Page 110 of The Boy Bride

“Do I?” Vanu hadn’t noticed. He tucked his practice sword under his arm so he could sign, “It’s a treat, sparring with you. I like seeing how good you are.”

Lill looked as if he needed some time to think about this. “I … have worked hard to improve,” he said finally. “You like sparring? It’s … fun for you?”

“Yeah. Always liked fighting. Always been good at it.”

“Good is not a strong enough word,” Lill said tartly.

Vanu laughed. “Yeah, yeah. ‘Best swordsman of my generation’ and all that.”

“Show me some attacks,” Lill suggested.

“Sure.”

Vanu flipped his sword into his left hand and made the attack that had taken White Viper by surprise when Vanu was seventeen. It was something he’d invented, ramshackle and risky, but it had paid off that time.

Lill parried it. Or he would have, if he hadn’t been half Vanu’s size, with those thin wrists. His sword twisted out of his hand, and he had to duck, but he did evade the blow.

“That’s—”

“How you killed—White Viper.” Lill picked himself up from the ground, where he had ended up. “Right?”

Vanu nodded. “He should have parried like you did. Would have worked for him—he was a bit bigger than you.”

Not much bigger, actually. He’d been a surprisingly small man, a Chiddang nobleman with his grey hair in long plaits, the same style Lill wore. The same kind of ferocity in his eyes, too. Vanu wondered why he hadn’t seen that similarity before.

The other masters must have remembered that attack, the one that took down their leader, and taught their students how to counter it.

“Show me another,” said Lill.

They went on until Lill was beginning to look exhausted, the way he had at the wedding dance. Vanu was happy to stop himself. He was still feeling hungover. He saluted with his sword, and Lill made a quaint lowland bow.

“What about Red Asp?” Lill said suddenly.

“Who?”

Lill gave a huff of laughter. “The other Grandmaster of the Order that you killed. How did you strike the killing blow that time?”

Vanu thought for a moment, then admitted, “I don’t remember. It was a different situation—heat of battle. He didn’t call me out for a duel the way White Viper did. Not as memorable. Sorry.”

“Oh, no. It doesn’t matter. I was just curious.”

“Let’s go get some water,” Vanu suggested, nodding toward the house.

“I’d like to learn to enjoy that the way you do,” Lill remarked as they went inside.

Vanu looked at him, wondering whether he would say more, but he didn’t. Maybe he was waiting to be asked. They sat down in the front room together with cups of water.

“I like learning about the styles of fighting, how the attacks work, and so on,” Lill said, becoming chatty. “I’ve always been good at that. I can watch a fight and say what the combatants should have done, and why, even when I couldn’t do it myself. I’m not suggesting you can’t do that—I know you can, of course—but you can also do the things. And you’re more of an instinctive fighter, I think.”

“Probably. Did more of my learning in real fights than I’d’ve liked. All that business with my ma’s family and my da’s family and my ma’s husband’s family—there was a lot of fighting when I was young, even leaving aside the king invading. Think I can remember using a real blade before a wooden one. Though that may just be what you remember, you know?”

“Hands,” Lill signed, his code for reminding Vanu not to overuse his voice.

They were sitting side by side on the cushions. Vanu nudged Lill’s thigh with his knee and signed, “Don’t fuss.”

Lill smiled.

There was a knock at the door, a loud and urgent thumping. Lill popped up, setting down his cup of water on the table, and jumped down from the seating platform.