Sparrow and Foggy trailed along with me as we went to the training room. But it was only once we got there that he turned and saw us. “We’re to have an audience?”
Amber, ever on her toes, blinked. “Audience? No, they’re here to help train you.” She looked at me and tilted her head indicating I should step out. “Go ahead, see if you can get Legs on her back.”
I blushed furiously.
“Ah… sorry, what?” Alvere said, also blushing — at least I wasn’t the only one — and stammering a little. “I’m not dressed for training,” he said by way of excuse.
Neither was I, wearing a long, simple dress.
Amber would not let him off that easily, though. “Neither is she. We’ll sort out proper dress next time. If you’re really worried about it, you could both just take off your clothes.”
We both stared at her flatly.
Amber shrugged. “Or not. The point here is to see how good you are at hand-fighting. It doesn’t require armor or special equipment, and frankly if this comes up in real life, you’re likely to be wearing what you’re wearing now. So just humor me. See if you can get Legs on her back on the mats.”
The prince looked at me with an apologetic look and shrugged. “I’m sorry,” he said as he stepped toward me. Only… it wasn’t going to be him who was sorry.
He tried to be gentle, moving close then simply pushing me. It was almost comical how quickly and easily I bested him. His hands came for my shoulders, I reached across, grabbed the one while turning away from the other. Then I pushed his hand back, locking his wrist. I followed that up with my other arm locking the elbow of that same arm and forcing it up… which forced him down, and a moment later I was kneeling next to him, where he lay on his back. I released his arm and wrist, and he pulled them back quickly, massaging them.
“What was that?” he asked, confused and shocked.
“That,” Amber said coming to stand over us both. “Was a very basic move. Would you like to learn it?”
The prince nodded. Then he looked at me as we both got up. “I should have known not to underestimate you.” He shook his head, still staring at me, and I believe I blushed a little at his scrutiny. “A few days ago, you were cut up beyond reason, and now you’re healed and hale as an ox, and it wasn’t that healer… Ant who did it, was it?”
I shrugged, trying to be mysterious. “I’m just amazing,” I said.
“You are.” His voice was low and breathy, only for me. IknowI blushed then.
For the rest of the morning Alvere practiced. It quickly became apparent that though he didn’t know this style, he was well trained. He equated certain moves with others he knew from sword-practice or work with staves and pole-arms. That, and he was a quick learner. By the end of the first lesson, he’d learned the lock I’d used on him, plus a few other moves, and before we left for lunch, it was me who was on my back, with him holding my arm at a strange angle.
Sorry, he mouthed the word as he released me. His sweat-damp hair and flushed cheeks — from the morning’s exertions — added to those stunning beryl-blue eyes, were making me sweat for a very different reason. Good thing I was already sweaty and messy and a little bit more wouldn’t be noticed.
As he helped me up, I caught sight of Sparrow across the room. Her look toward the prince, along with a slight shrug and tilt of her head gave me all the information I needed: she might be ok with him joining us. I rolled my eyes in return, hopefully telling her we weren’t going to be doing anything anytime soon. She smiled and nodded. The prince only caught the end of that.
“You have many close friends here, don’t you?” He looked from Sparrow to me. “We don’t really know a lot of how your Noble Houses work, given that you select Nobles instead of them being born to their title. Are you all close?”
Some of us were very close.
“Yes,” I said with a smile. Then, to get the conversation away from that, I said, “I never understood your way. What if a noble isn’t meant for rulership? He still gets his title and land when his father dies. And why does it always go through the male, not the female. Our way seems much more logical, based on skill and—”
He laughed. “I suppose so. But your way might have its flaws as well. Only people whowantto rule are tested. Not all those who want to rule are good rulers. What if there were others who would be good rulers who don’t decide to be tested, or aren’t even Chosen by Lumani to begin with? What then? And Nobles choosing other Nobles also leads to the possibility of nepotism and favorites, or bribes. I’m not saying being born to it is better, but I don’t think either option is perfect.”
He had a point. And we’d gotten the conversation away from my personal life. I chatted with him about politics as we made our way back to the great hall for lunch. And we chatted all through lunch. We probably would have kept going, if Maverick hadn’t interrupted us.
“You two probably don’t want to see this, but I think you should both come with me,” he said heavily. From his expression, whateverthiswas, wasn’t going to be fun. We looked at each other, then back to him.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We’re going to question the fake mistweaver.”
Oh…
“Fake mistweaver?” Alvere said with a note of horror.
Maverick nodded, then drew a long breath. “The one who… did what she did at your palace also wanted our dear Legs here dead as well. We thought we’d captured her, after she’d attacked us here at Hedgewild, but it was a decoy to make us think we were safe.” His expression grew grim. “It’s only a theory, but I think she wanted us to let Legs go on that mission, so that she could kill her along with… the others… and make it look like they’d all done it to each other. A convenient scapegoat.”
The prince nodded, but there was a shadow over his features. “I thought your mission was tostopthe mistweaver? But if you thought you had her here, why did you come to my palace?”
