Whisper of Blade | ✓ (Crimson #1)

Chapter 43: Flawed Armor

One more match. One final match standing between her and Kovine. After that ... Minerva hobbled to the chair Tobias had been sitting on. After that, she might need a couple days to let her body recover. She didn't want to linger and let her wheels sink into the mud, but the trip across the desert wouldn't be easy when traveling alone.

Even with the delays added between matches to give the fighters a moment to breathe and collect themselves, there wouldn't be time for a nap. Minerva needed to be awake and have all her faculties razor sharp. Still she yawned, eyelids feeling like lead weights.

Stretching her aching muscles, Minerva pushed back the chair and walked toward the gates. She needed to work through some forms to keep her body warm and limber. Where had Pyra gone? Maybe to relay the message about Azuki.

She didn't realize anyone was around until a hand clapped over her mouth and she was pulled into the shadowy corner near the stairs.

"It's me," Kaolin whispered in Minerva's ear.

Relaxing, Minerva moved Kaolin's hand. "You're lucky I didn't have a dagger on me. What are you doing here? How are you here?"

"I have my ways. The wardens are much more interested in keeping people in than out, believe it or not." Kaolin caught Minerva's hand in hers and dragged her down the stairs. She summoned a ball of flame to her hand. "I can tell you're happy to see me, despite all your grumping."

Minerva winced as her tender feet hit the stone steps, too tired to disagree. "I'd be happier if you told me why you needed to jump scare me. Also, didn't I dismiss you?"

"Politics, my dear. And dismissing me was the worst mistake of your life." When they reached the basement, Kaolin guided her behind the screens to their immediate right. Being a spy lent her more caution than the average person as if she knew how easy it could be for stray words to reach hidden ears. "Circumstances have reached boiling point and I'm not about to let you become a frog floating dead in the water."

"Kaolin." Minerva pulled her hand back and looked at her former maidservant with wary eyes. "Who are you really working for? Is it the Twilight Enclave? Dracovan intelligence?"

Kaolin's eyes glowed honey-gold. "Myself." Her head tilted to the side as if she were sighting downrange. "Minerva, very soon it's going to look like I have betrayed you. I'm telling you now because I need you to trust me. If events from here on out are not guided by a wise hand, they're going to erupt. There's no margin for error or mistrust."

Minerva remembered her dream—the dizzying sensation of hanging from a height and the brief seconds that the face had shifted to Kaolin's. "I trust you. Even if it's the death of me."

"It won't be. I promise." Kaolin tapped two fingers to her lips before pressing them against Minerva's collarbone to seal the pledge. She smiled. "We didn't make it out of the Inari-Nakiryu job alive just to die to ... what? A couple angry Empresses? Terrons with brass bones and hearts of stone?"

"Brass knuckles more like." Minerva shuddered. "Terrons fight dirty."

"So do you and you bloody well better fight dirty because everything hinges on this final round." Kaolin took Minerva by the shoulders and shook her. "No matter who you face or how they fight, you need to win. Do whatever it takes."

Minerva dropped her head. She'd been holding back. No matter how much the hollow place itched at her to use its power, she'd resisted. But if the choice lay between the using it or defeat, could she choose to win with her curse? She didn't know the answer. "Do you know who I'll be fighting?"

"Kodak or Tobias."

He hadn't lost. He hadn't gone home yet. Tobias she could beat. She'd watched him, knew all his strengths and weaknesses. But Kodak ...