I nearly choked and gripped my fork so hard my hand ached. I couldn’t believe Ivarr was doing this to me.
“I never said that,” Vander countered.
“So you think she is?”
I peered at Vander around my hair; he tilted his head as if he knew this game and smiled. “She’s very beautiful. And she’s training to be an assassin, a good one. She won’t need a husband to protect her. Life is different in the assassins’ guild.”
“She’ll want one,” Ivarr challenged. “The assassins’ guild isn’t that different. I have an eye for these things, you see. I know there’s something going on between you two. Break her heart and I don’t care how many vampires you’ve killed, I’ll break your nose.”
“Ivarr, enough,” my father finally chided.
A little late, Dad.I shoved away from the table. In Neverglade a father worried over their daughters finding a good husband to keep them safe, protect them, and provide. We often married young, in our early twenties, but my life wasn’t here anymore. Most assassins didn’t marry until much later. There were committed relationships, but they considered marriage more for procreation and settling down in retirement, and since they didn’t have children until after at least twenty-five years of service, most waited. “Ivarr, outside. I’ll show you what I’ve learned so you can stop embarrassing me.”
Ivarr laughed as if it was a joke, and my father stood from the table to gather our plates. “Aesira, I wouldn’t want to hurt you. You’re my little sister.”
“Try me.”
“Fine.”
“Be careful,” my father remarked from the sink. Grandma stayed to help my father clean up while the rest of us gathered in the backyard.
Ivarr rolled up his sleeves and combed his dark hair off his forehead. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Aesira.”
My brother could toss a heavy hay bale onto the back of a wagon like it weighed nothing, but he wasn’t ducai strong, nor had he trained to fight in any formal setting, but he was my older brother and still intimidated me. I lifted the strap holding my sword over my head and Vander held out his hand.
“I’ll hold it. Don’t hurt him too badly,” he said with a smirk.
My brother pointed at him. “I saw that wink.”
“Oh, shut up!” I stepped left, then jumped right and swung behind him. He turned but not quickly enough to stop me from jumping onto his back and hooking my arm around his throat, locking him in a choke hold. Driving my knee into his spine, I forced him to bend. If I applied more pressure around his neck, he’d go unconscious in moments.
Ivarr raised a callused hand and wheezed, “Alright, I yield.”
I grinned and dropped to the ground then patted his shoulder. Payback was sweet. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Ericka your little sister can beat you up.”
He looked impressed as he rubbed his red neck. “I’m proud of you, sis. That was quick, and you’re stronger than I thought. You held back all those years wrestling over the last piece of pie. But I stillknow.” He wagged his finger between Vander and me.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous, but thank you. I’ve worked hard.”
“I can see that.” He smiled at Vander and ran a hand over his stubbled chin. “You taught her that move?”
“I taught her all her moves.”
“Would you show me a few things?”
Vander inclined his head, all business. I thought my brother was joking but Vander uncrossed his arms and handed me back my sword. “Sure.”
“Really?”
“Yes, you’re Aesira’s family.”
The sparkle of mischief in his eye worried me. My brother was about to regret the interrogation at the table.
With Kayda beside me, I sat in the grass with my legs crossed as Vander explained basic hand to hand combat just like he had to me when I first started. It wasn’t long before he tossed my brother on his ass. “You deserved that!” I hollered.
Ivarr rubbed the back of his head just before Vander pulled him back to his feet. “Again,” Vander said.
Kayda nudged my shoulder. She’d just turned eighteen last month. In another year she’d be at The Sorting Rite. Part of me hoped she would be chosen and join me, and the other part hoped she didn’t have to. “So, I know Ivarr is completely embarrassing, but Vander iscute.”
