Kai stopped. “I am not ready.”
Shadi finally turned, her gaze unreadable. Finally, she said, “Few of us ever are.”
“I refuse to accept that the path of all Matriarchs is my only choice. That this—your version of a life—is who I must be.”
“And who would you abdicate your place to? Who would you relinquish power to?”
“Sitsi—”
Shadi was already shaking her head. “Sitsi is first of Doli and not of my bloodline.”
“And yet she is more like you than any of us. She would lead our people as you envision.”
Shadi sighed. “I should not have to keep explaining this to you.”
“I could say the same to you. I am a warrior. I am wife of Fala. I will happily give my blood in battle if you will it, but I cannot give my body to a male or the offspring that would come of such a union.”
“Kai—”
“You are the Grand Matriarch.” Quiet desperation leaked into Kai’s tone. “Say it is so, and it will be.”
Maybe this time her mother would see her. Not her legacy…her daughter. Maybe this time, Shadi would say the words Kai needed most:“You’re enough as you are.”
Shadi’s shoulders sank, and she cupped Kai’s face. For a breathless moment, softness lit her eyes. “Daughter,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. The Eternal One?—”
Shadi lowered her hands. Took a step away. “The gods have already spoken.”
Kai bowed her head. Not in obedience. Not in faith.
Only to hide the splintering of her heart.
Chapter
Three
Selene Marinea, breath scraping in great heaves from her lungs, wiped the sweat from her brow with a forearm. Her entire body tensed for another pass.
Shewouldclimb that wall this time.
Her boots gripped the packed dirt, and sweat soaked the inside of her gloves. The sharp tang of metal, sweat, and torch smoke lingered on her tongue.
“Ready?” Oskar asked.
The Master Blade, untouched by any level of exertion, stood with his arms folded. No sign of the kind mentor of her past.
No, this man was trying to kill her.
And still, she gave him a single nod in response. “Yes.”
“Good luck.”
Oskar’s whistle sliced through the air like a knife.
Ahead, two Blades in solid black and steel, sprinted toward Selene. She bore down in a crouch, knives in hand, and let her body guide her through the motions: swinging, ducking, leaping, and twisting. Landing her killing blows. Bloodless blows for all involved, thankfully, or she’d have died months ago.
Since returning to Perean, Oskar’s training had been relentless. Here, he put her in the Guild’s training facility for hours a day, reminding her overand over how he wouldn’t always be there to protect her. That, as much as Augustus believed himself to be indestructible, he was just a man like everyone else.
Selene needed to put her trust in Selene.
