the edges were shelves, laden with scrolls, the alcoves between them adorned with stained glass windows. The bright afternoon sun filtered through the brightly colored glass, staining the room in refracting rainbows. I itched to approach each window and examine the different pictures wrought into them, but the queen looked up when we entered, and the dire look on her face stole all my attention.

She clutched a small rolled up piece of paper in her hand so hard it began to crumple between her fingers.

“Are you competing in the Trials?” she asked without prelude.

Aderyn frowned as she sat. “No. As we discussed, I thought it would be better for me to keep my undivided attention on the city’s security given the current situation.”

“And you Keera?”

I looked between the two women. I had increasingly considered trying my skills in the competition but kept talking myself out of it. Every time my magic lashed out, knocking over even the tiniest fence I managed to erect around it, I told myself it would be better not to risk it. As fast as my fighting progressed, I seemed to move backward in controlling the power dwelling within me.

“I hadn’t decided,” I hedged. “Why?”

“More is riding on the Trials than I thought.” The queen pursed her lips, turning back to the note before her. “A messenger hawk brought news from Oren.”

I sat up straighter in my chair, and Aderyn echoed my movement, leaning in close to hear the news from the spy.