Alena took a deep breath. Another step would bring her within Jace’s reach.
She took it, angling to the side so that she didn’t impale herself. She saw through the door Jace guarded. Beyond a long hallway, two shapes fought. Brandt was there, and he still lived.
Alena lifted her foot to take another step, to draw even with her brother and then pass him.
Then she found herself lying on the ground, gasping for air. She looked down, afraid for a moment that all her trust had been misplaced, that he had killed her.
But no blood flowed from her stomach. She looked up, her breath slowly returning. Jace sheathed his weapon. The tension in his body was gone. He had decided.
“You’re right,” he said. “I don’t want to kill you. But I won’t let you pass, either.”
Alena sat up, then found her way to her feet. “He’ll destroy the empire.”
“Then it deserved its fate.”
She didn’t have time to argue with her brother, even if she thought it would work. Kye’s thinking had shaped Jace’s. Her brother believed, and belief wasn’t so easily swayed as reason.
But the fight was no longer lethal, which gave Alena a chance. She’d lived among the Etari for years. She wasn’t the weak martial artist her brother remembered.
Alena caught her breath and stepped forward, launching a few tentative jabs at her younger brother.
As she expected, he batted them aside with ease.
So she attacked in earnest, unleashing a flurry of jabs, elbows and kicks. Her assault surprised Jace, driving him back a few paces while he collected himself. She was almost in reach of the door.
Then his foot snuck through her guard and ended her hope. His kick caught her in the chest, pushing her away from him. He took full advantage of the extra space, launching an attack of his own.
For a heartbeat Alena thought they were evenly matched.
But Jace was too fast. She fell for one of his feints, and his fist found her face, snapping her head around and sending her spinning to the floor again.
Alena tasted blood. She spit and ran her finger across her lip where it had been cut. Anger blossomed in her. She hadn’t come all this way to be stopped by her own brother. She pushed herself up, spinning around to face Jace.
Her attacks were more cautious this time. She kept her weight balanced, ready to retreat against his next onslaught. They traded blows. Jace was fast, but only a little more so than her. She grinned as two of her punches found their target.
She’d hoped a few hits would make him angry. Anger led to mistakes she could take advantage of.
Half her plan worked.
Jace exploded toward her with a roar, the ferocity of his anger astonishing her. He caught hold of her, shrugging off her surprised counters as though he didn’t feel them. His left arm wrapped around her neck and shoulders while his right drove into her side.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
After the third, the only reason she stood was because Jace supported her. Then he twisted his hips and threw her. What the move lacked in technique it made up for in sheer strength. Her body flipped in the air and she landed on her right shoulder and rolled to her back, where she skidded across the stone floor.
The agony was exquisite. Every breath she took set a new wave of pain up her spine. She tried moving her right arm. It moved, but painfully. When she had landed on her shoulder, something had shifted into a place it didn’t belong.
Alena rolled over onto her stomach and forced herself to hands and knees.
“Stay down, Alena.”
Despite the pain he’d already caused her, she didn’t detect a hint of sorrow or distress in his voice. It sounded closer to exasperation, like he was a teacher drilling a lesson into a student too stubborn to learn.
And she was too stubborn to learn. She’d already failed her family, and she’d failed Azaleth. This would not be another failure.
Before she could even reach her feet, Jace stepped in and delivered a crushing kick to her stomach.
Her world exploded and turned black.
She came to, blinking. Jace had his back to her. She must have lost consciousness for two or three heartbeats. When he heard her struggle to her feet, he turned to watch.
If she had hoped to impress him with her determination, though, it didn’t work. He shook his head. “You can’t win, Alena. Even if you somehow made it past me, my master is the strongest warrior on this world. I’ve seen his affinity with my own eyes.”
Alena thought about telling her brother that Kye’s power wasn’t his own, that it was only through the use of a gatestone that he achieved so much. But it would do no good. Jace believed his master would change the world.
She feared he was right.
Her only chance to get past him was to kill him. He stood, his sword still sheathed, confident.
It wasn’t honorable.
But what did honor matter when so much was at stake?
She worked her way back to her feet, the world spinning wildly around her. Blood dripped from her chin, but she ignored it. She stepped forward, raising her fists high.
Jace sighed and stepped closer. He reached out with his left arm, intending to repeat the same move he had before. Alena let him. He might land one punch, but it would be enough time for her to make a killing strike. Her vision blurred as she committed herself.
Jace wrapped her in and brought his right arm back. As he did, she went for her knife, drawing it from its sheath and punching up into his torso.
Except somewhere in that motion, her world shifted. Jace wasn’t in front of her anymore, but was behind her, his iron grip around her right wrist, yanking the arm up.
She recognized the technique, but too late to do anything about it.
