“Yield,” she demanded, her power curling around his shield. He could feel the pull of it, alluring and magnetic, and gods, he didn’t know if it was her affinity or simplyher.
“I’d rather not,” he panted. He hooked a leg around hers and tried to roll so their positions were reversed, but Aya held firm, her body pressing hard against his.
It irked him.
“Fucking—”
“Yield,” she seethed, her blade pressing forward.
“Fine,” Will spat, irritation flaring as she smirked. She shoved off of him instantly, and Will’s head hit the ground as he forced a steadying breath. He blinked, taking in the brilliant blue of the sky, before rolling up and grabbing his sword.
“Best of three,” he said to Aya’s retreating figure.
She paused, her lips pulling tight as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “I’d rather not,” she mocked.
Will took a step toward her, his heart hammering in his chest. Seven hells, when was the last time he’d been this aware of the fact that he wasalive?
“You got lucky,” he goaded.
Aya pivoted slowly to face him. Her cheeks, still flushed from their sparring, darkened as anger glinted in her eyes. He could feel it stab against his affinity, breaking through the cracks in her shield.
He wondered if she even realized he could feel her.
“Or perhaps you’re not as good as you think you are,” Aya shot back. Another surprised laugh rasped out of him. Aya bared her teeth at the sound.
Hebotheredher.
How fun.
“Come on, Aya love,” he purred, risking another step. Her hand tightened on the pommel of her sword. He chanced another brush of his power against her, sensing.
Anger, and disgust, and…
Something else. Something that mixed with the tug he felt in his own stomach as he took another step toward her.
“Fight with me,” he murmured.
Aya hesitated only a moment more. And then she raised her sword.
24
“We were just getting to what brought the Vaguer to Kakos.”
It took Aya a moment to register King Gregor’s words through her shock and dread. There was an irritation lining them, a terseness that had not been present when Aya and Evie had been presented to him in this very room.
Evie seemed entirely unbothered by it, as did the Vaguer. He simply turned his chilling grin on the king and said,
“We are here to pledge our support to the Original Saint.”
Perhaps her time in isolation had rendered her foolish. Because a sound of protest rose up in Aya’s throat, and she only just swallowed it down before she could show her doubt.
The Vaguer had been excommunicated from the Maraciana because of their willingness to study dark magic. And yet, the man had called the Decachiré heresy when Aya had sought him out.
Then again, he had been all too willing to move forward with the Soul Trial, all too willing to see if Aya’s essence was dark or light. It wasn’t technically forbidden magic, but it certainly hadn’t felt like something any god would approve of. What was it that Aidon had said when he first explainedthe ostracized Saj to her?
They are devout worshippers not of the gods, but of the saint.
Aya glanced to Evie, who was considering the group of Saj carefully. “What is your name?” the saint asked.
