CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A VICIOUS GIRL
The once great, now late Arliss Vale is among the stars. Or burning in hell.
The entire mountain knows Arliss has been slowly sinking toward death for years. What they don’t know: someone helped drag him under. With poison.
The decurio have their theories, but my eyes are firmly fixed on his son—Opheran bastard Kaidren Vale.
Where did Bastard Vale learn the skills of leadership? According to my sources, it wasn’t at a Virdeian academy.
What makes him a man of honor? Certainly not hiding his status as an isha until it suited him.
Did Bastard Vale murder his father? Did he lie to us all about being an isha? Let’s just say, you can change your name and don Honorate robes, but once a bastard, always a bastard.
Fondly,
Shadow Queen
A gloved hand clamps over my mouth. His arm curls around my waist, yanking me against the heat of his body.
I shriek. It’s muffled, and all I’ve accomplished is tasting the leather of his gloves.
His arm slides up until his fingers curl around my throat and squeeze.
My legs flail as I scramble to recall his instructions.
First, I need him to release me.
I claw, raking the hand at my throat with my nails. His gloves absorb most of the impact, and his grip remains as firm as ever.
Next plan. I drive my elbow back, into the soft spot on his side.
He doesn’t release me, but he grunts. Good. It hurt. So, I do it again. And again. Enough that he switches tactics, grabbing for my swinging arm and unlatching his hold around my waist.
I stomp my foot on his, hard as I can. It draws a hiss. The fingers locked around my throat loosen.
I scramble free, taking deep gasps of air. He’s taller than me. Faster than me. I have no weapons. To escape, I need to incapacitate him.
My foot kicks out, slamming into his knee. It buckles, and I kick him again, this time right in the groin.
Flynn falls to his knees. I rear back to strike him across the face, but he snatches my wrist. “I think that was more than enough, Mira.” His voice is strained, but he gives me a small grin. “Good job.”
I’m out of breath, and my heart is still racing. “Thanks.” I hold out a hand.
“You have good instincts.” Flynn takes my hand and rises gingerly to his feet. “I didn’t think you’d be so . . .” He trails, searching for a specific word. “Ruthless. Most people are afraid to hurt a pretend assailant, so they hold back. You didn’t. You fought as if your life were truly at stake.”
“Oh.” I frown, not sure what to make of this. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You did well. It’s better to practice as though it’s real.”
“You think I’d stand a chance if you were actually trying?”
“Against a trained decurio soldier? Probably not. But give it time. Victory favors the vicious, and something tells me you are as vicious as they come.”
Hearing his praise makes me smile. The light, pleasant sensation doesn’t last for long. It’s drowned by the prickling feeling of eyes boring into me.
I don’t have to turn to know what it is. The Petruvians are here to observe training. They’re supposed to be watching the decurio, but I keep feeling their probing stares on me.
Taelon and Lorwen Night are eerily stoic. They sit in the stands, silent and expressionless.
I glance in their direction to find them already staring back.
I shudder and look away.
Flynn gazes at me knowingly. “Just ignore them.”
“They bother you too?”
He scowls. “Let’s just say I’ll be happy when this Tournament is finally over and we can get back to training in peace.”
“Can’t the General kick them out? Or you?”
“Petruvia has a Tournament of their own, to decide how land is allocated. When they compete, we watch. Fair is fair.”
“More like fair is creepy,” I mutter with a dark look at the Nights, who are still staring at me.
Flynn chuckles and doesn’t correct me.
We continue sparring under the watchful eyes of the Nights while I try to figure out a way to broach the subject of his father.
As we break for water, I say, “Doesn’t this business with Arliss Vale bother you?”
Flynn frowns, looking wary. “I barely knew the man.”
“It doesn’t bother you that there might be someone murdering the Honorate?”
Flynn doesn’t answer right away. He takes a long drink of water, not looking at me. “No.”
