Page 43 of Consort of the Crime Queen

CHAPTER 21

Aurora

The overhead lights gleam on the weapons rack as I enter the training room the next night, steeling myself for another session under Lyssa. I got out of it last night thanks to the charity gala, but I'm glad to be here again. It's become almost a ritual for me, a grounding part in my life here at Elysium. The other recruits are already here, limbering up and bantering good-naturedly. Mario spots me and flashes a grin.

"Hey, look who decided to show up! We were starting to think you'd gotten too good for us."

I roll my eyes dramatically. "As if I could ever abandon my adoring fans."

The others laugh—most of them. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Diesel, one of the male recruits, staring at me intently, just like he did in the meeting the other night. But now his gaze bores into me like he's sizing me up.

Before I can dwell on it, Lyssa strides in and barks at us to pair up for sparring. I glance around, hesitant. Normally I'd partner with Mario, but he's already facing off with Nico, who wanted what he calls a "rematch" from whatever happened yesterday in training.

The stare-y guy swaggers up. "Wanna go a round, Suzy?"

"Sure," I say slowly. I chalk his odd behavior up to typical macho posturing. God knows Mario was just as bad that first day.

We take our stances on the mat. He's got a good fifteen pounds of muscle on me, so I'll need to rely on speed and technique. I take a deep breath and wait for him to make the first move.

He feints one way then the other, trying to get me off-balance. I pivot smoothly out of reach. We continue exchanging moves, neither gaining advantage. He's better than I expected.

Lyssa has moved to the other side of the room to critique some other pairs. She isn't watching us. And then Mario slams Nico to the mat with such a cheer of triumph that I have to laugh.

Diesel uses my momentary distraction to get behind me, looping a muscular arm around my throat. I tap his arm in the sign for release.

But he doesn't let go. He only crushes my throat hard, stars bursting across my vision as he cuts off my airway.

Panic lances through me, followed by anger. Summoning all my strength, I stomp down hard on his foot, then shove a hard elbow into his solar plexus. His grip loosens fractionally and I slip free, grabbing his arm and using his own momentum to flip him onto the mats. He lands hard, the breath exploding from his lungs. For a second I think it's over.

"Take it easy," I tell him. "This is just a sparring match."

But he rolls to his feet fast, pure murder in his eyes. There's a flash of silver as he pulls a knife from his belt. My blood turns to ice. I back away, raising my hands.

He slashes at me wildly. I twist away, but the tip of the blade slices my forearm, hot blood welling up.

This isn't sparring.

He's trying to kill me.

Diesel comes at me again, knife first, and I stumble back—but suddenly Mario is there, shoving me out of the way. I fall hard, scrambling to my feet as I hear a sickening thud. Mario cries out. When I look up, the hilt of the knife is protruding from his bicep, blood dripping down his arm.

For one heartbeat, everything seems frozen in time. Mario's agonized face swims in my vision. Diesel grins viciously, yanking the knife out, and then advances again.

Someone screams for Lyssa.

I think it's me.

Then Lyssa is there in a blur of motion, disarming Diesel easily and slamming him to the ground. He struggles as she pins him, trying to get his knife hand free, but Lyssa is ready for him. With a chilling detachment, she turns his hand away and helps him sink his own blade into his throat, before tearing it open.

Dark arterial blood sprays across the mats, and Diesel gurgles.

Then he stops gurgling.

The rest of us stand frozen in horror until I see Mario is trembling. He looks dangerously pale. I rip my shirt off—I have a cropped sports top on underneath—and wrap it around his wound tightly, trying to slow the bleeding.

"You okay?" I ask him urgently.

"Yeah," he says hoarsely. "Shit, Suzy. What the fuck just happened?"

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