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“I was my mother’s assassin,” I answered woodenly, tracking my gaze over her frame to take in her stance, which leg she favoured, the grip on her sword hilt. A little too loose, but the set of her strong shoulders was firm. She was broader than me, arms thick with muscle beneath her armour and legs solid trunks that she planted firmly into the dusty ground as she eyed me back.
“Let’s begin.” I flew at her before she could react, and saw her green eyes narrow before she brought her sword up to fend off my blow.
“Did you enjoy it?” she asked, darting to the side to avoid another jab. Asking the question distracted her, allowing me to easily tap her hip with the flat of my sword. We stopped, parting to begin again.
“You leave your right side too unprotected.” I went for her again, and this time she overcompensated as she tried to correct herself, but I eased back as I answered her question. “I enjoyed the control that came with it.”
“We heard stories of you.” Her sword clashed with mine again, and she gritted her teeth as she heaved forward to push me back. I tensed when she succeeded in driving me back a single step. “When she first started sending you out to murder Folk. The young boy, still a child, slaughtering fae with ease.”
I didn’t answer, reassessing my strategy as I fended off a heavy blow. She was stronger than I’d thought, and solid once her feet were firmly on the ground.
She might actually be able to give me a good fight.
For the first time in what felt like weeks, eagerness bled into my movements. Determination to succeed. I appreciated Gillie training with me, but he was sloppy with a sword and didn’t take it seriously. This seelie guard looked determined to beat me.
“Will the king make you his personal assassin?” she asked, breathing a little faster as she fended off a flurry of strikes from my blade.
I blinked at the question. She was being somewhat… informal. Casual. I wasn’t used to it—wasn’t used to someone I barely knew speaking to me as their equal. I wasn’t used to speaking freely with anyone except Ash.
I found that I… liked it.
I should have been wary of speaking to a seelie guard at all, but her eyes weren’t glinting with malice or revulsion. Nor were they gleaming with sly calculation. She was simply asking me questions. Making… conversation.
“No,” I answered, tapping her right side, making her teeth clench, before stepping back.
“How are you finding seelie? It must be strange. I’ve never heard of an unseelie living here. Do you like it?”
I had been preparing to lunge for her again, but the question made me go still. I made sure my mask was in place as I gazed at her in silence, but it was difficult. Difficult not to have someone know how this place made me feel, even though she was a stranger.
She stared back, and after a few seconds, understanding dawned in her eyes, making me look away sharply.
“Again.” I jerked my chin at her sword, hanging limp in her hand. She shook out her shoulders and brought it up.
“That was far better than any practice I have with the other guards,” she said a couple of hours later, breathing hard, sweat gleaming on her brow when we finally stopped.
My shirt was sticking to me, hair limp and damp down my back from the relentless heat that made the air cloying and stuffy, even though we were shaded from the sun. My mouth was dry from the dust kicked up by our feet, face tight and coated in a thin layer of it.
“You favour your left leg.” I sheathed my sword and pushed back the strands of hair sticking to my temples. “It makes you twist your body in a way that keeps you just off balance.”
She nodded, blowing out a breath and walking to the side to retrieve her helmet.
“Noted. I appreciate the feedback.” She tucked her helmet under her arm and approached, giving me a dry smile as she held out her hand. “I’m Sanya, by the way.”
I stared at her thick, calloused fingers, the skin brown and marred by a few scars, before slowly clasping her hand. When I released it, she cleared her throat and gestured at the palace.
“Shall I fetch us some water?”
I should have told her no, that I could get my own. That the fact I had asked her to practise with me didn’t mean we were now… acquaintances. But the thought of going inside and sitting on my own for hours, possibly days while Ash was gone, chased away some of the easy satisfaction that had settled over me during our practise.
I found myself nodding. “Yes. We both need it.”
She turned, smoothing down the wild strands of her curly hair before shoving her helmet back on. Once she had vanished inside, I let out a slow breath and walked to the benches that edged the training ring. Perching on one, I gripped the seat and stared at the furrows our feet had left in the dust.
I tensed when the door opened, but it was just Sanya returning with two cups of water. She sat down heavily beside me with a sigh, passing me one before gulping down the contents of the other.
“Would’ve got us something stronger, but I’m on duty for another few hours.” She chuckled, wiping her mouth as I took a slow sip of water.
I wasn’t sure what kind of response she was expecting, so I turned the conversation back to what I knew. What I understood. What felt familiar to me.