I figured someone of his stature would be better at lying. “That wasn’t convincing. Come on. Your father is an Honorate. You must be worried whoever killed Arliss is going to strike again.”
He lowers his voice. “Mira, we’re not allowed to discuss ongoing investigations with civilians. I could get in trouble.”
Interesting. His objection to talking about the case is that he’s not allowed to—not that he’s unwilling to. I can work with that. “What if I fight you for it?”
Flynn sputters a laugh. “What?”
“A fight. I manage to pin you to the ground, you answer my questions. You win, I’ll drop it forever.”
“It’s not a fair fight. I’m going to win.”
“Then I guess you have nothing to lose.”
He wavers, looking more amused than conflicted. “What are your terms?”
“Well, obviously you’re not allowed to use magic, and you have to keep one arm behind your back. You know, to keep it fair.”
“Mira, I’m a trained soldier.” I can feel the strain in his voice not to sound condescending. “Nothing will make this fair.”
“Does that mean you agree?”
His eyes are narrowed, but the corners of his mouth twitch. “Fine.” He tucks one hand behind his back. “You ready?”
I widen my stance into a crouch. “Ready.”
He lurches toward me, clearly wanting to end this quickly. I skirt to the side, eyeing the ground as he turns back again, facing me.
He leans on the balls of his feet, preparing for another lunge.
According to the rules we set, Flynn isn’t allowed to use magic. I never said anything about me.
I can’t use magic in an obvious way, but Flynn just made the fatal error of lying to me. He claimed he wasn’t worried about someone killing the Honorate, and the magic of that lie is still warming my belly.
As he springs forward, I send heat—just a bit—to the frosttipped grass in front of him, melting it. Not enough for him to notice, just enough to make it slippery.
His foot lands on the slicked grass and skids forward.
For a split second, he’s surprised and off-balance.
In that moment, I dart forward, throw my arms around his waist, and tackle him to the ground.
We go sprawling. He crashes onto his back, and I land on top of him.
Flynn gawks at me as I stand. “I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be. I cheated.” I’m telling the truth, but he laughs, thinking I’m joking. “You didn’t let me win, did you?” I ask, eyes narrowed as though suspicious.
“No.” He sounds bemused as he pushes to his feet. “You won.”
“Good. I believe this means you owe me answers.”
With a sigh, Flynn puts a hand on my back and guides me closer to the stands, opposite the Petruvians and away from the other soldiers. “What do you want to know?”
“Who do you think killed Arliss Vale? Do you think someone’s targeting the Honorate?”
“I think . . .” He hesitates. “Well, there’s a reason the Shadow Queen is as terrifying as she is. All the Honorate have something to hide.”
“Something worth killing for?”
He hesitates for several seconds. “Maybe. Probably.”
I take a breath. Now for the question I really need answers to. “Including your father?”
Flynn recoils. “You can’t expect me to answer that.”
“I won, didn’t I?”
He groans. “Of course including my father. He gets letters from the Shadow Queen, same as anyone else. And he’s been paranoid for months.”
Months? Selva Sixmen got a letter from the imposter Shadow Queen two weeks ago—why has he been acting strange for months? “You don’t know why?”
“He never said, and I never asked. Why are you so interested in this?”
“I’m worried about my brother. What if he’s the next target?”
“Mira, one person died. That doesn’t mean there’s a conspiracy against the Honorate.”
“What does the decurio think?”
He looks over my shoulder. I follow his line of vision, and my eyebrows shoot up. “The Nights?”
“Not them specifically. But the arrival of Petruvia is too suspicious to ignore. Arliss died right after they got here. Can that truly be a coincidence?”
I study the Nights for a few moments until they look at me, yet again, and I swiftly turn my gaze elsewhere. It’s true that Petruvia arrived right before Arliss’s murder and the timing is suspicious . . .
But there’s someone else who arrived in Widow’s Hall around that same time. Someone else with a clear motive I can’t ignore. Kaidren Vale.