Page 89 of Feathers and Thorns

Enara knew he was goading her, but she couldn’t stop herself from giving him a smart reply. “At least, when I get laid tonight, it won’t be because I had to kidnap my partner.”

The comment effectively shut him up, and Enara let her lips curl into a satisfied smirk as she readied herself.

“On that note,” Jai said, awkwardly gesturing his hands toward the ring, “let the fight commence!”

Enara and Rook circled the ring, sizing each other up. For a moment, it seemed as though they would never start until Enara got impatient and began swinging. She had paid close attention to his fights, looking for signs of weakness, and couldn’t find any obvious openings, but as she dodged a blow, she caught a glance of Soren across the ring.

Her best friend stood with her hand over her mouth, watching the fight unfold, and Enara knew how to beat him.

As their weapons clashed, she muttered under her breath to him, “You will break her.”

The comment threw off his concentration long enough for her to land a sharp elbow under his chin, followed by a swift kick to his forearm, causing him to lose his grip on his sword. The weapon went clattering to the ground, and Enara used the length of her staff to send it skittering to the other side of the ring.

She stood between Rook and his weapon, and the look he gave her could have leveled all of Entheas. His chest was heaving, and his breath turned white in the cool air. Evening had fallen quickly over the last few bouts, bathing them in silver light.

It was Rook’s turn to make the first move. Knowing he was at a disadvantage, he wanted to be in control of his trajectory. He managed to fake her out since he was faster than her, but as he darted toward his weapon, Enara spun and swung out with the tip of her blade, catching his boot.

Rook let out a loud oomph as the air rushed from his lungs upon impact but was on his feet again, trying to inch his way back to his weapon. He caught Soren’s eye and gave her a wink before turning back to Enara.

Soren had debated if she wanted to stop the fight between her best friend and her lover but ultimately decided it was about time they had it out. That didn’t stop her from gasping loudly every time their bodies clashed or Enara’s blade just missed a sliver of Rook’s flesh.

In a surprising turn of events, Rook managed to land enough blows to make Enara drop Coraxis. She had not been so lucky as him in the fact that her weapon landed in the black earth at his feet, but she knew something he did not.

Touch it, she thought, willing him to attempt to use the enchanted weapon against her.

She exaggerated her injuries and pretended to struggle to get to her feet. Her face was etched with false pain while, inside, she smiled widely as he reached his bare hand toward her bladed staff. His long, white fingers grabbed the weapon eagerly, and she waited for him to cry out in pain, but the sound never came.

Her eyes widened as he strode toward her with purpose, and she stood as still as the great trees of Eldrin as he lifted the weapon and placed a featherlight nick on her right hand.

Her eyes flicked to Soren, and then to Baz, who seemed to finally catch on to what had just happened.

“I believe you dropped this,” Rook said, holding the weapon out to her.

She grasped it lightly, as though it were now a foreign being, no longer designed just for her. Then she followed Rook’s movements as he retrieved his sword and returned to the center of the ring to be congratulated by Jai.

The blood pumping in her ears was so loud it nearly drowned out the cheers of the crowd as Jai raised Rook’s hand in the air.

Soren and Baz were immediately by her side as her mind tried to process the discovery she had just made. Somehow, impossibly, her and Rook were both able to wield her weapon, which could only mean one thing.

The thought was so jarring that a wave of nausea threatened to turn her body into a convulsing mess. She was not ready to speak the words out loud just yet, but they rested on the edge of her tongue, begging to be released.

The words repeated over and over in her mind, screaming against the edges of her skull until she felt it might crack in half.

Rook and I share the same blood.

As the crowd dispersed, Rook stood with a confused facial expression as Baz, Jai, Enara, and Soren stared.

“But they look nothing alike,” Baz stated.

“He can’t be,” Soren denied.

“The staff worked on me, though,” Baz said, looking at his now flat fingertips whose prints had been singed off by the blood magic.

“Will anyone explain to me what’s going on?” Rook interjected.

“Yeah, I’m going to let them take the reins on this,” Jai answered, gesturing to the other three.

Enara, who had been silent up until that point, finally gathered the strength to speak the truth that her mind refused to believe. “It would seem that you and I are related.”

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