Nocturnus—I knew that name. My grandmother spoke of it, although I wasn’t sure what or where it was. People disappeared all the time, but I assumed they were killed swiftly.
It was then it truly hit me that they’d all been training for this their entire lives and I knew nothing. I felt a surge of panic. Even if Taewyn promised not to hurt me too badly, I was going to look like a fool. I disliked large crowds as it was and hated when the attention was on me. “I think I’m going to go talk to one of the scholar leaders over there to see if they can make an exception so I can skip”—I waved at the sparring—“all this.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Celine hissed, grabbing my arm and jerking me back before I got two steps. “Look, you’re new here so they’ll cut you some slack, but there is no skipping this. We fight, so toughen up, sweet cheeks, or prepare to be fucked up.”
My heart felt like it was sitting in my throat. “I’ve never fought. I don’t know anything about fighting. I make weapons, I don’t use them.” My father taught me how to throw a punch and a quick stab with a dagger if I ever needed to, but I had no real experience.Everyonehere did.
Taewyn put a hand on my shoulder. “The more scared you are, the worse it’s going to be. You’re lucky it’s me and Celine because anyone else would use this information against you so they’ll look better. This is more to see how you move and your speed and strength. Not fighting skills. You learn those later if you are a warrior or assassin.”
“You’d be surprised what you’re capable of when you have no choice.” Celine nudged my side hard with her elbow. “Like he said, don’t ever tell anyone you’re scared to be here. You’re ducai now, act like it.” I didn’t even know how a ducai acted. Tough, brazen? She reached into her pocket and took out what lookedlike a small, rolled piece of paper. “I need a smoke. You see a light somewhere?”
“Torch.” Taewyn nodded toward the brick wall beside the weapons rack. She jogged away, leaving us alone. “You are born with skill sets that make you more fit for one guild than another, and that means trying your hardest at everything. The warriors favor strength and bravery. The assassins, speed and stealth. The scholars, strategy and mind. Come on, let’s look at the weapons. If you can throw an axe at a target, they’ll like that.”
I’d split wood but never got into axe throwing. “I can whittle and carve.”
Taewyn tucked his bottom lip between his teeth. It was certainly not a useful skill here. “Maybe you can just go in and act brave?”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure the warriors will believe that,” I said, with a half-laugh, trying to cover my terror. “Should I flex and twirl a knife in my hand?” I drawled in sarcasm.
“We’ll figure something out.” Taewyn dragged me over to a wooden chest. He popped the lid, and inside were daggers, knives, throwing stars, and axes.
Ugh, this couldn’t be happening. “We are not actually using these on anyone, right? Do people die during initiation?” I peeked around and couldn’t see any stabbing incidents... yet.
He looked bewildered. “Of course we don’t kill each other. The vamps do enough of that. We save the killing for the enemy.”
With some relief, I picked up a strange, small wooden tube that looked more like an instrument than a weapon. “What is this?”
“It’s for a blow dart. It’s like a miniature arrow, I guess you could say, but the barb would be dipped with poison.”
Swords started to clank. Arrows thudded into stuffed dummies. A fist cracked into flesh, and someone cried out. I didn’t even want to turn around to look.
The quiet whistle caught my attention first, then out of the corner of my eye I spotted something flying at me. I snatched a white ball out of the air before it hit me in the side of the head. It was hard as stone and might have knocked me clean out if I hadn’t caught it.
“Quick reflexes.” The assassin woman approached with her hands behind her back. I couldn’t tell if she was impressed or not. “Step in the arena with Morrow.”
I stilled, dropping the ball. She wanted me to fighthim? After seeing him punch that other woman in the face and the way she dropped... Taewyn and I glanced at each other, then at the same time we said, “Me?”
“The outsider. He said you wanted to challenge him.”
I shook my head and glared at Morrow. He wore no shirt, showing off his muscular tanned skin, glistening with sweat. He bounced from toe to toe and puckered his lips at me. I gagged a little. “I never said that. Taewyn and I are going to spar for the testing, right, Taewyn?”
He nodded furiously, copper curls bouncing. “Yes. We’re ready.”
Her hazel eyes glittered in the sunlight, and the corners crinkled, with amusement perhaps. I couldn’t quite tell with the mask covering everything from the bridge of her nose down. On the left side collar of her tight black top was “FALCON” in white letters. “Well, maybe you didn’t say you wanted to challenge him, but now he’s called you out. What are you going to do about it?”
“I was actually wondering if I could take the scho?—”
Taewyn slapped his palm over my mouth. “She’ll fight.”
“Good.” Now I knew she was smiling under that mask. She turned on her heel and returned to stand in her position next to the other assassin leaders.
I rounded on Taewyn and shoved his hand away. “Are you insane? Muscles is going to kill me.”
“Remember you’re ducai, not human.”
“So is he.”
Taewyn shrugged. “Just try to not get hit. They won’t let it go on too long.”
