Aydra felt her brows narrow. “Come again?”
“Discussed it with Lex yesterday,” he answered. “I want Corbin. He’s of your company and not Rhaif’s. He’s trained beneath Lex on more than one occasion. He’s bold, brave, loyal…” He paused a moment, the pair watching the Belwarks warm up and stretch around Lex below them. “These trials are simply a formality on this round. Something to keep the people entertained.”
Aydra’s weight shifted as she stared at her younger brother. “Why are you growing up so quickly?” she mused.
Dorian smiled a crooked smirk at her. “Tell me, sister… why did your lover run off so hastily last he was here? Did you scare him?”
Aydra’s core froze at the mention of it, but she tried to brush it off. “You know me. Scaring is what I do best,” she managed.
The horns blew, and Aydra felt her weight shift. Lex crouched in the middle of the Belwark circle, eyes darting around her as she dared each of them to storm at her.
“Are you nervous?” Nyssa asked her.
“About Lex fighting? No,” Aydra said fast.
Nyssa raised a brow up at her. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“Shut up,” Aydra grumbled. “As are you.” She pushed her arms behind her back pointedly and watched Lex as she moved, knees bent, sword drawn. “Pay attention to how Lex remembers where each of them are at all times,” she told Nyssa. “She’s no powers of an eagle or otherwise to tell her where her enemy is approaching from. She must use her senses. When you fight, you’ll have your eagle—” Aydra reached a finger up to her raven, giving it a scratch under its neck “—she will watch out for you, let you know from what side your enemy is approaching.”
The fight began, and the shouts of the Belwarks echoed in the air.
Swords clashed. Some fought with each other, each of them charging at Lex on their own time. Lex was fast. She dodged and moved from their advances, bouncing around them and then running at the ones who annoyed her with sweeping glances.
“Do they ever use bows in Belwark trials?” Nyssa asked.
“I’ve never seen it,” Aydra answered. “How are you doing with your training?” she asked, having been absent from her sessions since before the last meeting due to helping Lex prepare for the trials.
“Fantastic,” Dorian said from the other side of her. He beamed around Aydra at his sister, and Nyssa shook her head at his proud face. Aydra smiled at the tug Nyssa had on her lips, biting back the grin that threatened her lips.
“He’s exaggerating as usual,” Nyssa argued.
“She’s being modest,” Dorian muttered. “Should have seen her yesterday on the cliffs. Firing arrows three at a time now.”
Aydra’s smile widened at her sister. “Perhaps I’ll join you tomorrow. See how much your brother is truly exaggerating.”
“No—”
Brows raised on Aydra’s face. “You don’t want me to come?”
“It’s not that. It’s just…” Nyssa tucked her hair behind her ear, and Aydra could see her chest beginning to heave. “I mean—”
“She thinks you’re intimidating,” Dorian butted in.
Aydra frowned between them. “What? Intimidating?”
“Shut up, Dorian,” Nyssa hissed through clenched teeth.
“Wants to be the best she can be before she shows you anything,” Dorian continued.
“I swear, Dorian, if you don’t shut your trap—”
“I’m quite sure she thinks you’ll disown her if she’s a disappointment.”
The eagle screeched and fluttered its great wings in his direction.
Dorian balked at the beast. “Down, bird,” he muttered, shaking his hands at it.
Aydra took a long swig of her wine, using it to cover the laughter threatening her lips.
Dorian leaned closer to Aydra, whispering in her ear. “She also has a plan and wants to go back to the Forest so she can show up—”
Nyssa grabbed something on her side. The glint of iron in sunlight made Aydra snap into motion, but she wasn’t fast enough. A tiny sliver of silver rushed in front of her face—
Dorian caught whatever it was Nyssa had thrown between his flamed fingers.
“There’s my sister,” he grinned.
“What the Infi is going on down there?” they heard Rhaif hiss. “Behave yourselves!”
Aydra pressed her amused lips together and looked between her youngers. She took the weapon out of Dorian’s hand, noticing the proud smile spread across his features as he smirked at Nyssa. The weapon was not larger than her pinky. A small blade shaped like a feather, razor sharp at the tip and on the sides. Aydra handed it back to her sister, not trying to hide the smirk on her lips.
“Careful. We’ll make mother mad,” Aydra muttered, glaring at Rhaif over her shoulder.
Their attentions turned back to the fight below then, and they saw there were only five left to battle Lex. Lex knocked through the remaining ones, forcing two to yield. Aydra moved closer to the banister, out of line with her brother and sister, and she began to pace slowly despite herself at the sight of Lex beginning to tire. The last three in the stadium were nearly as fast as her.
“I thought you told me not to pace,” Nyssa muttered behind her.
Aydra took her finger out of her mouth and began to bite the inside of her cheek instead. “I lied.” She paused and wrapped her hands around her chest, forcing herself to stand stationary as she stared at the scene on the ground.
Lex was heaving, the scratch on her face showing the reddened ash insides of a Belwark’s core. The three left to yield were dancing around her. The final two would battle one another instead of her. She only had the one left to put on the ground.
Aydra knew she was favoring Corbin, trying to strike down the other two from Bard’s company.
Give her a reminder, Aydra told the raven.
The raven flew off the railing. It circled over the stadium and gave a chortle she knew Lex would hear. Lex straightened and cracked her neck, sword whirling in her hand again. The sun beat down directly on the stadium, light glistening off the iron.
Bard’s Belwarks charged at
