The alley was so narrow that if Felix stretched his arms out, his fingertips would brush both sides. It reminded him of the fighthe’d interrupted when he first met Marcus, the bullies who had cornered him in an alley just like this one.
“Stop a second,” Felix said. “This could be useful.” He gestured to the enclosed space. “A bully is never going to fight you out in the open. And fighting in such a restricted space has its own challenges as well as benefits.”
Marcus glanced around. “Oh?”
“A wall can be a weapon,” Felix explained. “If you can use someone’s own momentum to shove them into it, that could incapacitate them as easily as any punch.”
He began to demonstrate, and Marcus watched with interest.
Lucretia couldn’t hold back a smile as she walked to the harbor to oversee the arrival of one of her ships. Dihya and Caeso had straightened out their misunderstanding, and things seemed to be progressing between the two—so much so that Lucretia had noticed Caeso escorting Dihya to their office this morning, as if the two had spent the night together. So far, Dihya had been private about the details, which Lucretia respected, but all signs pointed to a blossoming relationship.
Lucretia’s enlightened self-interest had also paid off: Caeso kept finding excuses to drop off any unsold loaves or pastries at their office at the end of the day, and he no longer accepted any payment from her when she visited his stall. She was happy for her friend; Dihya deserved all the joy she could find with Caeso.
Passing the mouth of a crooked passage between two buildings, Lucretia stopped short. Something caught her eye, a flicker of pale green fabric that was unsettlingly familiar. She spied two figures further down the alley. One was taller than the other, and the smaller one wore the pale green tunic that had caught her attention.
She knew that color…knew that fabric. It looked exactly like the fabric she had woven and dyed with her own hands when Marcus had outgrown his last batch of tunics.
She squinted, struggling to make sense of what she saw in the shadows.
When the taller figure aimed a punch at the smaller person’s jaw, Lucretia’s feet carried her toward them at a run before her mind could process what was going on.
When her brain caught up, she reached for the small knife she carried for household tasks. She wrapped her fingers around it, took aim, and let it fly—straight at the center of the attacker’s back.
The man moved to the side, and the knife struck him in the upper arm before clattering to the dirt. The man yelped and clapped a hand to the bleeding wound, turning to see what had assailed him.
Lucretia darted forward, picked up the knife, ready for another strike—but froze as she saw Felix standing before her, Marcus at his back, wide-eyed. Confusion ripped through her. Was it possible that Felix’s schemes to unseat her had gotten even darker? Was he trying to kidnap or harm her son in order to force her to hand over her ships?
Her heart pounded, hands unsteady. She thrust out the knife, pointing it directly at Felix’s throat. Felix flattened himself against the alley wall, hands up.
“Lucretia,” he gasped. “What are you doing here?”
“You don’t ask the questions,” she snarled.
“Mother!” Marcus exclaimed. “Stop it!”
She cast a quick glance at Marcus, assessing his condition. She couldn’t see any blood, and he didn’t seem to be injured.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Felix said, still holding his hands up and eying her knife. Blood oozed from the small wound on his arm, darkening the sleeve of his tunic.
“What itlookslike,” Lucretia said, striving to keep her voice from shaking, “is that you’re trying to murder my son.”
“I certainly am not!” Felix said, somehow daring to sound outraged.
“Put the knife down!” Marcus shouted. “We were just practicing!”
“Practicing what?” Lucretia demanded, keeping her focus on Felix.
Felix lifted his hands higher, as if that could intensify his surrender. “I have been teaching Marcus how to box.”
Lucretia blinked. “You…what?”
“It’s true!” Marcus said. “I-I heard that Felix was a good boxer, so I asked him to teach me.”
“You’ve never shown an interest in boxing before,” Lucretia said, her mind still struggling to catch up. Marcus wanted to learn to box? And somehow Felix had ended up teaching him? Though there was clearly still something she didn’t understand, her immediate terror eased just a bit, as it seemed that Felix wasn’t actually trying to harm Marcus. “I would have gotten you a real teacher if you had asked.”
“I’ll have you know, I’m an excellent instructor,” Felix said. “Marcus’s skill increases by the day.”
She glared at him and thrust the knife even closer to his throat. “Now is not the time for your arrogance.” She turned to her son. “Marcus, please go home. I wish to speak with Felix in private.”
