Kasira actually laughed at that. “You think I’m a Kalish spy sent all the way here to,what? Rob you of your trinkets?”
Elyae surged toward her again but froze when Allaster lifted a hand. “That’s enough, Elyae. You will treat her with the respect afforded to an Assistant Librarian, do you understand?”
“But—” She cut off at Allaster’s stern look, a muscle flexing in her jaw. “I understand.”
Despite her words, her dark eyes promised Kasira retribution. But after the past few weeks of Kasira dedicating herself to her role at the Library and saving Benlo, it would look to those watching as if Elyae were holding an unfair grudge bordering on zealousness, an impression that would undermine any future claims she made against Kasira.
Elyae bowed to Allaster before stalking from the arena with Warrin and a handful of other mages at her heel. Allaster watched her go with a resigned exhaustion, scrubbing a hand roughly through his already messy hair.
May inspected Kasira’s jaw. “I’m fine,” Kasira said, clasping May’s hand in her own to lower it. “It’s just a bruise.”
May made a small tsking sound. “If you say so. I’ll see you in the library tonight.” Then she departed with a nod to Allaster, who looked as though he wanted to say something more to Kasira, but he only sighed in the end and disappeared with a snap of his fingers.
Kasira was far sorer than she wanted to admit when she returned to her room that evening. It had been a while since she had sparredwith someone other than Revna or Loraya, and it had felt good to test her skills against May, who was every bit as skilled a fighter as Loraya had been.
What would Loraya have made of this place, in all its wonder? She had been as averse to the priests’ teachings as Kasira, but where Loraya was too fiercely independent to let others sway her, Kasira had bent inward with every blow. If Loraya were here, she would probably already have Allaster under her thrall, magic at her fingertips, and the Library in the palm of her hand, a thought that at once brought a smile to Kasira’s lips and left her feeling strangely unsettled.
She was halfway through changing into something clean to go meet May, her back still sore but largely healed, when she noticed the corner of a letter peeking out from beneath her pillow. While her reports went through the compendium, Vera had said messages from her would be delivered to her room so Kasira wouldn’t be constantly checking the book.
She broke open the wax seal to find the message written in a nondescript hand:
If you intend to spend the next few weeks reading and growing comfortable on the Library’s luxuries, you will be back where you came from before winter. I expect you to possess magic by the week’s end.
Kasira crushed the note in her fist. She had told Vera very plainly that she would need to spend the first month subtly establishing her place here. Clearly, whoever the other agent in the Library was saw that as idleness. Was that why Vera had orchestrated that meeting with Allaster? To check in on Kasira herself? With how Allaster had reacted to Vera’s request to speak to Kasira, it had likely been clear to the Ambassador that Kasira hadn’t yet earned his trust.
Except something about that deadline stuck in the back of her mind—at the week’s end.Fen had said Prince Laurens was rumored to be proposing to Aliul Yadora at that time. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, though Thane would have ridiculed her had she believed that. Vera had changed her timeline from two months to the week’send, not because she had suddenly decided that Kasira wasn’t doing enough, but because of this pending engagement.
A potential union between the kingdom’s two most powerful families, between the old royal blood and the new, between beast sympathizer and beast slayer.
And for some reason, Vera was threatened by it.
Allaster had certainly softened toward Kasira since the incident with Benlo, but it had only been a day. She would need at least the rest of the week to settle into this new dynamic before she pressed it further, which meant taking things right up to Vera’s deadline.
It was earlier than she wanted to put things in motion, but she didn’t have a choice. A misstep with Allaster she might be able to rectify; Vera, she didn’t want to test. There was no longer time to wait for Allaster to grant her magic of his own accord.
She had to make him.
CHAPTER 15
KASIRA
KASIRA CAUGHTALLASTER’S STAFF WITH HER OWN, THROWING HERfull weight behind it.
They had been in the arena near on an hour, and her mostly healed wounds complained at the effort, but it was the first time they had returned to sparring since her initial days here, and she clung to the opportunity. He lunged for her, and she blocked his downstroke, countering. They settled into an easy rapport of trading testing strikes, each seeking the other’s weaknesses.
It didn’t take long for her to determine that he fought right-handed and that he had a tendency to let his staff drop when defending. From the way he prodded at her guard on one side and then the other, she knew he was testing for the same in her. She had never been as skillfully ambidextrous as Loraya, but she was good enough to fight left-handed as Eirlana would. However, it put her at a distinct disadvantage against Allaster.
In the end, he disarmed her, levelling the tip of his staff at her throat.
“Quicker,” he remarked.
“Smarter,” she returned and seized hold of his staff, yanking him forward with it to grab his arm as she turned. She felt the press of his muscled chest against her back, the solidness of his weight as she lifted him from the ground—and then, just as suddenly, he pulled her back.
With an impossibly strong grip, he drew his arm down and to the side, forcing her to spin until they were face-to-face, her arm clasped against his chest and her fingers still curled about his wrist. For a moment, all Kasira could focus on was the absence of space between them, the heat of his skin against hers.
Then he offered her a cat’s smile and said, “Magic.”
She wrenched her hand free. “Cheater.”
