Iryana growled and shoved her knee into his thigh, jerking her body to the side to escape his hold.
They circled each other, teasing with slices that were too far away to be an actual threat.
Anger surged through her. She was tired of running off everyone she got close to. She was tired of seeing that look on Pyetar’s face when he’d pulled away from her, the look on Hadima’s face when she’d realized what Iryana had done. She was so damn tired of it.
Iryana threw herself at Pyetar, let him think she was going to hit him with all her weight, and instead tangled her legs with his, pushing at his center of balance, and twisting him in front of her.
They both fell to their knees, Pyetar’s back now against her front.
“Give in,” she ordered, pressing the blunted edge of her dagger against his throat.
Pyetar swallowed. “I don’t think either of us is winning here.” The tip of his dagger pushed against the skin between her ribs.
She had a far better angle than he, with his arm twisted behind him, but it could still be deadly if he threw his weight into the dagger with his slice.
“Did you deliver the punishment to my family?” she demanded quietly so no one else could hear.
The thought of it had haunted her all week. She needed to know. She’d pictured it so many times. Pyetar stalking through the Dovaki post, shoving her family aside. Lowering a torch to the food stores like she had the poppies. Flames rising before him.
He was quiet for a moment other than his breathing. “No. And I learned of it too late to do anything.” His voice was as low as hers, barely a whisper.
“And would you have done anything, had you gotten the chance?”
“Depends,” he answered softly, and she pressed the blunt dagger harder against his throat. “If I could have done something that wouldn’t immediately give myself away, or make things worse for your family, I would have. Given the opportunity.”
Iryana tried to catch her breath, staring at Pyetar’s profile as he looked back toward her. His face was so serious, like it always was around the rest of the brigade. A hard mask of indifference that hid so much. Hid the passion he had shown her in that brief moment in her room.
Shaking that thought away, Iryana shoved him forward, sprang to her feet and retreated. She couldn’t hide the glare on her face.
“Iryana, a moment.”
She tensed and spun to find Karvek standing just inside the gate of the training yard. He looked between her and Pyetar, something like satisfaction crossing his face.
She sneered at what he’d done to her family, but immediately tried to soothe it away. She couldn’t let him see that anger.
Tossing the dagger to an initiate waiting their turn for space in the yard, Iryana didn’t bother looking back at her captain for dismissal. Pyetar could say nothing against her talking to Karvek, at least not in the open like this.
She followed Karvek back to his study in the main house. As she cooled, her damp skin left goosebumps along her arms. Karvek prowled toward his desk and poured himself a drink.
She waited, tense, hoping this had nothing to do with the burning of his poppies.
“I have a mole,” he said, still facing away from her.
Fear clutched her, but she hid it before he turned, piercing her with his gaze. She didn’t dare speak.
“Someone is leaking information to your family. To the Kleesold clan. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“No, I would never betray you.” She swallowed, jaw tense.
He stepped closer, crowding her. “They are your family, though.”
Her mind spun; she had to throw him off. She had to convince him; otherwise, everything was lost. It would be harder to sell an outright lie; best to show him something real.
She braced herself, because it was going to hurt.
Iryana let a hint of her anger show on her face. “Theyabandonedme. My father hurt me, hurt my mother. Foryears! What did the others do? They sent fresh bread and extra stew from family dinners once a week.”
She was losing control of her features and could feel her face twisting in pain. “They didn’t care about us. I lost my mother because of it; they drove her away. And once my father died, once I was all alone, they still didn’t care.”
