“Rune didn’t gut the whore killer, though that was what he deserved. I stopped him.”
“Rune?” Briar laughed. “And what? You’re the angel on his shoulder, and sometimes he listens to you? What if one day, hechooses not to listen? What if one day he looks at you, at your pretty, blind face, and decides you’re his next meal?”
“What are you talking about?” It was Seraphina’s time to shout. She was shaking with fury, appalled at Briar’s words. There was cruelty in them that didn’t fit what she knew about her friend. “He is not like that. He would never... Rune would never harm me.”
Briar sneered and stepped closer. This time, Seraphina stood her ground, her hands going behind her back, fingers wrapping around the hilts of her daggers. The gesture wasn’t lost on Briar, who crowded her and spat on the ground. Seraphina felt the spit hit the toe of her boot. She pulled out her daggers and held them crossed in front of her heaving chest.
“Back off,” she scowled at Briar. “Don’t make me do this.”
“Make you do what? I’ve always beat your ass in sparing.”
“This wouldn’t be sparing.”
“So, you’re saying you were letting me win?”
Seraphina clenched her jaw. She wasn’t saying anything. She had never let Briar win, had always given her all in their training. She hoped today was the day she outperformed her master. She also hoped said master would have a last-minute change of heart.
“You’re choosing a monster over me?”
“No, Briar. I’m choosing me over you.”
Briar pulled out her own daggers, one from her belt, the other from her boot.
“So be it. What I didn’t tell you is that the Mother Superior tasked me with bringing the relic back, with or without you.”
She lunged first, her blade aimed at Seraphina’s ribs. Seraphina twisted away and brought her own dagger up to deflect the second strike that came fast behind it. Metal scraped metal, and Briar pressed forward, forcing Seraphina back three steps.
“Give up now,” Briar growled. “You can’t win this.”
Seraphina shoved hard with both blades crossed. Briar stumbled but recovered quickly. They circled each other. Briar feinted left before slashing right.
“Predictable,” Seraphina said, and ducked under the strike.
She drove her shoulder into Briar’s stomach. The air rushed out of Briar’s lungs, and Seraphina spun away before the counterstrike could land. She felt the blade whistle past her ear.
“Lucky,” Briar spat, and came at her again, faster.
One blade, then the other, high and low, a pattern Seraphina knew by heart. She gave ground and let her friend think she had the advantage.
“That all you got?” Briar sneered.
Seraphina waited. When Briar overextended on a downward slash, she sidestepped and dragged her dagger across her forearm. Blood welled up through the torn sleeve.
Briar hissed and switched her grip.
“You bitch.”
“You taught me that move,” Seraphina said.
She didn’t give her time to breathe. She pressed forward with a combination Briar had drilled into her for months, strikes that used to leave her arms aching. Briar blocked the first two but the third caught her across the thigh.
“Fuck,” she gasped.
Seraphina kicked her wounded leg out from under her. Briar went down on one knee and tried to rise but Seraphina was already there. She kicked one dagger out of her hand and slashed down across her shoulder. Briar cried out and dropped the second blade.
“Stay down,” Seraphina said.
She kicked the second dagger away and stood over her friend, both blades at her throat, chest heaving.
