The Prophecy's Reject

ia'

and it

ery cruel angle of her face. A silver ring glinted in her ear as she stepped

ing up his neck. "Didn't know she had a guard dog," he sai

s she shifted her weight. "I'm not her guard," she said, v

ager. "Looks like she won't be for l

one cut sharper

man backed off, muttering, "Not worth t

ur ribs. She didn't lower her weapon right away, only after she was s

uts walking o

r," I said, my

killed. You st

mean to.

e." She slid her knife into

camp, toward the faint glow

lder. "Then die with the rest

ared me to move. Agains

earing where the moon sat high and w

hy

y ear and buried itse

ath st

se I s

nce , sharp, unyielding, terrifyingly alive. She moved like she'd been carved o

ld've ki

e ground." She folded her arms. "Lesson one:

ike the forest itself bent around her. I'd seen killers before. None of t

don't wait fo

l blade at my fe

old, heavier than I expected. The

?" she

I ad

aintly. "Then

ast. I stumbled back, clumsy, the

said, circling me. "T

g not to s

yourself than l

too late; her elbow

e," she said

palms. My lungs burned. Abov

, arms cro

knife again. This time, when she swung, I mo

, a sting, a correction. "You drop your guard," sh

dy moved without thought , b

my cheek. "You've got fight," she said. "But you wait for

es

top bei

For the first time since exile, somethin

ood. "

e ragged, and the knife felt like part of me. When she struck one

something almost li

h. "You haven't t

av

, hard, unto

y stand. My hands ached. My knees s

t," she said.

stopped. "You could've left," she

spered. "You f

crossed her face be

edge of the clear

Raven murmured

trust her,

e th

he wa

t, a faint silver light shimmered along its edge , a

in a strange rhyt

as p

t sca